Flyers: Carter Hart snubbed on top goaltenders list

It’s not the first time a Flyers player has been left off of one of these lists. But Carter Hart’s omission from the top goaltenders’ list is the worst one.

The NHL finished up their Top Players lists by looking at the league’s best goaltenders. After two seasons with the Flyers, Carter Hart has established himself as the team’s top goaltender. He has also earned some respect around the league.

Or, apparently, he has not. Hart’s name was not found on the Top 10 Goaltenders list that was announced on Sunday night. At least the fans voted him as the fourth-best in the league.

There are some unsurprising names on the list. Andrei Vasilevskiy is absolutely the league’s best goaltender. Tuukka Rask deserves to be high on the list as well. Connor Hellebuyck recently won the Vezina Trophy so his addition to the list also makes sense.

One could argue that Jordan Binnington is too high on the list, especially after a rough postseason. He posted a worse save percentage than Hart and was a bit below him in GAA as well. Binnington was strong during his rookie season but has seemed to fall back to Earth after his Stanley Cup win.

Looking at this season, Hart has Binnington beat in both GAA and SV%. Hart trailed in wins, appearing in seven fewer games as well. In surface stats, Binnington only has the edge in wins and shutouts. Looking a bit deeper, Hart (4.50 GSAA) was slightly above the Blues goaltender (3.35 GSAA) when it came to goals-saved-above-average.

Binnington was better at stopping high-danger opportunities (1.13 HDGAA, 22.16 HDGSAA) than Hart (1.32 HDGAA, 2.00 HDGSAA). It has to be noted, though, that Hart faced 289 high-danger shots while Binnington saw 413 of those. Hart actually gave us fewer goals in those moments as well. The difference in shots faced plays a big role.

Hart took a step forward this year, taking on more games and excelling in most. He gave up 4+ goals in only seven of his 43 games. He gave up one goal or fewer in 17 of those games. Hart was pulled as the starter just four times. His GAA increased (2.83 to 2.42) while his SV% only dropped a few points (.917 to .914).

Even in 12 more games. he finished with the same amount of regulation losses as last season. While adding on just two overtime losses, he increased his win total by 10 games. So there was clearly progression from his first season. Is the knock that this is only his second season in the league?

It can’t be if we are including Binnington as one of the top goaltenders after a significant drop in stats from his rookie season. He appeared in almost 20 more games this year, but he grades out to only nine more career games than Hart. Are we really hanging the Cup win as the deciding factor between the two?

Binnington’s career numbers do come out on top between the two. But the drastic change between his first two seasons has.to mean something. It’s possible the league knocked Hart on his road stats as well. He was 4-10-1 on the road while 20-3-2 at home. And it gets worse when you dig into his away stats.

But again, Binnington struggled even more despite posting a higher win total. That can be helped when you have a team like the Blues who are able to score at will at any time. But we cannot just look at his win total and Cup as a reason to have him that high. Especially when it somehow ends up leaving Hart completely off the list.

When in doubt, listen to the fans as they once again got this one right. Hart may not be the best goaltender in the league, but the young Flyers goaltender deserves more respect than this.