Could the Flyers look at a Carter Hart trade?

You may be asking yourself, “Did I just read that headline correctly? Did the sportswriter hear really suggest the Flyers trade their first top goalie in years? Is he insane?” The answer is yes, but it is not as crazy as it sounds. And no, I am not insane.

Carter Hart has been the netminder for four years now. The team in front of him has done little to help him out. He first came up in 2018 and was part of a record setting eight goalies used in that season. The following season, he took them to the playoffs.

In his third season, he took some major steps back. He posted career lows in wins (9), save percentage (.877,) and goals against avg. (3.67). He rebounded some this year, but still had to miss the last few weeks due to injury, just as he has had the previous year.

In his four seasons, his career stats are a 2.97 GAA, .905 SV%, and 62 wins. These numbers are respectable for a 23 year old.

Reasons to Trade Him

If you look at the history of teams that have won the Stanley Cup, most of them have an outstanding defense that can cover up any issues they have. The Devils of the 90s were not good offensively, but had a great defense in front of the greatest goalie of our time. It was quite easy for Martin Brodeur to have all of those wins when he was facing 20 shots a night. The Red Wings of the 2000s had a defense led by Nicklas Lidström. When the Flyers made their trip to the Stanley Cup in 2010, it was in large part due to Chris Pronger.

The Flyers do not have a good defense. Rasmus Ristolainen and Ivan Provorov are serviceable, but neither one are a #1 defender. Ryan Ellis was injured all season and has had injuries in the past. Is going to be healthy? Don’t know. Travis Sanheim seems to be a growing star. But the defense has been unreliable.

The Flyers are also in transition. We don’t know what is going to happen with James van Riemsdyk or Travis Konency. The post Giroux era is in flux and unclear.

So why trade Hart? Why trade the one thing this team has going for it?

The reason is value. You can get a lot for him right now. Almost every team can use a star goalie and almost every team would love young stud in net. You could flip him for picks, star forwards, star defenders, or a veteran goalie. Hart’s future is bright. You sell high and use him to make a splash.

The Flyers also have a history of doing this. In 1995, they traded Mark Recchi to the Montreal Canadiens for John LeClair and Eric Desjardins. Recchi was two years removed from setting a Flyers single-season record of 123 points. LeClair would team up with Lindros to form the famed “Legion of Doom” line and Desjardins would patrol the blue line for the next decade. And five years later Recchi would return.

Reasons Not to Trade Him

He’s a 23 year old stud goalie! Why would you trade him? This franchise has been looking for a great goalie ever since Ron Hextall; and even then they kept trying to improve on him. (Remember the Felix Potvin and Curtis Joseph rumors?)

Look at the goalies since the year 2000 who played more than 20 games in a season: Roman Cechmanek, Brian Boucher, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, Antero Niittymaki, Martin Biron, Ray Emery, Michael Leighton, Ilya Bryzgalov, Sergei Bobrovsky, Steve Mason, Michal Neuvirth, Brian Elliott, and Petr Mrazek. After all this time, do we need to go backwards?

Hart is also cheap. He is under contract for the next two seasons at just under $4 million. That’s a bargain for good goalies.

Likewise, the Flyers have a habit of giving up on good, young goalies. Boucher was 25 when they flipped him Michael Handzus (a good forward) and Esche (a reliable goalie). Esche was a decent goalie, but not re-signed when he was 29. Bobrovsky had a stellar rookie season, only to be sidelined after a bad playoff outing and then replaced by Bryz.

Sometimes you need to stick with what you have and rally behind them. After all, some of the all time greats, like Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy, Henrik Lundqvist, and Brodeur didn’t have the best seasons sometimes; but their overall body of work is remarkable.

If you scour the free agency list for this summer, it’s pretty light on goalies. You can get what’s left of Marc-Andre Fleury. The best bets would be Mikko Koskinen, Darcy Kuemper, or Jack Campbell. Oh…they are all on the wrong end of 30 years old.

So, that means you’re going to have to move Hart and/or some other valuable assets to get a good goalie. It’s not worth it.

Final Verdict

There is the possibility you could sell high on him. Perhaps there is some team out there that makes many, many bad personnel decisions that you could fleece (Coyotes…I’m looking at you!) and bring in a ransom for.  And IF that were to happen and you could haul in some great pieces up front, on defense, and stash away some draft picks…then do it.

However, Chuck Fletcher doesn’t seem to be in the same caliber as Howie Roseman. The Flyers are too close to the salary cap line to be able to trade a cheap goalie for other pieces and yet still stay competitive.

Hart has to stay, if for any reason that he is young and cheap. He is a good goalie that will only get better when the team in front of him gets better. But first, they need to make this team better. They can’t afford to spend another year in the basement of this division.