If Flyers Trade Carter Hart, What’s a Fair Return?

Right now, there are lots of rumors swirling around about Carter Hart. Should he be traded by the Flyers? If he is traded, where would go? If he is traded, could the Flyers draft a goalie to replace him? What about Sam Ersson and Felix Sandstrom or the newly acquired Cal Petersen?

It’s a hard decision to make. On the one hand, he is the best goalie the team has had in decades. On the other, he could bring in a lot of prospects, players, and/or draft picks. So what do you do?

So, first, let’s look at history to see what the Flyers could get. Then, we will examine Hart’s worth and potential return in a trade.

The Patrick Roy Trade

In 1995-96, relations between Roy and the Montreal Canadiens broke down for many reasons. The 30 year old goalie had a terrible relationship with head coach Mario Tremblay. The Habs sent him to Colorado with Mike Keane for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Ručinský and Jocelyn Thibault.

Roy, at the time, was a three time Vezina Trophy, two time Conn Smythe Award, and a four time Jennings Trophy Award winner. Keane was a reliable third or fourth line guy. As for what Montreal got, Kovalenko was a rising star (before he was a Flyer for like six weeks) but would be traded to Edmonton in the offseason. Ručinský was never an all-star, but was a steady guy on the front lines; kind of like Scott Laughton. Thibault would play four years in Montreal before starring for Chicago. The Habs haven’t even sniffed a Stanley Cup since Roy left.

Roy would go on to win two more cups in eight years with Colorado. Montreal was hamstrung because of the public nature of the feud. At the time, it wasn’t a bad haul, but two of the three players would be gone with four years.

The Domink Hasek Trade

Again, this comes down to public feuding. Hasek was tired of being on a subpar, underachieving team in Buffalo. He was a high priced goalie and Buffalo couldn’t afford him anymore. He was the winner of six Vezina Trophies, two Jennings Trophies, two Pearson Awards, and two Hart Trophies. Plus, the cantankerous goaltender demanded to be traded to a contender.

In come the Detroit Red Wings. The hapless Sabres traded him to Detroit for a first round pick (which was traded to Columbus and then traded to Atlanta) and the ghostly shell of what once was Vyacheslav Kozlov.  Kozlov scored just nine goals in Buffalo, was traded to Edmonton, and then regained his scoring touch.

Hasek, on the other hand, won two Stanley Cups. Buffalo, in the meantime, continued a slide that continues, in many ways, to this day.

Lessons Learned

First of all, don’t make this public. The Flyers don’t need to trade him. Maybe part of the reason they want to trade him is that he might not want to sign an extension. His rookie contract runs out next year and he will become a restricted free agent. He’s making a tad under $4 million which is a bargain.

But if you make the problem public, it drives the price down. Both Buffalo and Montreal got nothing for their goalies. And those were goalies with rooms filled with awards and trophies. Roy and Hasek, at that time, were both guaranteed future hall of famers and they were traded as if you were trading away Ilya Bryzgalov.