The scariest question facing each Philadelphia sports team

What if Carter Hart is merely average?

The Flyers’ 21-year old goaltender got off to a hot start this season, winning his first two games and even registering his first NHL shutout in the process. Things were looking up.

So what happened?

Since then, he’s lost four straight starts and has been pulled in two of them, ceding crease time to teammate Brian Elliott as of late. Is he suddenly terrible? Is it time to panic?

Conventional Flyers wisdom would say “yes”. This team has had goaltending issues going back to the Stone Age. But they’ve never had a player on their hands quite like Carter Hart.

In the NHL, it is ultra-rare for a goalie his age to hit the ground running (or, hit the ice skating) and never look back. He is still in a huge adjustment period for a player, and you can be sure that even someone as seemingly mature as he is still hasn’t even figured out adulthood yet.

The team is asking a lot from him, and it’s reassuring that he has delivered on every level to date. Past success doesn’t guarantee anything going forward, but it makes Hart as good a bet as anyone to flourish and turn into a star player for years to come.

Honestly, the Flyers are in trouble if he doesn’t.

That doesn’t mean that he has to be all-world this season, but some steady progress needs to be seen. So here’s hoping that Hart is strong enough mentally to dismiss his recent struggles and pick up where he was a few weeks ago.

The Flyers believe in him, and we should too. But when it comes to Flyers goaltending, there should always be trepidation.