Philadelphia Flyers Final Player Grades: Carter Hart

Since we can pretty much stick a fork in the 2019-20 NHL regular season, we can fully evaluate the Philadelphia Flyers. This time, we look at Carter Hart.

Going into 2019-20, there seemingly was no in-between for goaltender Carter Hart. He would either rise to star status and get the Philadelphia Flyers back into the playoffs, or he would struggle in his first full season and the team would have another failed campaign on its hands. Thankfully, results tended toward the former in what was a largely successful year for the young netminder, though it did come with some challenges.

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The primary mission was accomplished, as Hart’s play was good enough to punch a return ticket to the postseason for the Flyers (if we ever get one). And it was almost all thanks to his play at the Wells Fargo Center. Hart posted an astounding 20-3-2 record at home this year to along with a .943 save percentage and a 1.63 Goals Against Average. Curiously, he only pitched one shutout. But every game, there he was, stopping something like 29 of 30 shots to help lead the Flyers to yet another victory in front of their fans.

It was all part of a Jekyll and Hyde act that saw Hart inexplicably struggle on the road, going 4-10-1 with some ugly numbers. Bad luck and some poor play by the team as a whole in a small sample aside, these kinds of things are enough to give fans some pause going forward. There’s nothing we can really do except hope that Hart learns from his difficulties on the road in some way and makes the proper adjustments going forward.

Hart did also miss nearly a month with an abdominal strain, which was already the second injury he’d suffered in his young NHL career, and it’s a testament to the team (and Brian Elliott) that they held strong during his absence. It was completely legitimate to worry that the season would crumble without Hart and/or that he wouldn’t be the same after returning from the injured list, but both concerns proved unfounded. The Flyers went 6-3 while he was out, and Hart was strong after his return, going 9-2 down the stretch with a .934 save % and 1.93 GAA.

Clearly, he’s a poised young man who is able to shake off bad performance and injury that might otherwise cause doubts to creep in from the outside. It’s the kind of mentality that a goaltender needs to have, and the Flyers have to be extremely pleased with what they saw from him this year.

There is still work to be done, but no other goalie in the league has as much promise for the next decade than Carter Hart. Being a Flyers fan, I’m still waiting for something to go horribly wrong, but maybe it’s different this time.

CARTER HART. B. <strong>Carter Hart has to get dinged for his poor (and strange) results on the road this year, and that’s something that must improve going forward because the Flyers can’t shelter him. Still, all the signs remain that he can be a special player and hopefully the franchise savior we’ve all been waiting for. </strong>. G. Philadelphia Flyers

dark. Next. Flyers Grades: Ivan Provorov

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