Carter Hart's early season struggles

Date: February 27, 2021

By: Dylan Camp

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Elizabeth Robertson/Philadelphia Inquirer

Over his first two seasons in the league over which he played 74 games, Carter Hart had a save percentage higher than 91% and a goals against average in the mid-twos. He had been hyped as the face of the Flyers franchise and the next big star goalie in the National Hockey League. But Flyers fans’ expectations for Hart have come crashing down through the first quarter of this season as Hart’s stats have ballooned in the wrong direction.

The two, key metrics for a goalie in the NHL are save percentage and goals against average and Hart looks quite pedestrian this season in a division filled with goalies under the age of 25. The East’s best young goalie, I would argue, plays right here in the great state of New Jersey. Mackenzie Blackwood of the New Jersey Devils has had a very strong start to the season holding the highest save percentage in the division, stopping over 93% of the shots he has faced thus far.

Amongst the group of sub-25-year-old goalies he also boasts the lowest goals against average, allowing 2.25 goals-per-game. Of the goalies I will mention in this article, Blackwood is the only goalie whose team has more wins than losses in his starts this season. He only has seven starts after the Devils were on a long COVID-19 related pause, but in those seven games the 24-year-old Blackwood has held up to his billing as the long-term goaltender for the Devils franchise.

Mackenzie Blackwood is 4-0-1 to start 2020-21, tied for the longest point streak to start a season in @NJDevils history. Will a franchise record be broken when Saturday's contest is said and done? #NHLStats

: BUF vs. NJD at 12:30 p.m. ET on MSG+, MSG-B pic.twitter.com/IzGZD4Arww
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 20, 2021

Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers has also put up much better numbers than Hart so far this season. Shesterkin is 25 and has taken over as the blue shirts number one goalie following them parting ways with long time starter Henrik Lundqvist. Shesterkin two key metrics are a save percentage currently sitting at 92% and allowing just under 2.5 goals-per-game. Shesterkin is another young goalie who individually has outplayed the media-loved Hart so far this year.

Hart has played eleven of the Flyers 16 games so far this season in which he has a 5-3-3 record. Hart is allowing over 3.6 goals-per-game this season and is saving just 89% of the shots he is facing. Those are not the numbers of an elite, star caliber goalie that the Flyers franchise boasts him to be.

After two solid seasons the young goalie’s level of play has definitely slipped in the early goings of this season, to the point where backup Brian Elliot has significantly better numbers than him. Elliot is allowing one less goal per game and is saving a significantly higher percentage of the shots he is facing. Hart is currently on the last year of his contract and the Flyers front office will have to decide if they truly think he is the franchise’s future goalie and how much he is worth paying. Hart is still incredibly young at just 22 years of age giving him plenty of time for growth, but his poor start to the season is definitely not helping his negotiating power.

Here’s all I will say about Carter Hart. He’s 22. The Flyers gave up on a 22-year-old goalie 10 years ago. He won two Vezina Trophies. Relax.
— Tom Dougherty (@todougherty) February 23, 2021

After a solid rookie campaign was followed by another strong season, Flyers fans were all aboard the Hart bandwagon. But now that the division has a slew of young goaltenders all of whom are outperforming Hart, the praise and hype for this struggling goalie may need to slow down a bit.

Blackwood, Shesterkin, Tristan Jarry, Vitek Vanecek; four starting goalies age 25 or younger all in the East division alone that have outperformed Hart this season. Hart still has plenty of potential at just 22-years-old, but he has not performed to the hype surrounding him so far this season.

Dylan Camp can be reached at dylan.camp@student.shu.edu.

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