The Philadelphia Flyers have now signed one of their two restricted free agents remaining.
Chuck Fletcher agreed to terms with goaltender Carter Hart (22) on a three year, $11.937M deal. Hart’s cap hit will be a nod to his jersey number ($3.979M AAV).
Hart was one of the worst goalies in the National Hockey League last season (27 GP, .877 SV%, 3.67 GAA), but the Flyers are banking it was an anomaly (for good reason).
The Flyers were abysmal on the defensive side of the game in 2021, giving up an absurd amount of odd man rushes and looking out of sync. After essentially only replacing Matt Niskanen with Erik Gustafsson last offseason, Chuck Fletcher made a series of moves on the blueline this time around.
While other defensemen across the league were getting handed out huge contracts, it only took a lifeless Nolan Patrick and struggling Phil Myers to land a number one defender in Ryan Ellis ($6.25M through 2027) from Nashville. Fletcher is also betting on Rasmus Ristolainen finding form in Philadelphia now that he’s out of Buffalo. Keith Yandle as a 6/7 defenseman is a huge upgrade as well.
Despite the struggles last season, it hasn’t even been a year since Carter Hart stole the show in the bubble playoffs.
- Hart became the youngest goalie in Flyers history to win a playoff game
- Hart became the youngest goalie in Flyers history to record a playoff shutout
- Hart became the third goalie (Parent, Leighton) in Flyers history with back to back playoff shutouts
- Hart became the second youngest goalie in NHL history with back to back playoff shutouts
The goaltender said “it definitely feels good to get the deal out of the way and I’m looking forward to a clean slate next year.”
Carter Hart will celebrate his 23rd birthday on Friday.
