Carter Hart is a Shining Star in Juniors

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers have spent the last few seasons adding pieces of their future to the NHL roster.

There’s Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny at forward, Ivan Provorov, Robert Hagg and Travis Sanheim on defense and a host of prospects in the minors and juniors.

The goaltender of the future is among them, and is currently playing putting up ridiculous numbers at juniors. It’s been an amazing season for Carter Hart already, as he just further separates himself as the Flyers future netminder.


Hart’s season hasn’t completely gone as planned. He missed significant time at the start of the season as he battled mononucleosis. But after returning, he’s been the best goalie in hockey.

Hart has a 13-3-1 record with a 1.32 GAA and .961 save percentage this season in 17 games, including a pair of wins this past weekend. But it’s a stretch of games recently that have been so good, they can’t be ignored.

Hart has won eight straight starts dating back to Nov. 19. In his last 11 games, Hart has a 10-1-0 record with a 0.82 GAA and .978 save percentage. That stretch also includes five shutouts, including a 39-save shutout on Friday night, the 24th of his career at the WHL level.

It was no surprise that Hart was among the goalies selected to Canada’s World Junior camp roster and is expected to be the centerpiece of that group.

Hart was selected with the 48th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft and regarded as one of the top goalies in his draft year. So far, he’s lived up to that, turning heads at the junior level and starting to draw discussions about him going pro in the near future.

Hart likely needs a year in the minors to adjust to professional play, but could be two years away from joining the Flyers if all goes well. With the contracts of both Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth set to expire, the timing could be perfect.

But for now, the WHL is home to the Flyers top prospect goalie and he’s making quite a name for himself there.

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