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The Carter Hart Experiment Is Off to a Rocky Start in Vegas
It’s been far from a smooth start to Carter Hart’s Vegas Golden Knights tenure.
The Vegas Golden Knights knew they were taking on risk when they signed Carter Hart just months after he was acquitted of sexual assault charges related to the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship investigation. However, as is often the case in Vegas, the organization took a gambler’s approach, hoping he was still a quality NHL netminder.
There were no guarantees. Beyond the inevitable criticism and backlash tied to the off-ice optics, there was on-ice uncertainty. Hart had been away from the NHL for nearly two full seasons, and there was no way of knowing if he could rediscover the form that once had him looking like a franchise cornerstone in Philadelphia. The pressure was enormous, and the time away was a factor.
While he’s only started nine games since debuting as a Golden Knight at the beginning of the month, early returns have been shaky to say the least. After showing signs of settling in to the tune of a 3-0-2 record in his first five games, Hart has hit a major rough patch, going 1-2-1 in his last four, having given up 16 goals in that span.
Monday night against the Minnesota Wild marked the low point so far as Hart was pulled less than halfway through the game after allowing five goals on just 12 shots in what was ultimately a 5–2 loss.
A good chunk of the fan base wasn’t thrilled about the move to bring him to Vegas in the first place, so continued struggles in net would only amplify an already controversial situation.
The 27-year-old is in the first season of the two-year, $4 million deal he signed to join the Golden Knights as a UFA in late October.
Vegas Will Have to Continue to Rely on Carter Hart
Despite Hart’s recent struggles, Bruce Cassidy and the Golden Knights don’t have much of a choice but to keep throwing him in the net and hoping for better results.
Adin Hill remains sidelined by a lower-body injury and is labeled week-to-week with no apparent return date on the horizon.
The only real pivot would be giving Akira Schmid— who’s quietly been very solid this season—a larger workload, though that carries plenty of risk in and of itself as he’s already surpassed his career high in starts, and the team has another 45 games to go on the campaign.
There’s no easy or obvious solution in Vegas right now, so they’re ultimately going to live and die by their decision to take a chance on Hart—and accept the consequences and criticism that come with it.
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