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If Carter Hart Is on the Table Should Edmonton Get Involved? |
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Yesterday the off-season kicked off with a massive three team trade that resulted in the Blue Jackets acquiring Provorov, the Kings acquiring Kevin Connuaton and Hayden Hodgson and the Flyers acquiring Cal Petersen, a 1st round pick and two 2nd round picks.
It was unexpected to see but hopefully only the beginning of an off-season filled with wild trades and shenanigans. It is looking like a marginal cap increase of a million meaning most teams are going to be right up against the cap again. GM's are going to have to get creative to make deals.
Back to the Hart situation. After the Provorov deal went through reports came out that the Flyers were at the very least open to talks on Carter Hart. The 24 year old netminder has played 5 seasons in the NHL posting the following SV% each year:
18/19 - 31GP - 0.917%
19/20 - 43GP - 0.914%
20/21 - 27GP - 0.877%
21/22 - 45GP - 0.905%
22/23 - 55GP - 0.907%
Overall those are pretty mediocre numbers but in Hart's defense the Flyers have been a downright awful team over the past few seasons. Hart has one more season left on his contract at 3.979 million and is then an RFA with arbitration rights.
Over the past three seasons, 24 goalies have played at least 5000 minutes at 5 on 5, Hart being on of them. Of those netminders Hart ranks 17th in 5 on 5 SV% at 0.914%. Just to compare, Stuart Skinner had a 0.926SV% at 5 on 5 this past season.
Over the past three seasons Hart has also faced the 13th most High Danger Shots Against and has the 15th best save percentage of 0.822%. In total, Hart has faced the 14th most shots of any netminder over the past three seasons.
What does all of this mean for Edmonton and could Hart be the goalie that leads the Oilers to the promised land? I remain unconvinced. The Oilers are certainly a vastly superior team to the Flyers both up front and on defense and would be able to give Hart far more run support but as we have seen time and time again, goalies are voodoo.
We are currently watching a Stanley Cup Final with Adin Hill, a guy who was the Sharks third stringer looking like the best goalie in the world and Bobrovsky who was posting numbers we haven't seen in the modern era suddenly reverting back to a pumpkin. All of this is to say that goaltending doesn't make any sense. There are maybe 5 for sure can't miss netminders in the NHL. Hart is not one of those guys.
The other thing to consider is the Jack Campbell situation. There is no way Edmonton could acquire Hart unless Campbell was the guy going the other way. The assets Edmonton would have to give up to deal Campbell would be substantial.
Cal Petersen was just traded by the Kings who had two years left at 5 million per season. Campbell is three years older than Petersen and has another 4 years left on his deal at 5 million per season. Finding a team willing to take on that kind of cap hit for a goalie coming off a career worst season is going to cost Edmonton plenty.
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On another day we are going to talk about the Oilers goaltending situation more but the short version is I think there is a reasonable argument for going back with the same tandem. Hart could be the guy... or he could be an expensive option that ultimately doesn't move the needle for you.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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