Hart Continues to Struggle

Sophomore goaltender still marred by inconsistency

After a phenomenal junior career Carter Hart has struggled to have any kind of success at the DCHL level. Through 18 starts in his 19-20 rookie season Hart put up a respectable 8-7-3 record but the numbers were ugly to say the least, a 2.74 GAA and .884 Sv% alludes to the young goalie getting some solid team performances to eek out those 8 wins. Hart then started the 20-21 season with 4 straight losses before putting together 2 straight wins and earning the opportunity to start 2 straight games for the first time, then things got ugly real fast.

6 games into the 20-21 season Hart had a 2.50 GAA, .918 Sv%, and appeared to be solidfying himself as a DCHL goalie. Then after allowing only 15 goals in his first 6 starts of the season Hart allowed 13 goals over his last 2 starts, the first one being a 7-6 OTL to the Panthers which was unacceptable. "You score 6 goals in a game you expect to win but we got some bad bounces and Carter struggled a little bit but we expect him to bounce back," Vigneault told reporters after the loss. 

9 days went by before Hart started against the Blues and he gave up another 6 goals in a 6-3 loss. "Carter is fighting the puck right now, look we can be better defensively but he knows he needs to be better and we know he can be so it's on us to try and right the ship so Braden [Holtby] can get some relief," Vigneault said after the loss to the Blues. As one can expect the numbers plummetted to a 3.50 GAA and .883 Sv%, with the Sv% being dangerously close to his rookie numbers one has to wonder if the team should be remaining this patient with the young goalie.

Hart is one of the youngest goalies in the DCHL even in his 2nd season, time will tell if he will figure out his problems but for now his 2-5-1 record is holding back a team that certainly deserves to be a little higher in the standings.