The Carter Hart era is officially over in Philadelphia. The goaltender drafted by the Flyers in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft has been on leave of absence since January, when sexual assault charges were filed against him and four other members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team.
For the months that followed, Hart’s contract did not count towards the cap. On Saturday, the NHL finally gave direction to the teams of the players charged, stating that they would have to make a qualifying offer to these players to retain their rights.
That meant it was decision time for the Flyers ahead of Sunday’s 5 p.m. deadline to submit qualifying offers, and the Flyers did not tender a contract to Hart. Hart now becomes an unrestricted free agent, thus ending his Flyers career.
Hart, 25, was in his sixth season with the Flyers upon taking leave of absence in January. He appeared in 227 games with a 96-93-29 record, a 2.94 GAA, and a .906 save percentage.
The Flyers did issue qualifying offers to the two restricted free agents, Egor Zamula and Bobby Brink. The team also did not tender qualifying offers to RFAs Mason Millman or Will Zmolek, both who spent all of last season in the minors.
