Carter Hart's career with the Flyers came to an end on Sunday.
The 25-year-old goaltender, who became a restricted free agent following a sexual assault allegation, did not receive a qualifying offer from the Flyers, which resulted in Hart becoming an unrestricted free agent.
In early February, police in London, Ontario announced that they had charged Hart and four other players from Canada's 2018 World Junior Team with sexual assault stemming from an incident that occurred in June 2018.
Hart's legal team said in late January that he is “innocent and will respond fully to these false allegations in the appropriate forum, court.”
The goaltender has been without the Flyers since Jan. 23, when he requested and was granted an indefinite leave of absence.
It's looking increasingly unlikely that Hart will return to the ice during the 2024-25 season. The Canadian Hockey Association sexual assault case is scheduled to go to criminal designated court on Aug. 13, when Hart will turn 26, but a start date for the trial has not yet been set.
Hart became a restricted free agent this offseason after his three-year, $11.937 million contract expired, and the Flyers could have made a qualifying offer to retain his NHL rights, but decided against it and opted to part ways with the 2016 second-round draft pick who was considered their franchise goaltender.
The club is set to enter training camp in September with a goalkeeping duo of Samuel Elson and Ivan Fedotov.
Restricted free agents Egor Zamula and Bobby Brink received qualifying offers, essentially starting the negotiation process for new contracts.
The Flyers did not make offers to prospects Mason Millman and Will Zmolek, making them unrestricted free agents along with Hart.
Hart's career in Philadelphia began with high expectations: He made his NHL debut at age 20 and then won eight straight games, tying the record for most consecutive wins by a goaltender before his 21st birthday.
The following year, Hart led the Flyers to the 2020 bubble playoffs with a 24-13-3 record, a 2.42 goals against average and a .914 save percentage in the regular season. In the postseason, Hart posted a 9-5-0 record with a 2.23 goals against average and a .926 save percentage, the best GAA by a Flyers goaltender with five or more starts in a playoff game since Roman Cecmanek in 2003 (2.14 GAA in 13 starts).
In 2023-24, Hart started in the Flyers' season opener for the fifth consecutive year, in what turned out to be his final game with the club.
Free agency begins on Monday at noon ET, and the Flyers are under a tight salary cap and are unlikely to be too aggressive aside from some cheap additions.
“We're not going to do much on free agency day,” general manager Danny Briere said last week. “The reality is, going into year two of my tenure, we have a lot of dead money left, but that was by plan. We acquired some assets, picks and things like that, that will help us in the future. So this summer is going to be tough. Next summer will be a little easier, but we're still going to be in a little bit of a bind.”
You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | Youtube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube
