2 Favourites Have Emerged In Carter Hart Sweepstakes

Carter Hart is now a hot commodity as the goaltending market was weak this offseason and not many teams were able to address the position like they wanted to. There were rumors that Hart was only going to sign in the U.S. and he wanted a fresh start rather than signing back with the Philadelphia Flyers, so that still left quite a few teams.

That list has seemed to shrink significantly as the race is reportedly down to two finalists who have emerged as favourites to sign Hart, the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes. Both make sense as they are places that can win, would like an upgrade in net, and have the space and determination to do so.

Vegas has never been a team that much cares about how their business decisions look. They are all about winning and it is why they have made the playoffs in every year but one since their arrival in the NHL. They lost Alex Pietrangelo for seemingly the entire season, so that does open up cap space to add. The Golden Knights have Akira Schmid expected to back up Adin Hill and Schmid is untested and inexperienced. Hart wouldn't be a long-term solution here with Hill at the beginning of a new deal and still a solid number one, but he would be a good 1b and someone the team could trust to start games.

The Hurricanes have more than enough cap space and need some better and more sustainable goaltending. Frederik Andersen was signed to a one-year deal, but he is injured every season and I don't believe Pyotr Kochetkov is ready to be a sole number one despite the amount of games he's had to play in a season due to injuries to Andersen. A duo of Hart and Kochetkov could really work, but Andersen would then have to be traded, likely fetching a solid return for some desperate teams.

I think Hart is going to do well wherever he signs and it'll be for more than a year. Then once he re-establishes himself in the NHL, will get a longer deal and be a number one somewhere.