Vegas Golden Knights: A Franchise For Second Chances

The Vegas Golden Knights are known in the NHL for their ruthlessness in dealing with former players (for example, the Marc-Andre Fleury trade to Chicago) and their lack of shame. The President of Hockey Operations, George McPhee, went on the "Cam and Strick" podcast to discuss the ethos of how they determine who to sign and why. 

One controversial signing in recent years was goaltender Carter Hart, who was a part of the 2018 Hockey Canada scandal. 

While Hart has made it out unscathed and has since restarted his NHL career with the Golden Knights, there's still furor around the signing. 

But McPhee sees nothing wrong with it, considering he believes in second chances, and has extended that generosity to Hart, who was once seen as an elite goaltender in Philadelphia. 

He explained his reasoning: 

You can’t stop young people from being young, right? They’re going to make mistakes. I think George Bush, former president, said, ‘When I was young and reckless, I was young and reckless.’ And you know, there’s a big difference between someone who might be a bad seed and a young person who made a mistake. –George McPhee on Cam And Strick Podcast

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 Of course, this is a reasonable perspective given how people can learn from their mistakes. Continued below

If we start cancelling good people who made a mistake, it’s not the right thing to do. Just imagine some of these good kids who made a mistake and people forgave them for it and they turn out to be really good adults. I just don’t believe in cancelling young people like that because if they get cancelled, they can become a problem because now there’s no hope and there’s nothing out there and they could go the other way for a long time. –McPhee on Cam And Strick Podcast 

Hart signed a two-year, $2.0 million AAV deal with the Golden Knights on Oct. 25th, 2025. He was part of the team that, under former head coach John Tortorella, would fail to make a deep run in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. 

Hart finished the year with 18 games played, 2,71 GAA, an 11-3-3 record, and a dismal .891 save percentage. His SV% in the AHL was worse, at .839. 

Was it a smart business decision to revive his career?