Former Flyers goalie Carter Hart joins the Vegas Golden Knights
Hart, who was acquitted in July of sexual assault, has not played in the NHL since January 2024. He was not eligible to sign until Wednesday and will remain suspended until Dec. 1.
Former Flyers goalie Carter Hart is returning to pro hockey and has joined the Vegas Golden Knights organization.
The Golden Knights released the following statement Thursday regarding the addition of Hart, who will start initially on a tryout and report to their AHL team in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev., according to NHL insider Chris Johnston.
“Following the reinstatement decision agreed on by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association, goaltender Carter Hart will be joining the Vegas Golden Knights organization.
“The Golden Knights are aligned with the process and assessment the NHL and NHLPA made in their decision. We remain committed to the core values that have defined our organization from its inception and expect that our players will continue to meet these standards moving forward.”
» READ MORE: Former Flyers goalie Carter Hart will seek ‘a fresh start’ with another team
Hart, who was first eligible to again sign an NHL contract on Oct. 15, is not permitted to play in a game until Dec. 1, as ruled by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in September. The decision came after Hart and 2018 Canadian World Junior teammates Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Michael McLeod were acquitted on sexual assault charges in Canada.
“First, I’m beyond grateful, excited, and honored to be part of the Golden Knights,” Hart said on Thursday. “It’s been a long road to get back to this point, to get back to playing the game of hockey, the game that I love, and having been out of the game for a year and a half now, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve grown a lot. I’m just excited to move forward.
“I’ve heard nothing but great things about [Las Vegas], the community, the fan base, the organization, and I’ve got to meet a lot of people here today. I’m so excited to get the chance to play in front of them and for them, and just get to show the community my true character and who I really am, what I’m about.”
Hart’s signing comes after backlash in recent weeks from fans regarding various teams’ interest in the players involved in the Hockey Canada trial. Bettman addressed the situation Wednesday following the NHL’s board of governors meeting in New York.
“Each team is going to have to make its own decision,” Bettman said. “They know the rules. And it’s up to them to decide whether or not, subject to those rules, they want to move forward.”
As an unrestricted free agent, Hart was free to sign with any team. His contract with the Flyers expired on June 30, 2024, after the then-restricted free agent was not issued a qualifying offer.
On Sept. 16 of this year, six days after Flyers governor Dan Hilferty and president Keith Jones declined to comment when asked about the goalie’s future with the organization, general manager Danny Brière said Hart would not be returning to Philadelphia.
“The only comment I’ll make on that is that his representative, Judd Moldaver, has reached out and kind of told us that in light of everything that happened in the last year and a half with Carter, they felt, and Carter felt, that it was better for them to look for a fresh start,” Brière said during his annual preseason press conference.
Hart, 27, has not played an NHL game since Jan. 20, 2024, three days before he took “an indefinite leave of absence citing personal reasons” from the Flyers.
The next day, the Globe and Mail reported that the five then-unnamed Hockey Canada players, who were accused of sexual assault in connection with a 2018 incident in an Ontario hotel room, had been ordered to turn themselves in to police. A week later, Hart was charged, according to his lawyers. The defendants were acquitted this July.
“The events that transpired after the 2018 Hockey Canada Foundation Gala in London, Ontario, prior to these players’ arrival in the NHL, were deeply troubling and unacceptable,” the NHL said in a statement regarding the suspensions.
“The league expects everyone connected with the game to conduct themselves with the highest level of moral integrity. And, in this case, while found not to have been criminal, the conduct of the players involved certainly did not meet that standard.”
A second-round draft pick in 2016, Hart was viewed as a future star for the Flyers in net.
» READ MORE: Carter Hart’s acquittal doesn’t mean he’s innocent. But he could soon be employable. Should the Flyers consider it?
Across six seasons, he went 96-93-29 with a 2.94 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 227 games. In 2023-24, his last NHL season, the native of Sherwood Park, Alberta, was 12-9-3 with a .906 save percentage. The Flyers host the Golden Knights on Dec. 11 at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
While Hart is the first of the five players involved in the Hockey Canada trial to sign with an NHL team, he is not the first to return to playing pro hockey. On Oct. 9, McLeod signed a three-year deal with Russian club Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League. The former New Jersey Devils first-round pick played in the KHL last season with Avangard Omsk and Barys Astana.
Formenton, the only player whose rights are still retained by an NHL team, is currently playing for HC Ambrì-Piotta in Switzerland. Formenton has played with the club since not accepting a qualifying offer from the Ottawa Senators in 2022-23. According to general manager Steve Staois, he will not be returning to the Senators and the team will explore trading his rights.