Is Flyers’ prospect Hart a lock for the Canadian starter’s job?
When looking at the Canadian starting goaltending job at the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship, Carter Hart’s likely feeling pretty comfortable about his chances. The only returning goalie from last year’s roster, the 19-year old is currently having a season for the ages.
In 17 games with the Everett Silvertips, the Alberta native has posted a save percentage of .961, an extremely large gap over Portland’s Cole Kehler, who’s second in the league with a mark of.931.
While simple math and probability dictates there’s likely no way Hart can keep up those otherworldly numbers all season, the Canadian junior team will need him to be at his best over a short period of time if they’re looking to make a championship push. Barring a major surprise, the role of Canada’s #1 goalie appears to be Hart’s to lose.
Hart was the first goalie selected in his draft class, being picked up 48th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2016 and was named the Canadian Hockey League’s goalie of the year in the 2015-2016 season. At last season’s World Juniors, Hart split the duties with Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Connor Ingram.
In the preliminary round, Hart was given starts against Russia and Latvia, while Ingram was given starts against the United States and Slovakia. Ultimately, Ingram got the start in the quarterfinal against Czech Republic, but was pulled 8:05 into the semifinal game against Sweden after giving up two goals on just three shots.
Hart stepped up and made 28 saves on as many shots the rest of the way, leading Canada to a 5-2 victory and a final berth, where Hart was given the start. Unfortunately for Hart and the Canadians, they fell 5-4 in a shootout. Hart made 31 saves on the day, including eight in the twenty-minute overtime frame.
But while there’s a strong case to return to Hart, let’s take a look at Canada’s other three camp invitees:
Samuel Harvey
Team: Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL
Draft Status: Undrafted (was eligible in 2017)
It’s rare an undrafted player, let alone a goalie, makes it into the mix for Canada, as they’re usually enough NHL interest towards Canadian prospects. From a pure pedigree and statistical standpoint, however, Harvey appears to be the longshot of the four goaltenders. However, he’s been able to put together an impressive .924 save percentage this year in the 25 games he’s suited up for the Huskies, currently the top mark in the QMJHL.
Michael DiPietro
Team: Windsor Spitfires, OHL
Draft Status: 2017, Round 3, #64 Overall (Vancouver Canucks)
The youngest of the four invitees, DiPietro’s held the starting job for the past two seasons for the Windsor Spitfires. In four games at the 2017 Memorial Cup, DiPietro made saves on 109 of 117 shots, backstopping the host team to their third tournament win. This season, he’s third in the OHL with a .917 save percentage.
Colton Point
Team: Colgate University, NCAA – ECAC
Draft Status: 2016, Round 6, 128 Overall (Dallas Stars)
Coming out of North Bay Ontario, Point’s in his second season at Colgate University after a junior season with the CCHL’s Carleton Place Canadians. The MVP of the CCHL playoffs in 2016, Point is a dual citizen of both Canada and the United States but has elected to play for Canada. This year, he has the NCAA’s third best save percentage at .938.
While there are other suitable options available, it’s apparent Hart’s able to make the very strong case he deserves to be Canada’s go-to goalie. Yet, it’s unlikely he’ll be in net every night during the tournament. Canada hasn’t relied on just one goalie in every game since the 2006 and 2007 tournaments, where Justin Pogge and Carey Price led the country to gold medals in back to back years.
Outside of that, you’d have to go all the way back to 1992 for a similar occurrence, where future NHL journeyman Trevor Kidd played all seven games en route to Canada being awarded the gold medal as champions.
With Canada playing four games in just five days to start out, it’s likely they’ll need to give Hart at least one off day in the round robin before their medal round matchups begin.
