Carter Hart won't start in return to Philadelphia for Golden Knights vs. Flyers

If you bought tickets to see goalie Carter Hart make his return to Philadelphia, you'll be very disappointed.

Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said on Thursday morning that Hart will not start his third consecutive game on Thursday evening against the Philadelphia Flyers on DAZN (except for US and Canada). Akira Schmid will play between the pipes instead.

"Carter wants to play every game. He's a very competitive guy," Cassidy said. "We discussed coming out, you'd play two out of three this week, and coming out of the Ranger game, he wanted to get right back in the net. So that led to a decision on Long Island. We discussed it obviously with him, but that was more us making a decision. I had to get Schmid back in pretty soon, coming off the shutout, that's how we landed on it."

Hart, 27, played six seasons for the Flyers from 2018-2024. Back in 2018, Hart was one of five players on Canada's 2018 under-20 World Junior team accused of assaulting a woman after the 2018 Hockey Canada Foundation Gala. He was formally charged with one count of sexual assault in January 2024. Because of that, Hart took a leave of absence from the team. In a trial this summer, a judge said prosecutors didn't meet the burden of proof for a conviction, and all the defendants were found not guilty. 

The NHL ended up implementing a reinstatement process that required Hart to sit out until Dec. 1. Hart did a paid tryout with the Golden Knights in October and ended up signing a two-year deal with the team.

Since his return, Hart's gone 2-0-1 and saved 72 of 81 shots on goal. Hart is expected to start on Saturday when the Golden Knights finish off their road trip against the Blue Jackets.

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