Carter Hart to become UFA after Flyers decline to issue qualifying offer
According to Daily Faceoff insider Carter Hart, the Philadelphia Flyers will not give goaltender Carter Hart a qualifying offer, thus making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
No surprise, but #Flyers are not issuing a qualifying offer to Carter Hart before today’s 5pm deadline to retain his rights.
Hart will become an UFA on Monday, likely along with the other four players charged in the Team Canada 2018 alleged sexual assault.
Hart last played for the Flyers on Jan. 20, 2024, before taking a leave of absence from the club. Hart was one of five members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior Championship team that was accused of sexual assault. The criminal case is still ongoing.
It’s also expected that the other four players charged – Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Dillon Dube and Alex Formenton – will fully become UFAs on Monday.
Hart, 25, was drafted 48th overall by the Flyers in 2016. He spent his entire NHL career with the club, with his best season being a 24-13-3 run back in 2019-20 – his first as Philly’s starter. Hart has a career record of 96-93-29 with six shutouts, as well as a 9-5 run with two shutouts in 14 postseason outings.
Hart was in the final year of a three-year, $11.94 million contract signed in August 2021. Had the Flyers signed him to a qualifying offer, they would have been able to retain his rights, assuming Hart accepted it.
It’s unclear if Hart will play professional hockey in 2024-25, especially while the criminal case is still active. Nothing has been proven in court.
The NHL maintains that there will be no discipline meted out to the five accused players until the criminal case is resolved. Four of the five accused players – McLeod, Hart, Foote and Dube – played in the NHL this season, while Formenton spent the past two years in the top league in Switzerland after not coming to an NHL agreement with the Ottawa Senators.
The Flyers have two NHL goaltenders signed to deals in 2024-25 – Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov. They also have Cal Petersen under contract for one more year at $5 million, while prospects Aleksei Kolosov and Carson Bjarnason are on their entry-level contracts. Felix Sandstrom is set to become a UFA on Monday.