When the Vegas Golden Knights brought in Carter Hart for a tryout, many fans opposed the move. Now, TSN's Darren Dreger has revealed that the team may extend the Hart contract, giving him a chance to help the Golden Knights' goalie situation.
“As we reported on October 16, expect the VGK to convert Carter Hart's PTO to a standard player contract, believed to be 2 years with a cap hit of $2M,” Dreger reported.
Hart has not played a hockey game since January 20, 2024, when he, along with four other individuals, was accused of sexual assault of a woman in 2018. Earlier this year, a mistrial was declared for Hart and the other four players.
Following the verdict, the NHL decided to review the case. The NHLPA made a plea to allow Carter and the other four players to be reinstated. Then, the NHL declared the players were eligible to return on December 1, 2025. When this happened, the Golden Knights made the move, signing the goalie. Vegas released a statement explaining the reasoning for the signing, along with their team values.
The Golden Knights signed Hart because they recently lost starting goalie Adin Hill to a lower-body injury that will keep him out on a week-to-week basis. Currently, Akira Schmid is the only goalie on the roster who has started a game other than Hill this season. With the addition of Hart, the Knights have another option, albeit a controversial one, because of the murkiness of the case. But because he cannot play until December 1, he will not be eligible to play until then.
The Golden Knights are off to a great start, coming in at 5-0-2 while leading the Pacific Division. However, they have undergone some hurdles. In addition to the injury to Hill, the Knights placed Mark Stone on LITR.
Hart was playing for the Philadelphia Flyers when the charges were made. He has had a career with mixed results, going 96-93-29 with a 2.94 goals-against average and a save percentage of .906 in 5.5 seasons with the Flyers. The Golden Knights' next game is against the defending champion Florida Panthers in Sunrise on Saturday.







