In an effort to bolster their crease, the Vegas Golden Knights have signed goaltender Carter Hart to a professional tryout contract, reported by Chris Johnston of The Athletic on Thursday afternoon.

He is expected to join Vegas’ AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.

However, earlier that morning, Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson reported that the Knights and Hart were closing in on a two-year contract worth about $1.8 million per season.

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Hart, who had spent six seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, had missed all of the 2024-25 season after being placed on indefinite leave. Even though he’s able to sign a contract on Oct. 15, per the terms of his suspension for violating the NHL’s player conduct policy, he can’t actually play until Dec. 1.

Over those six seasons of his career, Hart has a career .906 SV% with six career shutouts and a 96-93-29 record.

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Vegas wasted no time in courting Hart. The Golden Knights were aggressive in their pursuit of him, as were the Carolina Hurricanes. However, Hart’s main concern was how quickly he would be able to get an ample amount of playing time.

Carolina likely wouldn’t have granted him the playing time he sought after due to Freddie Andersen commanding the majority of the starts, but ultimately, once Pyotr Kochetkov returns from injured reserve, Hart would likely have needed to fight for a spot in the rotation.

Goaltender Carter Hart was just signed by the Vegas Golden Knights on a professional tryout.

Not only that, but three-man goalie rotations rarely work out.

So in comes Vegas. The Knights already have Adin Hill, who helped them win their first Stanley Cup a few years back, but he’s having a slow start to the season. 

Additionally, in last night’s win against the Calgary Flames, Hill was forced to leave the game after taking a shot to the mask, causing him to fall awkwardly and ultimately suffer a lower-body injury.

Hill’s timeline to return is still uncertain. 

Aside from Hill’s uncertain status and because of Hart’s inability to play until December, the Knights will ,for the time being, have to resort to Akira Schmid as their starting netminder.

Following that, Vegas will likely have to call up one of its netminders from the minors, and according to Golden Knights beat reporter from The Athletic, Jesse Granger, that will likely be Carl Lindbom.

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Lindbom was selected in the 2021 NHL Draft in the seventh round and had a successful first professional season with the AHL Henderson Silver Knights last season.

The Golden Knights’ next game takes place in Vegas against the Boston Bruins on Thursday, October 16 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

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