A few hours after his three-year contract extension became official, Flyers goaltender Carter Hart spoke with the local media before doing a one-on-one interview with Jason Myrtetus for the current edition of the Flyers Daily podcast.
During his initial media availability, I asked Hart if, in hindsight, the abbreviated training camp, irregular practice time and compacted schedule affected him last season more than he thought it would going in. To his credit, Hart refused to make excuses for his disappointing 2020-21 season.
Hart said that he has been working this offseason with Dustin Schwartz in building off some adjustments he's made with Flyers goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh. He did not want to go into specifics. It should be noted that Hart's much-publicized glove-side issues last season were actually solved by April -- he still kept getting tested high glove but he wasn't getting beaten anymore on shots that were eluding his glove in March.
One problem area in Hart's game last season, which largely started out as a product of defensive breakdowns in front of him that led to an inordinate number of back-door goals, was a tendency to sometimes cheat off the post a little early and get picked on the short side. Additionally, Hart's puckhandling has never been the strongest area of his game. Overall, though, Hart is very technically sound goalie and his problems from last season should be correctable especially with improved team defense in front of him.
The transcript below is courtesy of the Flyers' Brian Smith.
Congrats on the new deal. How does it feel just to get it out of the way? And how is your summer offseason been?
It definitely feels good to get the deal out of the way and now just look forward to a clean slate next year. Summer has been good. Got a lot of training in so far and still got a little bit left. Summer’s been good. I'm really looking forward to starting here soon.
First, how long did it take you to sort of put last season behind you? I know mentally mental toughness is one of your strong suits. How long it took to move past this?
The past is in the past. Just took a little breather after the season with my buddy. Flew my buddy down and just hung out a little bit. Then got back to work when I came back here to Edmonton for the offseason. Again, it's in the past and can only learn from it now. Looking forward to a new start next year.
When you watch video last season, obviously I'm sure you were able to pick up flaws or whatever in your team. Were there areas of focus that you've had this offseason, things that you've wanted to work on to get better at?
Yeah, for sure. There's been a couple areas this offseason we've highlighted together from our goalie coach in Philly, Kim Dillabaugh, with my goalie coach back home here, Dustin Schwartz. They're all on the same page. It's been a couple things there that we've targeted to work on. I think we've made a lot of good progress.
Obviously, the team made a lot of changes defensively. What did you think about the changes and how you think it will affect you and the team?
Yeah, definitely a lot of new faces coming in. Sad to see some of the boys go for sure. It's a business. I think the changes that we made there are guys that are going to come in and help our group. I've heard nothing but good things from all of them. I think it's going to be definitely beneficial to our group to have those guys and I'm really looking forward to meeting them here soon. I think they're going to be great additions to our team
How much work have you done with Dustin during the offseason?
Yeah, this offseason so far has been great. Got a lot of ice in and off the ice as well. Schwartzy’s been great. My trainer back home here, Phil Daly, he's been awesome. I'm feeling really good right now.
You talked about everybody being on the same page last year, between yourself and your two goalie coaches. Was there a point last year where that was not that way?
No, they've always gotten along. They've always kind of had the same philosophies. This summer, we've targeted a couple areas that I want to work on. Together we thought that they’re areas that I need to work on and I think we made a lot of progress. They're on the same page. They teach the same game. It might not be worded the same way, but they get along and they're on the same page.
We had Martin Jones on a couple of weeks ago and he said that he's not coming in with a mindset of being a backup. He wants to compete for a number one job. Is healthy competition for the starting job good for both of you guys?
For sure, it is. I've heard great things about Jonesy and I'm looking forward to meeting him here soon. That's what you want. You want to have a good competition between the two tendys. Me and Jonesy will push each other to be better in practice and off the ice. I think that's only healthy. You want to have two boys that compete hard to play games. I think in the long run it will only be better off for the team and ourselves.
I know everyone was in the same boat last season, so it's not an excuse. How much did the short training camp and the disjointed nature of practice time personally affect you last season?
I'm not sure. Can't really judge that as having that affect your season and you don't want to make any excuses. Not really sure. I think this year, there definitely aren't any excuses where we'll have a full training camp. We'll have like seven preseason games and we'll be ready to go for opening night.
Carter, you mentioned in your end of season press conference that you were really excited to get back home see family. How has that been able to kind of refresh your mindset this offseason?
Yeah, it's been great. Everything's open here now. No masks. Can pretty much do everything without any restrictions now, so that's good. It's been awesome to see all my family and friends. Just kind of hang out. Like I said there, when I first got home, take a nice breather from the game. Took about a month or so off the ice. It was nice to kind of just recharge and relax a little bit. It's been good. It's been a good summer. I got a lot of golf in. My golf game has improved. I know some of the boys might say otherwise. It's been really good. Playing a lot of tennis and just been outdoors quite a bit. It's been a good summer. The weather's been great here and it's been great so far.
There was a sentiment after last season that this team could really use a fresh start. You yourself have yet to play a normal 82- start to finish NHL season, with coming up in the middle of the season and the two COVID seasons. So how much are you yourself viewing this coming season as a fresh start for both you and the team?
Yeah, it's a clean slate. Fresh start for everybody. With COVID going on and everything, hopefully next year, we won't run into any hiccups. I think we're all looking forward to fresh start and to get back to playing in front of our fanbase, one of the best in the NHL. I can't wait for opening night. It'll be a sold-out stadium again. How loud our stadium is and how loud they're going to be on opening night, it's going to be wild. We're all looking forward to it.
You said that there are a couple of areas that you've been targeting in the offseason to improve on. Can you be a little more specifically on that?
That's just between my goalie coach and myself. Just between Schwartzy, Dilly, and myself. Those areas we've targeted, we've made some progress. I'm feeling really, really confident in those areas. I will continue to keep working at it.
One of the offseason trends it seems was Chuck bringing in a number of guys who have previously worn letters on their sweaters. From your vantage point, do you expect that kind of on- and off-ice leadership to maybe level off some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows that have kind of plagued this team throughout your tenure so far?
I'm not sure. I think the guys coming in definitely bring some leadership to the group and we already have some great leadership in our locker room. I think that some more is only going to benefit our team. Like I said earlier, I've heard great things about all these guys. I think we're going to have a fun locker room. We've always had a fun locker room. Some of these guys coming in, I’ve heard some great stories. I think we're going to have a really fun team this year, and we're going to have a great squad.
One of the sentiments that Chuck Fletcher had throughout the offseason when it came to the new additions was being able to defend less and try to maybe help you out in that areas. When they give you a new deal like this and show their confidence in you being able to bounce back from last season as well in addition to the support system, what does that mean to you?
It's really great to know that an organization is behind you and they trust you. Now it's my job just to go out and play the game. Right now, just train and work as hard as I can to be prepared for the season. I know everybody else is doing the same. And Chuck's made some great moves this summer. Lost a couple great guys, but in return got a couple other great guys as well that are going to be big addition to our group and only going to help us going forward. A lot of new faces looking forward to meeting them here in the fall. It'll be great to get to work here soon.
You spoke a little bit about the new guys that have come into the team this year. A prevalent theme with a lot of them has been some excitement on what Chuck Fletcher has been able to do this offseason, especially guys like Cam Atkinson and Keith Yandle have come in and kind of said that was really a big selling point for them to come to the Flyers. How much does that kind of pump you guys, when you hear guys like that, say how excited they are about the changes that have been made and kind of why they decided to come to Philadelphia?
You want players to come and play for your team. When guys are excited and want to come and play for you, that's what you want. In a locker room that wants to succeed, you want players like that on your team. Like I said, I've heard great things. I've talked to some of those guys already and they seem like beauties. It's going to be a lot of fun this year and we're going to have a great locker room. Just looking forward to getting started.