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Ryan Snow: The Oilers and Carter Hart? Resounding No. |
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The Oilers and Carter Hart
by Ryan Snow
With the announcement that all five players have been acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, a lot of people have been discussing the possibility of singing some of these players to their rosters. For the Oilers, the one player that would seem like a fit is Carter Hart. The Oilers goaltending struggles have been well documented and they absolutely need to do something more than a new goalie coach. Is Carter Hart the answer?
My answer is a resounding no.
Carter Hart is a very good goaltender despite the fact he struggled in his final season before the sexual assault trial. He would address a need, yes, but I really don’t see how this would benefit the team overall.
Should the Oilers sign Carter Hart, the entire talk around the team would be the fallout of the sexual assault trial, did the Oilers do the right thing, teamates constantly being asked about this, McDavid and Draisaitl having to put on a brave face and saying the past is the past and just a lot of unneeded noise and distraction around the team. It would no longer be about hockey, but morals and justice.
Right now the Oilers need to focus on winning and convincing McDavid to spend his entire career with the Oilers. I don’t see how having a media circus around the team is going to help this at all. All it will do is attract not only the sports media, but ALL media from everywhere.
The Oilers do not need this.
It’s hard enough to win in this league, they do not need the added scrutiny of the outside world to put pressure and dysfunction into their room. I’m not saying Hart would bring this with him, but everyone else will, no matter what your opinion on the matter is. Furthermore, like it or not, a lot of people would be angered by this, and would actively celebrate the Oilers losing games and the boo birds would be in full force, possibly even on home ice.
Finally, with Stan Bowman’s past with the Kyle Beach incident, signing Hart will only raise more eyebrows and it would really be a bad look for the organisation at the end of the day.
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