Detroit Red Wings hope to make Carter Hart’s debut one to forget
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings are taking on the Philidelphia Flyers in Philly tonight. The game will be the NHL debut for Flyers phenom goaltending prospect Carter Hart.
Fresh off of firing head coach Dave Hakstol, the Flyers have decided to call up young prospect Carter Hart. The kid is expected to be a star in the future for Philly. Apparently, the future is “now.” He will open his NHL career against an injured Detroit Red Wings club, which he has an opportunity to gain some early confidence against.
In a season that has seen General Manager Ron Hextall fired, now head coach Dave Hakstol is waiting in line at the unemployment office, the Flyers need help all over the ice. It simply wasn’t just a general manager or coach that has been the issue. The Flyers have had a revolving door in goal that they haven’t been able to get a grip on– a problem that has lingered for a few years.
They’ve tried Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth, Calvin Pickard, Alex Lyon, Anthony Stolarz and Petr Mrazek (last season). It’s quite the list, and none of these players were able to right the ship. In steps Carter Hart, many Flyers fans are anxious to see the well-hyped prospect, others are not confident he is NHL ready. The issue with a franchise rushing a player especially a netminder is breaking his confidence early and said player struggles to get it back.
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For the Detroit Red Wings, they are licking their chops. They have been struggling since the injury bug has landed and are having considerable trouble getting any sustained offensive pressure. Jonathan Bernier was terrific in New York Saturday night making 45 saves, yet the Wings lost in a shootout. It was their third straight loss, so they will be looking to attack the young netminder early in hopes of notching an early goal to try and rattle the youngster.
Howard will be in goal tonight for Detroit, many people had and they still might, Philidelphia as a possible landing spot for Howard. It is unclear if Philly has any desire to move a first round pick for a rental in goal, but that is Ken Holland‘s asking price. The play of Hart over the next couple of weeks should answer the franchise’s questions in net moving forward this season and beyond.
After Hakstol was fired, speculation swirled that Joel Quenneville was heading to the city of brotherly love. That isn’t the case, well as of right now. Joel is still under contract with the Blackhawks and although he is fired teams apparently still have to ask Chicago permission to speak with Joel. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher mentioned he hasn’t reached out to them.
For the Detroit Red Wings, they will need a much better effort from everyone if I can be brutally honest. They were hemmed in their own zone for much of the game in Long Island getting outshot to the tune of 48-21 on the night. 6 of those 21 shots came in overtime.
Thomas Vanek has a three-point night and is being rewarded for it tonight. Jeff Blashill is moving Vanek back up to the second line once again to play with double-A and Nielsen. The depth of the Wings has really taken a hit with Anthony Mantha being sidelined with a broken hand. He isn’t as impactful as say, Larkin but losing a top line winger has hurt the offensive depth.
The Wings are due for some timely scoring from the likes of Bertuzzi, Rasmussen, and Frk. If those players can find a way to chip in it will bode well for the Wings immediate success. This is a game where Bertuzzi should be utilized against power forward Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds loves to stir it up, and so does Bertuzzi.
The Detroit Red Wings projected lineup;
Justin Abdelkader (A) – Dylan Larkin (A) – Gustav Nyquist
Andreas Athanasiou – Frans Nielsen (A) – Thomas Vanek
Michael Rasmussen – Luke Glendening – Tyler Bertuzzi
Christoffer Ehn – Jacob de La Rose – Martin Frk
Dennis Cholowski – Trevor Daley
Niklas Kronwall (A) – Nick Jensen
Jonathan Ericsson – Filip Hronek
Injures; Anthony Mantha ( Hand), Darren Helm ( Upper-body), Danny DeKeyser(hand), Evgeny Svechnikov (knee) Mike Green (lower-body)
Next. Advantages of adding Alex Pietrangelo. dark
Game Information:
Detroit Red Wings 14-15-5 vs. Philadelphia Flyers 12-15-4
Time: 7:00 EST
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, NBCS Phi, Fox Sports Go, NHL.TV, ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
OddsShark Odds- Fav. Flyers -190
Head to Head last 10- Flyers 7-1-0-2