SOURCE: Flyers Want At Least 2 First-Rounders for Hart?

What do the Philadelphia Flyers want for Carter Hart?

Earlier today, Jeff Marek speculated that the San Jose Sharks could be interested in the 24-year-old star goalie.

SPECULATION: Sharks Interested in Carter Hart?

Hart has a $3.979 million cap hit this coming season and is an RFA after that.

“Most likely, Carter will be our goalie for the future, but I’m not in a position to turn down anything,” new Philadelphia GM Daniel Briere told local radio station 94.1 WIP two weeks ago. “I have to listen.”

So what would get the rebuilding Flyers’ attention?

Anthony Di Marco of the Fourth Period, the first on the Hart news yesterday, told San Jose Hockey Now that Philly would likely want “significantly more than they got for Provorov.”

San Jose Hockey Now can corroborate that. So what does that mean for teams interested in Hart?

Yesterday, the Flyers kicked off their rebuild by trading No. 1 defenseman Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a three-way trade, including the Los Angeles Kings, that saw Philadelphia acquire the Blue Jackets’ 2023 first-round pick (No. 22), the Kings’ 2024 second-round pick, and a 2024 or a 2025 second-round pick from Columbus.

The Flyers also got Los Angeles to retain 30 percent of the 26-year-old blueliner’s remaining salary, along with prospect Helge Grans, and the contracts of Cal Petersen and Sean Walker.

Petersen (two years left at $5 million AAV) and Walker (one year left at $2.65 million) are salary dumps.

“A good young goalie should require more than that to be acquired,” a league source told SJHN.

Would two first-round picks start the conversation?

“Start it, yes,” the source mused, “but that wouldn’t end it.”

That doesn’t sound like something that the San Jose Sharks, in the midst of their own rebuild, can afford.

But regardless, what would that look like? Just speculating, but that might be the 2023 New Jersey Devils’ first-round pick, acquired in the Timo Meier trade, and the San Jose Sharks’ 2024 first-round pick, say lottery-protected.

And that’s just to start?

For what it’s worth, there aren’t a lot of comps for a Hart trade. Young, established No. 1 netminders with upside aren’t usually dealt.

But those comps suggest that two first-rounders might be an overpay.

In Oct. 2020, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded 26-year-old Matt Murray to the Ottawa Senators for a late 2020 second-round pick and prospect Jonathan Gruden.

In Jun. 2016, the Anaheim Ducks traded 26-year-old Frederik Andersen for a late 2016 first-round pick and a 2017 second-round pick.

For what it’s worth, Murray and Andersen were RFAs when they were dealt, while a team acquiring Hart will have him for another affordable year before he becomes an RFA. The 24-year-old, 25 in August, is also younger, so he’s under team control for longer.

So it also makes sense for the Flyers to want a return that will eclipse these Murray and Andersen comps.