‘Rival’ goalie prospects look ahead together
VOORHEES, N.J. » Felix Sandstrom was talking Thursday about how good he feels and how it feels just to be in good career standing with the Flyers again. Coming in and standing just a couple of feet away was Carter Hart, the next longawaited “franchise goalie” for a franchise that always seemed to be short in that department.
Hart, 19, had the kind of season that prospects and the people who pick them, develop them, coach them and pay them dream of.
For Everett of the Western Junior Hockey League, Hart won 31 of 41 starts last season, fashioning a 1.60 goals-against average along the way. The Silvertips won the Western (U.S.) Division but were eliminated from the league championship series in six games by Swift Current.
That didn’t stop Hart from being named the league’s most valuable player, a fitting individual achievement after a year in which he led Canada to the World Junior Hockey Championships gold medal, beating Sweden in the final.
On that Swedish team, of course ... Felix Sandstrom.
“We’re always competing against each other, of course,” Sandstrom said Thursday as the Flyers’ Prospect Development Camp got under way at the Skate Zone. “The development camp is to develop, so it’s good to talk to each other and learn from each other. It’s been great to compete against these guys and talk to them.”
In the 30 years or so since Ron Hextall was a top, homegrown prospect here, goalies largely haven’t been part of the Philadelphia hockey development landscape. There were some attempts along the way to change that, but mostly to little success.
The Flyers’ best postHextall drafted goalie was Roman Cechmanek — who was 29 at the time. The successful Czech League veteran was given a sixthround potshot in 2000, then decided to sign with the Flyers and become their next net hope.
Other than calling out his team for poor play on the ice in the middle of a playoff game, Cechmanek didn’t make much of a stir in the history books. He wasn’t alone.
Then-GM Bob Clarke had drafted Dominic Roussel in the third round in 1988 to little avail, picked Brian Boucher with the 22nd overall pick in the first round in 1995, then Maxime Ouellet also with the 22nd overall pick in 1999. At least Boucher had one great playoff run in 2000, and a halfa-run to the Cup finals in 2010 in his second (or was it third? ... fourth?) tenure.
Ouellet and Jean-Marc Pelletier, Clarke’s first pick in 1997 (30th overall in the second round) would become trade bait guys who never stuck in the NHL.
Learning the lessons of Bob and the goalies, Paul Holmgren didn’t try to draft one very high until 2012, when with his first selection he took Anthony Stolarz in the second round (No. 45). While consecutive knee surgeries have all-but derailed Stolie’s career, he is under contract this season and hoping to rebuild himself with the Phantoms. But unless Michal Neuvirth is traded at some point, Stolarz might be gone by the end of training camp.
That’s because it’s Carter Hart’s time to shine, even if he was drafted a year after Hextall had decided he better fill his goaltending ranks through the draft. Hart, the No. 48 overall selection in the second round in 2016, is a bonafide star in waiting, with the oh-so cautious Hextall pinky swearing this first foray out of juniors will probably only land Hart a spot with the Phantoms.
Of course, he has to earn it.
“I don’t know what their plans are for me,” said Hart, who turns 20 in August. “My goal is to play in the NHL next year and whatever happens, happens. I just have to control what I can control. I’ve got a big summer of training ahead of me to get ready for training camp in September.”
Asked what’s different for him now from the intriguing teen he was at the last two Flyers development camps, Hart said. “just the experience.
“Going through two World Juniors (since then) and playing in an outdoor game (against Team USA last December), that was something crazy,” Hart said. “And going up with the Phantoms (as a practice player) and stuff like that. I think just experience and playing games, I’ve matured a lot through my past four years at Everett.”
Meanwhile, Sandstrom, Hart’s organizational teammate for the past two years and rival on the international stage, largely had a year to forget. He experienced frequent bouts of dehydration and had stomach issues after games last season, which led to his being dumped by one team in the Swedish Elite League before signing with another.
Sandstrom, 21, the first of three goalies Hextall took in the 2015 draft (third round, No. 70 overall), said doctors think it was a reaction to a case of mononucleosis he’d had previously. But he has been healthy for a while now.
“It was in the throat and ain the stomach, it’s hard to translate it into English,” Sandstrom said of the malady that so negatively impacted him last season. “It went away with some time, rest and some medicine and all that stuff. The struggle was more of recovery after games. I was staying at my weight but it was tough to do because I couldn’t really eat after games or practices for a while. I had some trouble with the recovery but it’s a lot better now.”
So now Sandstrom is looking at one more rebuilding year in the Swedish Elite League before signing on with the Flyers for good. Or so he’s hoping.
Of course, Carter Hart will have already had a year’s head-start on Sandstrom.
“What happens, happens,” Sandstrom said. “But I’m looking forward and that’s it.”