It’s too soon to declare Hart a savior
A day before the Flyers would play a Game 7, Alain Vigneault was dragged into an impossible discussion.
Was Carter Hart, he was asked, as capable as Henrik Lundqvist of dominating a playoff series?
Technically, Vigneault, who had coached “The King” in New York, should have responded with two words: Stop it. But because the narrative has been that Hart is destined to rate among the truly best goaltenders of all time, the Flyers’ coach tried to hum along for a few bars.
“Carter is a young goaltender that we feel is full of potential,” he said, careful to keep Lundqvist out of it. “These games that he’s playing right now are in my estimation going to have some great value on him moving forward and becoming the goaltender that he can be. There’s still room for improvement.
He knows that. He’s just a young man right now, scratching the surface. He’s going to continue to work real hard, stay humble and become the best goaltender that he can be.”
There’s a value to being the best goaltender one can be. The issue is that around Greater Voorhees, Hart is being rushed into conversations about Ron Hextall and, uh-huh, Bernie Parent after having won one playoff series. It’s what happens when a fan base is in a four-decade vigil for a net-minding superstar.
The Flyers would fall, 4-0, to the Islanders in that seventh game, Hart allowing three goals before a fourth rippled an empty net. Because of that annoying little requirement that a team must score to win, he was not to be blamed for the loss. But he lost sight of the puck on one goal. On another, he had a good look and didn’t make the stop. He was OK.
As the Flyers enter another parade-free offseason, too many in a row anymore to continue counting, they have multiple issues. Hart, who was spectacular in the two overtimes of Game 6, is not one.
He is the Flyers’ goaltender of the future and should be a good one.
Just remember: If he is not another Henrik Lundqvist, he wasn’t the one who said he was.
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In public parks everywhere, afternoon and evening, often with people watching but sometimes alone on quiet fields, kids are enjoying sports.
They are playing softball, baseball, soccer, outdoor hoops. Some are practicing football. They’re running and slamming field-hockey balls. They’re swimming. Parents, friends and grandparents are cheering. Officials are officiating.
But this fall, none of that will be sanctioned by a Delaware County high school, for the grown-upsin-charge don’t want to absorb any risks.
Lost in that decision is the very reason why tax money is collected for high school sports in the first place: So that youth athletes could be supported by dedicated coaches, educated healers and sturdy equipment, so that they could exercise properly, practice a little sportsmanship, learn teamwork and generate some community interest.
But, no.
Not this year.
So instead, the kids will play on their own. And if any are injured, incorrectly coached, not properly conditioned or developing poor life skills, those school administrators just have to roll their feel-good muzzles up over their eyes and use them as blindfolds.
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As long as they are out there racing and not terrified by fear-spreaders, take the Tour de France off the I Don’t Get It list. Better luck next year.
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You know what’s always a good idea?
Spending a high draft choice on an injured football player.
Yep. Do that. That’ll work.
In fact, that’s what the Eagles did in 2017 when they invested a second-round pick on Sidney Jones, who had just needed to be wheeled off a draft-tryout field after injuring his Achilles.
Since, amazingly enough, there was absolutely no other healthy player available at the time, the Eagles had no choice. It would have to be Sid and only Sid. They’d work him back to health and he would be a superstar. Yep. That was the plan.
The other day, three seasons later, Jones was cut after showing an inability to remain healthy and to play at a high level.
Shocking.
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For Halloween this year, may I suggest going out without a mask?
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Let’s see. Ryan Howard. Chase Utley. Jimmy Rollins. Larry Bowa. Pete Rose. There’s five players who either had longer and more successful Phillies careers or were just as baseball-accomplished as Nos. 15 and 34.
That’s not to say Roy Halladay or Dick Allen would have been out of place in that company.
It is to say they are out of place without that company.
•••
Is there a robust reason for rock climbing that I’m missing?
•••
John Velazquez, 48, splendidly piloted Authentic to victory Saturday in a race at Churchill Downs that was promoted as the Kentucky Derby. As he did, it was a reminder of one of horse racing’s more endearing and under-utilized charms: The superstars can compete successfully deep into middle age.
With the spread of casinos and more recently sports gaming, thoroughbred racing will never regain widespread public appeal. But had the industry recognized years ago that the great jockeys should have been marketed, it may have found an opening along the rail to victory.
Thoroughbred racing should have gone to school on auto racing, which didn’t develop a massive following by promoting motor vehicles. It maximized its popularity by trumpeting the maniacs who recklessly drove them.
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I don’t get TV hucksters selling gold. If it is so important to acquire, why are they in such a hurry to get rid of theirs?