Vegas shield Carter Hart from any criticism in his return to Philadelphia

Carter Hart is back in Philadelphia for the first time since resuming his NHL career, but Philadelphia Flyers fans won't have the opportunity to see him play, let alone even hear him speak.

Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy announced today that Hart will not get the start tonight against the Flyers, opting instead for backup Akira Schmid.

"Carter wants to play every game. He's a very competitive guy," Cassidy said. "We discussed coming out, you'd play two out of three this week, and coming out of the Ranger game, he wanted to get right back in the net. So that led to a decision on Long Island. We discussed it obviously with him, but that was more us making a decision. I had to get Schmid back in pretty soon coming off the shutout, that's how we landed on it."

Interestingly enough though, the Golden Knights haven't even made Hart available to the media in Philly today.

Whether you agree with it or not, it's clear that the Golden Knights are trying to protect Hart from any and all criticism around the league. At a certain point though... the gloves will be off. It's only a matter of time.