The Philadelphia Flyers have added forward Garnet Hathaway for the next two seasons; the team announced Saturday afternoon. The contract pays him $4.75 million for an average annual value of $2.375 million. Hathaway spent most of the last four seasons with the Flyers’ division rival, the Washington Capitals. Washington traded him to Boston in February, and the Bruins did not extend him a new contract.
Hathaway, 31, plays a style seemingly perfect for the Flyers’ “Broad Street Bullies” nickname. The right winger has more penalty minutes, 490, than total NHL games played in his career (457). He led the Capitals in penalty minutes prior to the trade that sent him to Boston last season. He was in three fights during the regular season; he fought Patrick Maroon twice. Hathaway totaled 268 hits in his 84 regular-season appearances, which ranked eighth in the league and fourth among players who played only for a team in the Eastern Conference.
His most successful offensive season came in 2021-22 when he reached double digits in both goals and assists for the first, and so far only, time in his career. He finished with 14 goals and 12 assists in 76 games for Washington that season. He has recorded double-digits in either points or assists only one time each: in 2018-19, he scored 11 goals for the Calgary Flames, and in 2020-21 he had 12 assists for Washington.
