July 01, 2024
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
Garnet Hathaway filled a key depth role for the Flyers in his first season in Philadelphia.
The Flyers re-upped another vet at free agency's opening on Monday, inking depth winger Garnet Hathaway to a two-year, $4.8 million contract extension ($2.4 million per).
Hathaway signed with the Flyers on a two-year deal last summer and quickly established himself as a skater who could regularly grind out tough minutes at the bottom six of the lineup, as well serves as a calming and guiding voice in the locker room.
His stat line for last season stood at seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points with a minus-seven rating at 12:29 of average ice time, but in-game he could be a hard-skating spark that offered a jolt with a big hit or a hard-checking shift that wore the opposition down.
"Garnet has been a great addition to our team and we're very happy to extend him to be a Flyer for the next several seasons," general manager Danny Brière said in a statement. "His style of play and level of professionalism had a big effect on our group last season, and he embodies the standard our team set out to build both on and off the ice."
Hathaway was entering the last year of his current deal with the 2024-25 season and at a cap hit of $2.375 million, per CapFriendly. The total value of that original contract over the two years was $4.75 million, so essentially, he's getting a slight raise to stay on for a couple more years at a cost that won't really handcuff anything the Flyers could try to do later.
OFFICIAL: @GarnetHathaway’s going nowhere! #LetsGoFlyers https://t.co/L9eqjviZpO
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 1, 2024
Hathaway will turn 33 in November and the new extension will last him until he's 35.
The deal also solidifies the Flyers' fourth line between Hathaway, Ryan Poehling (extended for two years in January), and Noah Cates, but may have just made Scott Laughton's current standing with the Flyers all that more curious, as Poehling is around five years younger and plays a similar role, and Hathaway could arguably fill the leadership void that would be left in the locker room.
MORE: Veteran d-man Erik Johnson re-signs with Flyers on one-year deal
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