Regular Season:
Playoffs:
Key Stat: Garnet Hathaway was on pace to either match or eclipse his career highs in both goals and points this season. He had nine goals and 16 points through just 66 games compared to his 11 goals and 19 points through 76 games in Calgary last season.
The Good: Hathaway signed a four-year, $6 million contract with Washington last summer, and the acquisition absolutely paid off. He added physicality, grit, and offense to the Capitals’ fourth line, and he appeared to adjust to the Caps’ system quickly. He played very well with the other members of a Washington fourth line that often helped set the tone for a shift or two. Hathaway was also an incredibly valuable penalty killer, despite only skating for 85 of the Capitals’ 414 minutes on the PK this season.
Another fun stat to keep in mind when you move on to the next section: Hathaway drew 35 penalties this season, which ties Jack Eichel for third-most in the league this season.
The Bad: Garnet Hathaway takes a lot of penalties, folks. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who watched Capitals games this season, but Hathaway was on pace to break his previous career high of 88 PIM in 2017-2018 with 79 PIM in just 66 games. His 24 total penalties were tied with Lars Eller for third-most on the team. Hathaway is an effective penalty killer, which makes it even worse to watch him take a trip to the box. Opposing teams take advantage of his tendency to be undisciplined at times, and it definitely hurt the Caps on occasion.
The Video: On October 19, 2019, Garnet Hathaway did the following: got his nose broken on a high hit from Jacob Trouba, left the game, came back, fought Brendan Smith to defend Dmitry Orlov’s honor, laid three hits, and scored a goal. Let’s relive the best part of that night together, shall we?
The Charts:
The Discussion: Hathaway was part of a Capitals’ fourth line that varied a lot throughout the season with players rotating in and out. How will having what looks to be a more cemented fourth line affect his play? Will having one year with the team under his belt improve his performance? What would it take for you to give Hathaway a 10 next season?
Other Hathaway Season Reviews: Peerless
The Vote: Rate Hathaway below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.