“True progress quietly and persistently moves along without
notice.”
-- Saint Francis de Sales
Progress is measured in various ways. In pro team sports it might be how a player
makes developmental progress through a team system, or it might be, in the case
of hockey, how goal or point totals might increase over time. For winger Garnet Hathaway, signed by the
Washington Capitals this summer to a four-year/$6 million contract, progress
might be described in games played.
Undrafted as an amateur, Hathaway finished a four-year tour
with Brown University in the NCAA before signing as a free agent with the
Abbotsford Heat, the AHL affiliate of
the Calgary Flames, in March 2014.
Thirteen months later, he signed a two-year contract with the parent
Calgary Flames. After a pair of one-year
extensions as a restricted free agent with the Flames, he reached unrestricted
free agency status and signed with the Caps at almost double the salary ($1.5
million) as he earned in his last deal with the Flames ($850,000).
In his four years with the Flames, Hathaway’s games played
rocketed upward. Fourteen games in his
first year, 26 in his sophomore season, 59 games in 2017-2018, followed by 76
games last season. His offensive
production improved commensurately, from 0-3-3 in 14 games in his first season
to 11-8-19 last season. Last season, his
ice time was an indicator of team success, too.
This is not unusual for bottom six forwards, who might be expected to
get more time in games in which his team is successful, not having to put more ice
time burden on point producers in games in which they trail. Nevertheless, Calgary was 11-1-0 in games in
which Hathaway skated at least 13:30 (he averaged 10:32 per game for the
season); 4-5-0 in games in which he skated less than seven minutes.
Odd Hathaway Fact…
Calgary was 14-8-2 in 24 games in which Hathaway did not
record a shot on goal, 22-9-4 in games in which he recorded one shot, and
11-5-1 in the 17 games in which he recorded multiple shots. Those are points percentages of .625, .686, and
.676, respectively. Shots seemed not to
be a function that contributed much to team results.
Bonus Odd Hathaway Fact…
Garnet Hathaway was the only player in the league last
season to skate fewer than 1,000 minutes and record five or more game-winning
goals. He had five in 800 minutes of ice
time.
Fearless’ Take…
Hathaway was a persnickety shooter last season (77 shots on
goal in 76 games), but he was an efficient one, ranking fifth among Flames’
forwards in shooting percentage (14.3 percent; minimum: 25 games). While the shooting frequency did not increase
above his career numbers (101 shots in 99 games prior to last season), his
shooting percentage was almost three times better than the previous season (5.9
percent).
He also found himself in the regular rotation of Calgary
penalty killers, ranking fourth among forwards in shorthanded ice time per game
(1:42). His ice time did have a somewhat
odd component to it, though. He was tied
for shortest shift times among Calgary forwards, with Mark Janikowski (0:41;
minimum: 50 shifts).
Cheerless’ Take…
Of 13 Calgary forwards dressing for more than 25 games last
season, Hathaway had the only personal shot attempts-for at 5-on-5 percentage
under 50 percent (49.51). That number
was especially poor, compared to forward teammates, in close game situations
(47.15 percent, worst in that group of forwards and more than three points
worse than James Neal). He occupies an
unremarkable niche in the league. Over
the last four seasons, 13 forwards played in all of them, appeared in 150-200
games and recorded 30-50 points. It is
populated by players such as Matt Read, Derek Grant, Jujhar Khaira, and Curtis
Lazar. The Caps saw something in this
player, as a free agent, to offer him a four year deal, twice as long as any of
his previous contracts (his entry level deal was for two years). The Caps were fond of such term this
off-season (the same term on contracts for Carl Hagelin and Richard Panik, so
at least there is some consistency there.
Potential Milestones:
- 200 career NHL games (175; he needs 25)
The Big Question… Does Garnet Hathaway have a way to stand
out in the bottom-six scheme of things?
Out… Brett Connolly, Andre Burakovsky, Devante
Smith-Pelly. In… Richard Panik, Brendan
Leipsic, Garnet Hathaway. The three
departed forwards combined for 38 goals last season, 34 in 2017-2018 when the Caps
won the Stanley Cup. The incoming trio
combined for 30 goals last season, 17 the year before. It would be a stretch to think that the incoming
trio, even if all of them make the squad and get full-time work, would match
the offensive production of the outgoing group, but the team did make an effort
to improve the defensive performance of that group and provided visuals of how
that might be accomplished by the newcomers.
Hathaway is, in a way, the most intriguing member of the
threesome, if for no other reason than his rapid rise in games played and
offensive production over his four NHL seasons.
He merits some comparison to Brett Connolly. Hathaway does not have Connolly’s draft or
prospect pedigree, but his early career performance (16-24-40 in 175
games) is not a lot different from
Connolly in his first four seasons (18-16-34 in 139 games). After scoring nine goals in 71 games with
Boston in his fifth NHL season, Connolly found a scoring touch in Washington
with 52 goals in 217 games over three seasons.
Hathaway had a career high of 11 goals last season in Calgary, almost tripling
his total of the previous year (four).
That was entirely a product of an increase in shooting efficiency (14.3
percent versus 5.9 percent the previous year), but Connolly found his stride in
this area in Washington, too (18.1 percent over three seasons versus 9.2
percent over his first five seasons). If
Hathaway continues his early career improvement, he could stand out among the
newcomers.
In the end…
Clearly, the Caps saw something the casual fan might not
have seen in Garnet Hathaway to enlist him with a four-year contract. If he continues to improve at something like
or even near the pace with which he improved over his first four seasons, he
will look like a bargain. If last season
in Calgary was a plateau, then his getting a sweater on a regular basis might
be in question. He will be right in the
middle of perhaps the most competitive aspect of training camp, in the odd
position of competing among two other players who are newcomers to the
club. It will make for one of the more
interesting aspects of training camp, and even the early season, to watch for
Caps fans.
Projection: 58 games, 9-12-21, even