June 26, 2026
James Guillory/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Tyson Foerster making sure you remember Garnet Hathaway's role in this.
The Flyers roamed their locker room, smiling, laughing, and completely calm.
It's April 13, and just after the morning skate ahead of their biggest game in years, where a win that night against Carolina would clinch a playoff spot that seemed borderline impossible just a couple of months before.
Of course, the stakes couldn't be ignored. The media moving through for interviews and soundbites wasn't going to let any player forget, and they all knew they were on the doorstep of new ground anyway, because a large part of the team had either never been to the postseason or hadn't been in a long time.
But they knew, for sure, that they were ready for this. The room carried that unspoken, just know it in your gut feeling that they were going to win that night, and that for the first time in years, the Philadelphia Flyers would finally return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And sitting at his locker stall, a bit removed from all the noise of extra cameras, recorders, and scribbling notepads, was Garnet Hathaway, who even when things were looking bad (and they did a lot and for a long time), always carried a stern assurance that the Flyers were going to be OK.
One arduous shootout win over the Hurricanes later, they were, and then some.
"We know we're a younger group that's been developing together," Hathaway said that morning. "You know, our first year, we were in those situations where we were in must-win games and it didn't work out for us.
"It was continuing to take that adversity and realize, 'Hey, that's how I felt the first time. How can I fix that? What was good for me? What was bad for me?'
"And I think throughout the stretch we've been going on now since the [Olympic break], it's been figuring out a way to play the right way of hockey, to help a collective team win. And I think when you go back to that, it's we gotta control what we can control. That's been day in and day out for us."
But it took a few years to get there. Hathaway saw it develop when he first signed on with Philadelphia in the summer of 2023. He helped establish it even.
As a player alone, Hathaway's contributions were always going to be limited and focused. He was a fourth liner, and an agitator. He wasn't going to score many goals, and never did, but he was going to skate the hard checking line minutes at full tilt, throw a big hit to wake up the whole arena, and as an undrafted player who had to work for everything he's earned in his NHL career, he was quietly going to be influential off the ice in showing the younger players that the organization was beginning to hang its hopes on what it means and takes to be a pro.
And he got to see that process through.
It was never a straight line, but the Flyers got younger, they got better, they got a key boost from an energetic and veteran bottom line of himself, captain Sean Couturier, and late-season add Luke Glendening, and finally, Tyson Foerster scored that last goal, Dan Vladar made that last save, and the Flyers emerged as an actual playoff team that Philadelphia was ready to embrace again.
The next month was a rush, which Hathaway played an unsung role in as the Flyers went on to beat the rival Penguins in the first round, then held up against the eventual champion Hurricanes better than most in the second, to a standing ovation and cheers from their fans despite a 4-0 sweep.
But part of that process for a vet like Hathaway is seeing himself eventually get pushed out of it.
Hathaway was traded to the Florida Panthers on Thursday for a fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-rounder ahead of the NHL Draft this weekend – Florida is also getting the Flyers' sixth-round pick on Saturday as part of the deal.
It was time.
The 34-year-old was crucial in establishing the health of a developing Flyers locker room, but now that they've taken that step into the playoffs and have a stable amount of early-mid 20s youth who have been around long enough to know how to maintain themselves, the team can afford to try and fill that roster spot on the wing with another younger piece looking to make a name for himself in the NHL.
MORE: An NHL Draft cheat sheet of all the Flyers' options at No. 21
His on-ice production in terms of sheer numbers will never fully speak to it, but the edge Hathaway skated with and the understated guidance he brought to this still-forming era of the Flyers will stick within that room for years.
So when they are at the next major step, there won't be fear. There will be smiles, laughs, and a sense of calm, because they'll be ready for it.
MORE: The NHL threw itself into trade chaos, and all the Flyers have to do is wait
A few more loose thoughts from Thursday following the Hathaway trade...
• The trade probably opens up the door for Luke Glendening to return next season. The Flyers really liked what he brought to the fourth line late into the season and through the playoffs, and since he's 37, he's probably a much more affordable means to keep a veteran forward presence around. The other part about the Flyers' interest in keeping Glendening around: He was able to switch in and out at center with Couturier, which helped the team manage key faceoffs (Couturier is left-handed and Glendening is right-handed), along with better managing each's usage.
• The Flyers still only have four picks in the draft this weekend, but if they get that 2027 first-rounder from Toronto for the Scott Laughton deal, as expected, along with the conditional seventh from Carolina in the trade of Nic Deslauriers, they could have 10 picks in total next summer, including five through Rounds 1-3.
• Word broke Thursday night that Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson turned down an eight-year, $15 million per year contract offer from the Seattle Kraken, on the presumption that the two teams had already worked out some sort of trade, per Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman.
Robertson is a 40-plus goal-scoring forward, but he's a restricted free agent who the Stars appear to be at a crossroads with since they're facing a salary cap crunch. He's also 26.
The key thing for the Flyers here: That $15 million annual price tag Seattle threw out is ridiculous, but the Flyers do have cap room to use, and now it's out there that a younger star like Robertson is available for trade.
• Hathaway was heavily involved in the community during his time in Philadelphia, and at the end of last summer, he launched a beer collab with DogFish Head, where the proceeds of his Engine 19 IPA went toward support causes for local first responders. I hope they find a way to keep that beer around. It's good.
• The memorable Hathaway moments from the playoff run...
His tap-in goal in Game 2 after Owen Tippett completely embarrassed every Penguin on the ice:
TIPPETT TO HATHAWAY ON THE PENALTY KILL!
— NHL (@NHL) April 21, 2026
The @NHLFlyers take a 2-0 lead! #StanleyCup
📺: @espn, @Sportsnet, & @TVASports 2 pic.twitter.com/tbrBDYJg7U
GARNET HATHAWAY WENT PRIMAL AFTER THE PLAYOFF RISTO GOAL. pic.twitter.com/aD85xSC6Yn
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) April 23, 2026
Garnet Hathaway on watching Game 6 from the press box (he was scratched for it): "I was f***ing losing it..Yeah, if I was mic'd up, it'd be a bad one."
— Nick Tricome (@itssnick) May 1, 2026
He definitely fit Philadelphia.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
