2023 Player Ratings: Garnet Hathaway had his moments during a brief Bruins tenure

(Editor’s note: When putting tougher the rating sheets for this series, I somehow forgot to include a few forwards on the writer ratings. Blame summer, I don’t know. In any case, that’s why Hathaway, among others, only has a reader rating. You folks are the law, in this case.)

This is not meant as an insult, but Garnet Hathaway was probably the Bruins’ least flashy trade deadline acquisition.

When your competition for headlines features a talented top-pairing defenseman and a top-six scorer, the grinder is rarely going to get top billing.

Hathaway, like his fellow deadline men, was acquired to fill a need: toughness, heaviness, and depth toward the bottom of the lineup.

For the most part, he did all of that: not flashy, but firmly in the “meets expectations” camp, and that’s about it.

Playing mostly on the fourth line, Hathaway had the not-so-great possession metrics you’d expect from a guy who faced very tough sledding in terms of deployment.

He chipped in on the penalty kill at a regular clip and reliably brought some of the toughness the Bruins hoped for when they acquired him.

Like most of his bottom-six mates, Hathaway didn’t have a good playoffs, and was essentially a non-factor.

His best game as a Bruin came in late March, when the Bruins took home an exciting 2-1 win over Tampa at TD Garden.

Hathaway fought Pat Maroon ten seconds into the game, then scored the eventual game-winning goal late in the second period; the Bruins clinched the Atlantic Division crown with the win.

I can't embed the fight for some reason, so watch on YouTube.

Good times.

Hathaway earned himself a two-year deal from the Philadelphia Flyers this summer, so his time with the Bruins was brief.

And overall, it was fine. Some good, some bad, but ultimately, the Bruins have guys in-house who can fill his role.