If you look at the Philadelphia Flyers’ statistics through 21 games, you will see a few goose eggs that pop up at you. You expect Sam Ersson and Dan Vladar to have no goals and no assists so far this season. Goaltenders rarely end up on the scoresheet. You might also be surprised that although it’s just been 11 games, defenseman Emil Andrae is also looking for his first goal but does have three helpers. And that Matvei Michkov is still looking for his first game-winning goal of the 2025-26 season.

What you shouldn’t expect is to see one of 11 Flyers who have played all 21 games this year and is still seeking his first point of the season. And it’s here where fourth-line winger Garnet Hathaway enters the rather gloomy picture. Through six weeks of the campaign, Hathaway is still looking for that elusive point. And unless he goes on a scoring tear the rest of the season, he will come nowhere close to hitting the 21 points he did last year. At this rate, fans might be rejoicing his gets a point before the end of the calendar year.

What has Hathaway done this season? Well…

Hathaway, who just turned 34 this week, has been the one mainstay on the fourth line this year. The line is supposed to bring energy, cause a bit of havoc, but generally keep things simple and keep the puck away from Ersson or Vladar. If they can do that for between 10 to 12 minutes a night then that’s great. Rick Tocchet praised the line briefly in recent games, playing more as a unit. But as little as fourth lines are called on to generate offense, no team wants to have three forwards (Rodrigo Abols, Nic Deslauriers, and Hathaway) with a goal between them a quarter of the way into the season. Abols had that goal. Nikita Grebenkin also has a goal in 12 games. After that, it’s nothing. One could also throw Nic Deslauriers into the same boat but while the enforcer has nine goals in 182 games since becoming a Flyer, he has also contributed or played some role with the fisticuffs. Particularly this season and as recently as Monday night in Tampa when he fought the towering Curtis Douglas. Hathaway? Well, he has done nothing tangible. Or for that matter very little of the intangibles.

Without going too far into the underlying metrics of a player looking for his first point of the season before American Thanksgiving, Hathaway five-on-five has an expected goals share of 41.24 per cent. That’s down 10 per cent over last season (51.29). His high danger chances for percentage stands at 39.66 per cent, down 16 per cent from 2024-25 (55.81). As for the high danger goals for percentage, well, you need to score to have a percentage above zero.

Not to belabor the point much more, but it is almost comical to think the following players have more points this season than Hathaway: Karel Vejmelka, Scott Wedgewood, Sergei Bobrovsky, Logan Thompson, Jordan Binnington, Spencer Knight, Joey Daccord, Kevin Lankinen, Cam Talbot, John Gibson, Arturs Silovs, Elvis Merzlikins, Alex Nedeljkovic, Brandon Bussi, Vitek Vanecek, and Colten Ellis. All of those goaltenders have an assist this year. New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom has two.

So, with all of this information staring Rick Tocchet and the coaching staff in the face, it seems rather odd to see Hathaway — who seems like a character player and a “good guy” in the locker room — not be given a night off. It would almost seem ridiculous to see another forward on either of the other three lines go through a slump like this and not have the coach give that player a game to reset and refocus. Especially considering that Hathaway is a winger, not a center who is relied on down the middle. Yes, he does kill penalties (24:24 ice time on the penalty kill), but it’s quite conceivable his replacement could do the same job for a game or two. And considering just how poor the fourth line has played, would tossing Nikita Grebenkin into the mix with Abols and Deslauriers be a huge step back? Or give Carl Grundstrom another look? It probably couldn’t be much worse.

Why he hasn’t been scratched yet

Hathaway is probably on the downside of his career. Whether he’s simply lost a step or has hit a wall this season isn’t quite clear. So it would be practical for Hathaway to at least see a game or two from the stands while the coaching staff works with him to improve his game. Or at least cut down on mistakes. Perhaps the bigger picture would suggest that making Hathaway a healthy scratch could rub some players in the locker room the wrong way. And one thing Tocchet doesn’t need is to see any comparisons between himself and his predecessor regarding scratching players for subpar play. At least not 21 games into his tenure behind the Flyers bench. If the locker room is tight, and Hathaway is a key piece of that camaraderie, that might slightly override his play on the ice. Nobody is saying that’s the right call, particularly for a player who is looking more and more like he’s struggling. But it could be weighing a small problem with a veteran role player versus turning it into a bigger issue that gets more attention than it needs to.

Another possibility, and probably the more reasonable one, is to look at Hathaway as a potential asset at the trade deadline. Hathaway is in the first year of a two-year contract that pays him $4.8 million over that term. The $2.4 million Average Annual Value (AAV) isn’t a lot of money, particularly with a rising salary cap next season. As well, although it’s not huge, the two-year deal Hathaway signed on July 1, 2024 (with a year left on his first two-year deal with the Flyers) is slightly front-loaded. He had a $1.5 million signing bonus, making him earn $2.7 million this year. So teams would only be on the hook for $2.1 million in 2026-27 if Hathaway was seen as a trade possibility. That $600,000 difference between years might not seem like a big difference, particularly with the cap increase next year. Yet for every team trying to scrimp a bit on their bottom six or fourth line, Hathaway might economically fit a certain role for any contending team: a depth veteran with playoff experience who can still kill penalties.

The return? Well that would be minimal at best, but it would certainly be preferable to buying him out of his last year, particularly when Briere has made a point of wanting the buyout and retained contracts completely off the books sooner than later. Again, it’s a minimal amount of money. And wouldn’t kill the Flyers. However it’s irksome spending money on players no longer on the roster. Being a healthy scratch for any length of time probably doesn’t increase his trade value. Not that a lot of teams are currently looking for a pointless forward at the moment.

So, what happens?

The statistics don’t lie. Hathaway is no longer in his prime and is averaging just under 10 minutes of playing time per game. He might be lucky to reach 10 points in 2025-26 but would still be his lowest since 2017-18 with Calgary where he had 13 points in 59 games. So when it comes to having earned a spot with the Flyers 21 games in, he hasn’t. Not by a long shot. Hathaway might be getting the benefit of the doubt far more often than Abols, Deslauriers, or Grundstrom. Even calling up a player like Anthony Richard or Alexis Gendron to get a chance shouldn’t be a huge gamble for a game or two.

Another reasonable approach would be dressing seven defensemen and go with 11 forwards. With such a grinding schedule, shaving some minutes from Travis Sanheim or Cam York’s usage occasionally could be a bonus in the long run. If that’s the case it’s more likely that Abols and Grebenkin would be the 10th and 11th forwards on the depth chart for a few games while Hathaway clears his head and tries to turn over a new leaf.

Hathaway — who has been good in the community and created his own beer this season — would be the first to admit his struggles. It’s up to Tocchet and the coaching staff to give him a bit of a breather. It couldn’t hurt at this stage in the season. Nobody is expecting him to tear things up offensively. However, nobody expected him to fall off a cliff in terms of his play this year. A locker room reportedly as tight as Philadelphia’s should be able to withstand a Hathaway healthy scratch for a game or two. It can’t hurt.