A new season calls for a new name to kick off Caps Outsider’s ‘Getting to Know the Caps’ series and a name that has been bouncing around the commentary booth in the opening games of the Capitals’ season is Garnet Hathaway. Hathaway is a strong addition to an already talented Capitals line up and moved from the Calgary Flames as a free agent to the Capitals in July this year.
Brought up in Kennebunkport, Maine, Hathaway grew up supporting the Capitals. With his older brother Ephraim supporting the Capitals and Hathaway’s uncle once working with Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, Hathaway remembers travelling to see the Capitals play the Maple Leafs and viewing the game from Leonsis’s box. Now, 20 years later, he finds himself back in DC in a Capitals jersey.
A quirky story coming out of Hathaway’s Capitals home debut on October 5th was the fan who was spotted at Capital One Arena with LOBSTAH on his jersey. This harks back to Hathaway’s childhood years in Maine during which his father worked in the lobster processing industry. The family business would be passed on during Hathaway’s college days as he and one of his team-mates from the Brown Bears started their own business serving lobster rolls out of an old sausage cart. Before NHL prospect camps came calling, Hathaway and his business partner saw all of Rhode Island as they took the cart all over making some change from the lobster rolls.
From a hockey perspective, Hathaway played 121 games with the Brown Bears before joining the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat in 2014, then played for the Adirondack Flames. He played 72 games for the Flames during the 2014-15 season, which impressed the NHL scouts. Hathaway was signed to the Calgary Flames on a two-year contract in April 2015 and begun his NHL career path.
The majority of Hathaway’s season in 2015-16 was spent with the Stockton Heat during which he recorded 21 points in 44 games before being recalled by the Flames in early 2016. Hathaway spent the next few seasons building up in NHL numbers, playing 85 games for the Flames over the next two seasons.
Hathaway became a reliable member of the Flames roster in Season 2018-19, his sixth with the organization, skating in 76 regular season games and 5 playoff games with Calgary.
Hathaway has already brought speed and presence to the Capitals line up, scoring his first goal in the home opener against the Hurricanes on October 5th. He is back to where his heart lies and he make even make you a lobster roll if you ask nicely.
Welcome to DC Garnet Hathaway!
via the City Paper: How Garnet Hathaway, a Kid From Maine, Grew Up Rooting for the Capitals
“I never met him. I gotta try to find out who it is,” Hathaway told City Paper of this fan. “It’s hilarious. Support like that, it’s really welcoming. It’s helped the transition a lot.”
