Flyers trade veteran forward Garnet Hathaway to Panthers for draft picks
The Flyers are sending a sixth-round pick with Hathaway for a fifth-rounder in 2026 and a fourth-round selection in 2027.
The Flyers are making a few changes on the fourth line.
The team announced Thursday that Garnet Hathaway has been traded to the Florida Panthers along with a 2026 sixth-round pick for a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft and a 2027 fourth-rounder. The Flyers now own four picks in this weekend’s NHL draft: 21, 53 (second round), 136 (fifth round), and 213 (seventh round).
Signed as a free agent in 2023, the 34-year-old winger played three seasons in Philadelphia and put up three points in 66 games last season, down from his 21 points in 2024-25 and 17 in 2023-24. Alongside Sean Couturier and Luke Glendening, he was part of a formidable fourth line in the playoffs, scoring one goal and recording one assist in eight games while asserting himself physically.
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A Maine native who graduated from Brown, the undrafted Hathaway ranked fourth in hits in the NHL across his three seasons in Philly. The past two seasons, for every hit the Flyers recorded, Hathaway and his wife, Lindsay, pledged to donate to local first responders with a match from Flyers Charities through Hits for Hath’s Heroes. Following the 2024-25 season, the Hathaways donated $30,000 to the Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation, a Conshohocken-based nonprofit.
Hathaway has one year left on his two-year extension signed last July 1, which is worth $2.4 million annually. A team source has confirmed to The Inquirer that the Flyers will retain 50% of Hathaway’s salary, leaving a cap charge of $1.2 million on the books for 2026-27.
With the move, the Flyers have two of three salary retention spots available for next season. The Flyers still have a projected $33.6 million in cap space with which to extend restricted free agents Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras, and to make any new additions to the roster.
The trade is the latest tweak to the roster. Last week, they acquired defenseman Simon Benoît and goalie Joseph Woll from the Toronto Maple Leafs for goalie Sam Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae, and a third-round 2026 draft pick.
Jackie Spiegel contributed to this article.
