Garnet Hathaway grew up as a Bruins fan in Kennebunkport, Maine. Now the Phillips Academy and Brown University product will get to live out a childhood dream and wear the spoked B.
The Bruins acquired Hathaway and defenseman Dmitry Orlov from the Washington Capitals on Thursday night in exchange for Craig Smith and four draft picks.
On Saturday, Hathaway took to Twitter to say goodbye to the Capitals and the DC region, but also to express his excitement over joining the Bruins.
"We can't wait to join the Bruins! I was raised in Maine and it's been a dream to wear the spoked B for a long time," Hathaway wrote, while also sharing a photo of himself lying on the ice in the Bruins' crease surrounded by Linus Ullmark, Derek Forbort and Charlie McAvoy.
The trade has also gone over well in the Bruins' dressing room, with players acknowledging they'll miss Smith, but also sounding excited about seeing their already-league-best roster improved with two players they know are built for the playoffs and are tough to play against.
"Obviously playing against Garnet, you hate to play against him, which are usually the guys you love to have on your team," Nick Foligno said on Friday. "Orlov, we had a playoff series against those guys and I know how good he is as well. He was a big cog for them. They have [John] Carlson and it seems like him as their 1-2.
"I'm blown away that we could get a player of his magnitude on this team with what we already have. I think it shows that we're trying to do something special here. You get those players and I think it gives everybody in here a little confidence in the group that we have and now we've added more depth, more great players to this team. It's exciting."
Hathaway and Foligno could very well play on the Bruins' fourth line together, with Trent Frederic moving back up to third-line right wing once Tomas Nosek returns to his usual fourth-line center spot (which should be any day now). A.J. Greer should continue to rotate in and out of the lineup as well, giving the Bruins an abundance of truculence in their bottom six.
Hathaway and Orlov were expected to join the Bruins in Vancouver on Friday night. They could make their Boston debuts Saturday night against the Canucks, depending on whether coach Jim Montgomery deems them ready to immediately step in without getting a practice in first.
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