Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway were not the names Bruins fans had been hearing about in various rumors and reports for weeks, even months. Those names were the likes of Vladislav Gavrikov, Luke Schenn, Jakob Chychrun, Ivan Barbashev, and even Bo Horvat dating back to before his trade to the Islanders.
That is because there was no indication that Orlov and Hathaway were going to be available until the last couple days. The Washington Capitals were a playoff team. When they beat the Bruins at TD Garden two weeks ago, they looked like one that might still have a chance to put a run together with some trade deadline help.
Then they lost five in a row and dropped to 12th in the Eastern Conference on points percentage. Suddenly there were questions about whether they might consider moving any of their veteran pending free agents, Orlov and Hathaway included.
From a Bruins perspective, the Capitals selling -- and selling those two players in particular -- seemed almost too good to be true. They wanted another defenseman who could bring some physicality and handle meaningful playoff minutes. They wanted another bottom-six forward who could bring some nasty.
Suddenly there was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney didn’t waste any time. By Thursday night, Orlov and Hathaway were Bruins, with Craig Smith and a parade of draft picks heading out in return.
“I think we were trying to attack in two different areas and both Dmitry and Garnet I think bring some attributes that will complement our group,” Sweeney said on a Zoom call with reporters Thursday night.
It was the perfect deal, and that’s why Sweeney pounced, pulling the trigger on a move that he acknowledged “came together relatively quickly.” Potential trades for all those other names weren’t perfect, which is why none of them had gotten done yet.
Most notably, multiple reports had the Bruins very close to getting Gavrikov from Columbus. There were some issues, though. Gavrikov would have helped the B’s, but whether he’d ultimately be anything more than depth was unclear. He’s not as physical as the Bruins would have liked, and he has minimal playoff experience. A first-round pick and more was a steep price to pay for him. According to a source, the Bruins never had an agreement in place for Gavrikov; the Blue Jackets apparently believe they did.
Arizona’s price for Chychrun has always been too high. It increasingly looks like another deadline could pass with no one meeting it. Schenn would be a perfectly fine depth option, but he would slot in as a true seventh defenseman that you would hopefully not have to rely on too much in the playoffs.
Sweeney was smart to wait and see if something better presented itself. Enter Orlov. The 31-year-old is a better all-around player than Gavrikov and Schenn. He’s not tall at 5-foot-11, but he’s stout at 214 pounds and he plays physical. He’s a good skater and puck-mover and can kill penalties, and he’s played top-four minutes his entire career. He can play on the left or right side. He has 74 games of playoff experience and helped the Capitals win the Cup in 2018, playing over 24 minutes per game in a shutdown role during that run.
Exactly where Orlov slots in or what the Bruins’ D pairs ultimately look like remains to be seen. Sweeney said there will almost certainly be some rotation down the stretch. But what seems undeniable is that the B’s now have the best seven-deep defensive group in the league.
“He’s a very, very good puck mover, looks to get up into the rush,” Sweeney said of Orlov. “He’s a shot mentality on the offensive blue line, certainly defends with conviction, and does have an open ice mindset at times to be able to take away time and space effectively. We just think there is a real good hockey player there that has experience, has won a Stanley Cup, and adds to our group in any one of the areas that we think he can address and who he is going to play with.”
Orlov should be the most impactful addition in this trade. Hathaway might be the one Bruins Nation falls head over heels for by the time the B’s return from their Western road trip next week.
That will be a change. The Bruins’ previous relationship with Hathaway was not a friendly one. Along with Tom Wilson, Hathaway has been at the center of some of the bad blood between Boston and Washington in recent years. He injured Jarred Tinordi with a questionable hit in 2021 and shook up Brad Marchand with another last year.
Hathaway is a classic case of hate-playing-against-him, love-playing-with-him, though. His extremely physical style (he’s currently eighth in the NHL with 198 hits) will win over his new teammates and fans quickly. So will the fact that he brings more to the table, too. He’s an excellent defensive forward, and he has a pretty good shot (nine goals this year, 14 last season, and a career 10.5% shooting percentage). He’s exactly the kind of player you want on your fourth line in the playoffs, someone who will be an absolute menace on the forecheck. He also grew up a Bruins fan in Maine and played at Brown University.
Hathaway might not have as much offensive upside as someone like Barbashev, but his defensive play (Barbashev is not good defensively) and even higher level of physicality may very well make him a better fit in the Bruins’ bottom six.
Those characteristics also make him a better on-ice fit than Smith, a great teammate and locker room guy who just couldn’t find his game this season and couldn’t find a home in the Bruins lineup. Smith’s volume-shooting game didn’t mesh with Jim Montgomery’s quality-over-quantity system. He didn’t have the physicality the Bruins want on their fourth line, and he wasn’t scoring enough (4 goals, 6 assists in 42 games) to warrant a spot higher in the lineup.
“Garnet is a hard-nosed guy that’s going to be wired the way that we use our bottom-six and try to create some anxiety on the forecheck,” Sweeney said. “He disrupts, he kills penalties, bigger body and frame.”
There will probably be some who argue that the Bruins should or even need to still do more. Some will never give up the dream for a big-name scorer like Patrick Kane. Sweeney didn’t rule out making another move, but did acknowledge that he doesn’t anticipate being “overly aggressive” over the next week.
“We really like our team and hopefully, like I said, we’re going to stay healthy and monitor,” Sweeney said. “We have eight more days to sort of see, but for the most part our guys should feel comfortable that we’ve added to our group and it’s time to continue to do what these guys have set out to do and have a special year.”
The Bruins were already the best team in the NHL. On Thursday night, they got better, deeper and meaner. They added two players who should help them win in the playoffs, and they didn’t have to give up any key roster players or top prospects to do it. It still sounds almost too good to be true.
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