Garnet Hathaway Back On Boston Bruins Radar?

Reports are gaining steam that the B's want to retain the hard-hitting Maine native that was a perfect fit in Boston

The conventional wisdom was that Garnet Hathaway was not going to return to the Boston Bruins after this season.

The Maine native is a bottom-6 forward, so obviously he won’t make astronomical money on the open market. But the Boston Bruins largely avoid locking up their bottom-6 forwards to long term contracts and aren’t in any position for luxury salary cap items with less than $5 million in cap space this offseason.

It didn’t appear to be a likely scenario as everybody assumed Tyler Bertuzzi is the player that Boston is working hard to retain.

The last time the Black and Gold signed a bottom-6 energy forward type to a longer term deal it was Chris Wagner, who ended up playing mostly in Providence for each of the last two regular seasons after signing a three-year, $4.05 million contract extension during the 2019-20 season after Boston’s run to the Stanley Cup Final.

That makes it something Boston Bruins management is likely to avoid.

But now there are rumblings that the Bruins are looking to sign both Tyler Bertuzzi and Hathaway after bringing both players on board as rentals last season.