I have an issue with Hathaway in when Czarnik is far more skilled than him.
More skilled with the puck, but also more able to pressure the puck away from the puck. When Hathaway is on the ice we just get hemmed in.
The numbers support what I'm talking about, too.
Scoring Chances Against/60:
Player | SCA/60 |
Garnet Hathaway | 32.97 |
Sean Monahan | 32.95 |
Michael Stone | 32.26 |
Johnny Gaudreau | 32.11 |
Rasmus Andersson | 31.47 |
Noah Hanifin | 31.38 |
Mark Jankowski | 30.03 |
Sam Bennett | 28.69 |
Elias Lindholm | 28.6 |
Matthew Tkachuk | 26.91 |
Mark Giordano | 26.64 |
Dillon Dube | 26.33 |
James Neal | 26.08 |
TJ Brodie | 25.9 |
Mikael Backlund | 25.74 |
Juuso Valimaki | 25.55 |
Derek Ryan | 25.53 |
Michael Frolik | 23.98 |
Travis Hamonic | 23.81 |
Austin Czarnik | 23.25 |
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Taking Hathaway out makes a soft-ish team even softer. The game is moving towards skill and speed all the time but that doesn't mean you can completely ignore the grit element. I mean, Bennett's physical plays have been instrumental in two wins already.
Hathaway on the fourth line with his minutes getting cut in the third period is pretty much a perfect situation. And it sucks for Czarnik but they're not competing for the same spot for the most part. Czarnik needs to beat out the likes of Dube, Jankowski and Ryan to play regularly.
Although one can easily make the argument he has been better than all three and that Peters is playing favourites with Ryan especially or he just doesn't want to make changes after wins.
The difference between Hathaway and Bennett is that Hathaway brings nothing
but grit. Bennett brings everything, and also grit. One impacts the game much, much more than the other. I honestly think Lazar would be bringing more than Hathaway right now.