Flyers’ Garnet Hathaway fined $5,000 for elbowing Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek

The incident happened less than two minutes into the second period of Saturday’s meeting between the Flyers and Wild. Hathaway caught Eriksson Ek with an elbow up high, leading to a minor penalty against the veteran winger.

The fine is the maximum allowable under the current collective bargaining agreement. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Eriksson Ek had already missed two games already this season due to a broken nose suffered after receiving an elbow from Seattle Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson back on Oct. 12. Saturday’s incident, along with a general displeasure with the officiating, led to critical comments from Wild forward Marcus Foligno in regard to Hathaway.

“[It’s] what he has to do to stay relevant in this league,” Foligno said when speaking to the media.

It was a very chaotic and wild game on Saturday night between the two teams. Along with multiple skirmishes, the teams combined for 12 goals, with the Flyers coming out on top, 7-5.

This is the second time Hathaway has been fined this year. Back on Oct. 13, he was fined $5,000 for kneeing Columbus Blue Jackets’ defenseman Zach Werenski. The 32-year-old has been fined four times in his NHL career, including being suspended three games for spitting at Erik Gudbranson in Nov. 2019.

In eight games this season, Hathaway has registered three points with a plus/minus of -2, totaling 14 penalty minutes thus far.

In 547 career appearances, Hathaway has notched 65 goals and 77 assists for 142 points. He has also registered six points in 31 playoff games.