Fans Furious As Garnet Hathaway Accused Of Intentionally Injuring Leafs Jake McCabe

With the Toronto Maple Leafs securing a 3-2 overtime victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, the team continued their strong 2025 start and are winners of three straight.

Auston Matthews made his return and has started to look more like the player fans have come to expect, not to mention the explosion of offense from Matthew Knies who recently had his first career hat-trick.

It wasn't all great news for the Maple Leafs on Sunday though, as defenseman Jake McCabe left the game due to a potential concussion suffered after fighting Philadelphia's Garnet Hathaway. The Flyers forward landed hard on the defenseman and McCabe's head hit hard against the ice.

However, fans with a keen eye have noticed something else a bit more disturbing. On landing, it seems Hathaway tried kneeing/kicking McCabe in the stomach, trying to cause more harm than he already had.

So it begs the question: Should the NHL punish Garnet Hathaway?

It might be excusable if McCabe was injured solely on the basis that he accidentally hit his head on the ice upon falling. Those incidents while rare, do happen over the course of an NHL season.

But there's something to be said about a player winding up his leg and trying to deliver an MMA-style strike to his opponent's stomach. Whether he was trying to take the wind out of McCabe's sails, or try to inflict serious harm is unknown but it's something that needs further examination.

It also should be noted that Toronto's Max Domi ended up receiving a $5,000 fine for elbowing Hathaway later in the game, and if the league wants to ensure parity and impartiality; they need to punish Hathaway too.

Hathaway is no stranger to being underhanded on the ice. He once was suspended three games for spitting on defenseman Erik Gudbranson; not only against the NHL rules but broke one of the unspoken rules of hockey.

He also got fined for a dirty hit on Joel Eriksson Ek earlier this season, has been ejected several times for his disrespectful actions, and is known for being a pest on the ice wherever he's played.

This season, Hathaway has three goals, nine assists and 40 PIM in 40 games played.

The NHL needs to take these past actions into consideration and at the bare minimum issue a fine, and Hathaway would be in line for a suspension. He should have received a match penalty for attempt to injure, but he got away scot-free whether through referee ignorance, or worse.

If McCabe misses an extended period of time, and Hathaway doesn't get any type of repercussions, it will be another black mark on the NHL's track record of handling these incidents.