When Garnet Hathaway signed a two-year deal with the Flyers last summer, not even two months after the organization publicly embraced a rebuild, nobody really knew if this would be more than a brief marriage.

The Flyers were in a significant transition with an emphasis on youth and development. Hathaway was a veteran, hard-nosed winger that contending teams covet for Stanley Cup runs.

The match had the potential for a breakup come one of the two trade deadlines over Hathaway’s contract.

Not so much anymore.

Hathaway is now under contract for the next three seasons after signing another two-year deal with the Flyers two weeks ago. Danny Briere has thoroughly appreciated Hathaway’s impact on the team’s present and future.

And the 32-year-old wanted to stay a part of it.

“I think when you ask Danny, we talked last summer and at that point, a two-year deal made a lot of sense for both of us,” Hathaway said Monday in a Zoom press conference. “For me, it was a great opportunity and a challenge to come in and prove myself. Prove that not only will they see me as a part of their two-year plan, but more than that. I want to be here when their plan really continues to take off and you see us be even more successful than we have been.”

In Year 1 with the Flyers, Hathaway became a tone-setter for the team’s standard on the ice. Briere called him “a Flyer-type player” when the club first signed him.

One year later, he had no problem signing him to an extension with a similar cap hit ($2.4 million a year).

“A player like that, you’re going into next year and you get to the trade deadline, and if the team’s not doing well, now you’re thinking, ‘Are we trading him?'” the Flyers’ general manager said two weeks ago. “Now you’ve got to negotiate with him and all the teams start calling, [the AAV] can escalate in the [$3 million range]. We wanted to keep the cap hit [around] the same. When we saw that he was also willing to extend for pretty much the same cap hit, it got interesting for us.”

Hathaway was one of four Flyers to play all 82 games last season. He had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) over 12:29 minutes per game and recorded the NHL’s second-most hits with 326. He was also a key penalty killer for the Flyers, scoring one of the team’s league-leading 16 shorthanded goals.

Down the stretch, Hathaway and 25-year-old center Ryan Poehling helped form an effective line that played top-six minutes at times. It wouldn’t be surprising if they open the 2024-25 season on a line together.

“I would love that,” Hathaway said. “I think Poehls is an unbelievable player. I was so happy for him when he signed his extension. He came in on that one-year deal that he really had to prove himself to be able to get his next contract, let alone prove to this organization that they made a great decision and they wanted him to be around longer than that initial, short-term plan. They see him as a part of the big plan.

“Chatting with him a bit this summer, I know his work ethic, I know he’s going to be ready. He’s a good player that I think we complement each other. He’s got that speed, that skill, that vision and then his awareness on the D-side of the puck, I think he’s really good. I’m excited for him to take an even farther, bigger step.”

In February of the 2022-23 season, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins acquired Hathaway from the Capitals. Now under contract for three more years with the Flyers, he shouldn’t have to worry about the trade deadline this season.

But that won’t change his approach.

“I don’t think there’s really ever a moment to feel free,” Hathaway said. “Playing in this league, you can’t take your foot off the gas and feel like, ‘Hey, I’ve made it. Hey, I have time for this, I can take a step back.’

“I want to live up to how the organization sees me and the role I play for this team, I want to be there for them.”