The Department of Player Safety has decided that Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman’s slew foot on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ross Colton did not rise to the level of a suspension, issuing a $4,250 fine instead. The fine is the maximum allowable under the CBA, based on Hartman’s current salary.
The incident, which occurred late in the first period on Sunday night and resulted in a tripping penalty for Hartman. He then received an additional five-minute major for fighting when Zach Bogosian engaged him almost immediately after he exited the penalty box. Colton avoided a serious injury on the play and ended up seeing nearly 16 minutes of ice time in the game.
Slew-footing has become something of a trend in the NHL this season, with several different players earning fines or suspensions for incidents similar to the one that happened in Tampa Bay. Just last week, Kevin Labanc received a one-game suspension for nearly the same thing, with the league including the explanation that “what causes this play to rise to the level of supplemental discipline is the speed the players are traveling and their proximity to the boards.” Perhaps in the Hartman case, they did not feel it included those same factors.
Glad Hartman got fined the max for the slew foot on Colton. Glad Colton is “ok”, dangerous play. At least now the NHL DoPS has an additional paper trail (besides the 1 game playoff suspension for a head hit in 2017 and fine for slashing in 2018) on Hartman. If he gets dinged for slew foot in the future it should be a suspension. At least that’s how it is supposed to work..