Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman will meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Friday in Montreal to have the appeal of his 10-game suspension heard (as per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun). Hartman was suspended for the fourth time since 2023 for an incident on February 1st when he was assessed a match penalty for intent to injure after he smashed Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stützle into the ice after taking a draw. The suspension was the fifth of Hartman’s career, which certainly played a role in the length of punishment. Hartman was deemed a repeat offender and assessed accordingly.
The NHLPA filed an appeal on behalf of Hartman last Wednesday, which gives the 30-year-old the first of two opportunities to get his penalty reduced. If Bettman keeps his suspension in place or it remains longer than six games, Hartman can then appeal to a neutral arbitrator.
The Wild’s president of hockey operations and general manager, Bill Guerin, has expressed concerns before regarding Hartman’s on-ice discipline, telling Joe Smith of The Athletic that Hartman would need to clean up his game to avoid more severe discipline going forward. It’s been a tough line for Hartman to walk, given that he is effective when he plays on the edge but has gone over the line on too many occasions.
The financial impact of the appeal will be huge for Hartman as he is losing approximately $48,780 per game in the first season of the largest contract of his career.
Considering the player’s own coach and GM are calling him out, I’d be shocked if Bettman lessens the suspension. Maybe the arbitrator does. Hope not.
I recall Bill Guerin pummeling a minor leaguer relentlessly in a scrimmage during the Dallas Stars training camp some years ago, And the guy was on Guerin’s team. Welcome to uncle Gary’s Disney on Ice.
read your comment again, only slower, to help you realize more and more how awful a teammate and overall dude he was. youre not helping out, youre making it worse hahaha
who was the minor leaguer?
Hartman should not only have his suspension upheld, but have 2 games added for wasting the leagues time. Like when a team makes a bad challenge on a goal, 2 minute minor added. In a wrong appeal, you get 2 more games added.
And the league should start enforcing stricter suspensions for dirty plays not just based on the injury, but on the act. This was a play that doesn’t belong in the game and deserves the 10 game suspension, and in no way should Mark Stone have gotten off scott free for his dive at Miro’s knee vs Dallas a week or so ago. That was one of the most disgusting plays in hockey history and they claim it’s because a Stars player poked at his feet…
If Stones feet had been taken out on that little poke he would have been pushed far and away from Heiskinen’s path and a interference penalty warranted, instead he launched into the defencemans knee and just cost the young man half a season of his career.
Can’t upvote a comment that is right and wrong.
This was a calculated assault …by a player with a proven track record of idiocy. Your “supplementary discipline” would not be out-of-place.
Stone had a stick UNDER his skate just prior to the take-out. If an interference penalty was warranted, that was where it should have been called. He was out-of-control at the moment of impact.
Four games is more than fair for Hartman, It’s a shame that Billy boy is throwing his own players under the bus!
Sounds like you got the concussion Stutzle could have easily ended up with
It’s a contact sport, Bill Guerin has nearly 2000 career penalty minutes in his NHL career, Guerin has NO business throwing Hartman under the bus. I can’t wait to see the Wild regular season implode after the 4 nations circus comes to an end.
Dallas Stars training camp 2002, Bill Guerin wielded his stick like an ax, And chopped Brett Draney in the back of the head. ABC News. Billy boy has a short memory, And he’s a hypocrite for not defending Ryan Hartman.