Ryan Hartman finding his grove comes at the perfect time as now he will be the Wild's first-line center tonight.
ST. PAUL - It's been quite the season for Ryan Hartman and the Wild. Hartman started the season as the Wild's first-line center with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello alongside of him.
He then slipped down the lineup and when John Hynes came in to coach the Wild, Hartman was on the fourth line as the right winger.
Hartman, 29, quickly gained Hynes' trust and has been in elevated roles when he has had a good stretch of games. Tonight he will be the first-line center with Joel Eriksson Ek out of the lineup.
"I just see Hartman right now, playing a totally different style of game than he was earlier," Hynes said after the last game. "I'm really seeing why he's a valuable player. He's moving his feet. He's making good plays with the puck, and his shot is a threat. He's playing faster. He's competitive on the puck. He's making good decisions. Those are all the things we were looking, and I think he was looking to get to, and now you're starting to see his game get to where it needs to be to be an impact player for us."
In his last four games, Hartman has two goals and four points and has scored in two straight games. In his last ten games, Hartman has two goals and nine points. He has been playing well recently and now will be rewarded with more minutes in Eriksson Ek's absence.
"Yeah, I think he's got a good competitive balance right now. He's much more competitive on his puck battles, he's harder on the puck, and I think he's making strong puck decisions," Hynes said on Hartman. "Because he's skating and he's making better decisions with the puck, I think he and his line are in more offensive situations and then he's in scoring areas and he's got a shot-first mentality. So it's good to see."
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