The Minnesota Wild will be without forward Ryan Hartman as they conclude play on their 2022-23 regular season. Thanks to an illegal check on Tuesday night, Hartman received his one-game ban following a telephone suspension hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Wednesday morning.
Taking out some retribution on Nikolaj Ehlers following a legal hit on Kirill Kaprizov, Hartman took the opportunity presented to catch Ehlers with a blindside check in the neutral zone, as the Jets forward chased down his opponent.
Much like that of a pick in basketball, or a block in football, Hartman stepped into Ehlers and sent him hard to the ice, which resulted in a two-minute interference minor.
“Obviously last time we played them Kirill went down," said Hartman, who had previously been suspended once. "They seem to target him sometimes so sometimes you've got to make a statement.”
The hearing resulted in a one-game ban for Hartman, whose club next plays on Thursday in Nashville, in Minnesota's final game of the season. It will begin the postseason somewhere between the fourth and sixth place in the West, depending on how the team plays in Nashville.