How Ryan Hartman responded from ‘wake-up call’ to give the Wild his best: ‘He’s a dog’

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ST. PAUL, Minn — There was a point during Game 4 on Saturday when Ryan Hartman raced off on a rush on a partial breakaway. He didn’t score, not this time, but in lingering around the net, he took a punch to the face from Vegas’ Ivan Barbashev.

No reaction. No retaliation.

What we’re seeing from the Minnesota Wild veteran during this first-round playoff series is a mix of will and willpower, skill and sandpaper. This might be some of the best hockey Hartman has played, at least reminiscent of his 34-goal season three years ago. Teammates say the playoff style suits Hartman, who scored the double-overtime goal in Game 1 against Dallas in 2023.

“He’s agitating, can make plays, and he’s been doing it for these playoffs,” said winger Marcus Foligno. “He just comes. He’s a gamer. He’s a dog. And he lives for this type of game. It really fits his style.”

This has been quite the turnaround for Hartman, who went from the doghouse following his eight-game suspension in February to being one of the team’s top players in this series. He’s a big reason why it is tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Other than Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov and perhaps Foligno, Hartman has been the Wild’s most consistent, all-around forward. He became the second player in Wild history to register at least one assist in each of the team’s first four playoff games of a single year (following Zach Parise in 2014). His 3.78 points per 60 minutes in the playoffs nearly doubles his regular-season average (1.51 per 60).

“I’m just trying to play the game hard, try to be undeniable, and go out there and earn time,” Hartman said. “Obviously we need everyone at all times.”

Undeniable. No matter what’s happened in the past, no matter how ticked off a coach might be at you, if you start delivering in the big moments and start earning back that trust, it’s hard to keep you off the ice. This type of role was hard to envision back in February, when Hartman was in the midst of a “mind-body reset” during his lengthy suspension for roughing Tim Stützle. Whether you believed Hartman’s explanation — that shoving the Ottawa Senators’ forward’s face to the ice on a faceoff wasn’t intentional — the Department of Player Safety and commissioner Gary Bettman did not. Even in reducing Hartman’s suspension from 10 games to eight on appeal, Bettman said he hoped this suspension — the fifth of Hartman’s career — would be a “wake-up call.”

When Ryan Hartman got suspended, John Hynes and #mnwild staff came to him with a plan.

“He was all in.”

A look inside the work Hartman did behind the scenes, from changing how his skates were sharpened to going through a “mind-body reset.” https://t.co/RlaNgNeJe5

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) March 19, 2025

Wild president of hockey operations and GM Bill Guerin felt the same way, saying there was “no more leeway” for Hartman. He insisted Hartman must be on his “best behavior.” Patience appeared to be running thin in all areas, from management to coach John Hynes to some of the fan base. One wondered if Hartman’s future with the franchise was in jeopardy.

“I think all that stuff can get to your head too,” said Ryan Carter, a former Wild player and current color analyst. “You’ve got your GM saying, ‘Hey, no more.’ You’ve got your coach saying, ‘We can’t be doing this.’ You’ve got a fan base saying that. You’ve got other fan bases saying what they will. The Department of Player Safety — a big suspension, overdid it. Commissioner comes in and says, ‘Hey, even I think we overdid it.’ I’m sure (Hartman) felt like everybody was against him. Now is an opportunity to win everybody back, and I think he’s playing like that.”

A lot of the groundwork for this run was put in during Hartman’s nearly month-long suspension layoff.

It could have gone one of two ways. Hartman could just bide his time and get ready, not thinking anything had to change. Or Hartman could take it to heart. It seems like the latter took place. Coaches were impressed with how Hartman attacked the plan they gave him during the suspension, including working on the ice and in the gym with skating coach Andy Ness and strength and conditioning coach Matt Harder. Hartman worked on his skating, his skills (specifically his shot) and even tweaked the shape of his skate blade for the first time since he was 5 years old.

“He was all-in on the plan,” Ness told The Athletic. “For me, I didn’t discuss what happened (with the suspension). He didn’t either. It was just looking forward and taking each day and just seeing the bigger picture.”

Hartman didn’t tear it up when he returned, scoring four goals (nine points) in the final month-plus of the season. But Hynes and the coaching staff noticed some changes in his game. He was a willing skater. He was showing the required competitiveness. He didn’t take the bait when other teams tried to agitate him, and referees (as expected) didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt.

“He came back and it cleared his mind, but he didn’t come back at the level he’s playing at right now,” Carter said. “Something had to have switched and I think some of it is the playoffs are like a second season. He was able to close that chapter mentally on the regular season and the dark cloud that was following him around. The pressure to not antagonize or not cross the line has now kind of just gone away.”

Zoomed in on Hartman. Including the celly https://t.co/V1y8y6cO0F pic.twitter.com/iUsF6aq5W8

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 25, 2025

Hynes brought up Hartman’s play, and his restraint, between Games 1 and 2 in Las Vegas. Hartman had played well in Game 1, enough to earn a promotion from the fourth line to the third line. And Hartman did so without getting entangled in any extracurricular shenanigans on the ice, even when he got cross-checked in the face (with no call) behind the net.

As Foligno brought up, Hartman is being smarter about how he handles it all. In years past, he might have gone over the edge. But as Hartman put it after the game, “We’re not here to complain about anything.”

“That’s what you need,” Hynes said. “I thought he was channeling his competitive nature the right way. Loved the discipline he played with when he could have went off the rails. That’s a good message to our team, too, that he’s willing to sacrifice those things for the good of the team. And his mindset was, he just played.”

It brought to mind something Hartman said before the season. Last season was up and down for him, despite his 21 goals. The Wild missed the playoffs, which stung a core that’s used to hearing the questions about not winning a playoff series since 2015. When asked about the core’s role in helping to snap that streak, Hartman put it this way.

“We’re all leaders in that room. We’ve got some young guys that have stepped up and helped our team,” Hartman said. “The onus is on the veterans in this group to keep that locker-room presence. The best leadership is showing. You can talk all you want about ‘do this and do that,’ but how are you going to tell a guy to do something you’re not doing? If you want to tell me to work harder, you better be working just as hard. That, as a group, we all need to step up and be better.”

It was kind of fitting, then, that the line Hartman played on in Game 4 was with Foligno and Mats Zuccarello. All three veterans were signed to contract extensions before the 2023-24 seasons, one year ahead of hitting free agency. Those signings by Guerin were, at the time, criticized as being premature. Why rush signing them when they could be moved as valuable trade chips at the deadline if the season went south (as it did)?

But this type of performance by Hartman is why the Wild signed him to a three-year, $12 million extension. If he can channel this for the next couple seasons, the deal will end up being a bargain. The key question is whether Hartman’s recent play, and his response since the suspension, will fully give Hynes and the organization trust in him moving forward. The way Hynes has talked about Hartman, and his elevation in the lineup, seem like good signs.

“Give credit to Hynes because not all coaches can look past their biases,” Carter said. “They have their guys that are in their doghouse and sometimes it’s impossible for those guys to get out of the doghouse. But Hynes has recognized that Hartman is playing well and he’s given him an opportunity and Hartman has responded. It’s both sides of the bench right now. Hynes has positive things to say about Hartman, and he can hear and see those things, and I have to imagine that gives him confidence.”

Whether or not Marcus Johansson (lower-body injury) returns to the lineup for Game 5, Hartman should find himself in a prominent role. He’s been back on the second power-play unit and he played 21 minutes, 59 seconds, in Saturday’s overtime loss to Vegas. It’s the most he had played since March 19 in Seattle (22:26), the only other time he has logged more than 20 minutes this season. In the playoffs, Hartman’s goals-for percentage at five-on-five is 62.17, compared to 49.96 in the regular season.

“He’s been really good,” Hynes said. “Just the focus he’s playing with. He’s an extreme competitor. He’s got good talent. I like the combination of his competitiveness. He’s a willing skater. Then, when he does those two things and he’s focused in, he can have an impact from an offensive perspective. So it’s nice to see him playing his best at the best time of the year.”

(Photo: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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