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Greg Wyshynski
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has reduced the suspension of Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman from 10 games to eight games in a ruling published Monday.
This is the first time Bettman has reduced a suspension from the Department of Player Safety since he dropped Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza‘s ban for kneeing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk in December 2021 from six games to four.
“Although I conclude that an escalation from Mr. Hartman’s prior three (3) game suspension to ten (10) games is not proportional here, I find that an eight (8) game suspension is both appropriate and supported by clear and convincing evidence,” Bettman wrote.
The NHLPA appealed the suspension on behalf of Hartman, who has already served four games of the ban that was handed down Feb. 3 for “using his forearm to violently slam the head of Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stützle into the ice,” as the Department of Player Safety said in its ruling. Specifically, the NHLPA wanted the suspension reduced to eight games.
On Feb. 1, with 16 seconds left in the second period and Ottawa leading 3-0, Hartman and Stützle took a faceoff. Hartman locked up Stützle’s stick with his leg, placed his right forearm on the back of Stützle’s neck and drove the Ottawa player’s head into the ice. Stützle’s helmet came off on impact, and he skated to the Senators’ bench with a cut bleeding over his left eye that required five stitches.
Hartman was given a match penalty. Stützle returned in the third period and assisted on two Ottawa goals as the Senators prevailed 6-0 at home.
The length of Hartman’s suspension was determined in part by his disciplinary history. In 663 NHL regular-season and playoff games, Hartman had been fined seven times and suspended four times — by the NHL’s count, Hartman has been disciplined once every 60 games of his career. Hartman has been considered a repeat offender in each of his past three suspensions.
This was also Hartman’s fourth suspension since April 2023. That includes a three-game ban last April for throwing his stick in the direction of a referee following an overtime loss to Vegas Golden Knights. He was given a misconduct penalty for “abusive language” in that game.
Bettman upheld the suspension for Hartman based on that disciplinary history and because he disputed Hartman’s claim that the incident with Stützle was accidental. “I believe — as did DPS and the on-ice officials — that Mr. Hartman intended to drive Mr. Stützle face first to the ice and he succeeded in that intent,” Bettman wrote.
But the reduction in suspension from 10 games to eight games was the result of two factors: that Hartman’s play was not “predatory” in nature and that there was no prior suspension by player safety that served as a precedent for this escalation in games.
Bettman indicated that there were counterarguments as for why Hartman removed his hand from his stick to drive it into the back of Stützle’s head. In the appeal hearing, there was discussion about whether Hartman’s hand had been knocked off his stick by Stützle. That was “a possibility that may have been enhanced by a thumb injury that Mr. Hartman had previously suffered” in October 2024, according to Bettman.
George Parros, the NHL executive VP of player safety, testified in the appeal hearing that he “did not conclude that Mr. Hartman intentionally removed his right hand off of his stick to deliver the forceful blow that resulted,” according to Bettman. In other words, that Hartman was not “targeting” Stützle on the play.
Bettman said that he agreed with Parros, that he would give Hartman “the benefit of the doubt” and that any proof of targeting would have meant a longer suspension.
The Department of Player Safety argued unsuccessfully that a 10-game suspension handed to Alexandre Burrows in 2018 for kneeing Taylor Hall was the comp for this suspension. But Bettman didn’t find enough similarity between the incidents to warrant the earlier one’s being a benchmark for Hartman’s suspension.
The NHLPA argued that other repeat offenders — such as Nazem Kadri, Evander Kane, Brad Marchand and Tom Wilson — did not have the same kind of increase in games from their fourth to their fifth suspensions as Hartman did.
“While I do not agree with the NHLPA’s formulaic methodology, nor do I agree that the suspension histories of Messrs. Kadri, Kane, Marchand, [Zac] Rinaldo, and Wilson provide particularly helpful comparators, I do find that an increase of seven (7) games from Mr. Hartman’s last suspension to this one is excessive in this case and that the quantum of increase should be reduced,” Bettman wrote.
In conclusion, Bettman believed that an eight-game ban would still be a sufficient “wake-up call” to a repeat offender like Hartman, “causing him to reevaluate his conduct on the ice and make positive changes of his game.”
As his suspension was greater than five games, Hartman still had the option to appeal to a neutral arbitrator after Bettman’s ruling. But he is not expected to do so and will be eligible to return for the Wild on March 4 in Seattle Kraken. Hartman will keep roughly $97,600 in salary for having had his suspension reduced.