NEW YORK (AP) — Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman has been suspended three games for throwing a stick on the ice from the bench after a game last weekend,
the second time he has received supplemental discipline this season and the third over the past year.
The NHL’s department of player safety announced the ban for unsportsmanlike conduct after a hearing with Hartman on Monday.
The league in a video explaining the suspension said Hartman also verbally berated the officials around launching the stick following Minnesota’s overtime loss to Vegas on Saturday night and called his actions “intentional, deliberate and solely due to frustration.”
Officials agreed with Hartman that he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone but said the 29-year-old even acknowledged throwing the stick was unprofessional and unacceptable.
It’s Hartman’s fourth suspension since making his debut in 2015, and he has also been fined seven times. He got two games for tripping in late November and was suspended for Minnesota’s regular-season finale in April 2023.
As a repeat offender according to the collective bargaining agreement by being suspended within the past two years, Hartman will forfeit $62,195 in salary.