Article: Ryan Hartman Needs To Figure Out What Type of Role He Is Going To Play

[Justin Wiggins]

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[Pewterschmidt]

As a charter member of the Ryan Hartman fan club I am not going to turn on him at this point.  I still believe he is a net positive in this lineup.

(Sandpaper + finish + loyalty + hot streaks) > (dumb penalties + quitting on plays)

It seems though that there is a spotlight on his warts this season.  This spotlight is beginning to bring the equation above more into balance.

Memo to Ry-guy: be a pro bro.  Now that you have your contract (job security) don't get mentally lazy.  Continue to play with heart AND remain smart.

If you begin to play like NoJo, that's a no-go.

I'm not being a meanie when i say you could lose TOI to Luchinni.

Edited January 6 by Pewterschmidt

[mnfaninnc]

I also like Hartman because he can score but is more of a hard guy to play against. I believe his years with Zuccarello and Kaprizov changed the way he plays, he's become more finesse. I believe Hartsy needs to get back to his roots and start playing with more grit.

What that means is finishing checks, driving the net, and being an absolute pest. Dropping the mitts a little more might help. As for offense, he has too many misplays. He needs to work on the strength of that shot and eliminate so many of the flub/flutter shots we see from him. I also believe he used to skate harder. 

Hartman's identity is a guy who is willing to go do the dirty work, the unpleasant things, and he seems to enjoy that. He'll pop in the secondary goals, and is probably good for 15-20 a year. But he's not that guy who potted 34. I still don't think he's fully healthy, especially on the right side upper body. It would be nice if he could re-strengthen that part. He is a menace to play against when fully healthy, and that is his reputation.

Also, with his current contract, I can live with that. He's a middle 6 guy who can be elevated when needed, but really should be on the 3rd line. I also believe him to be a better wing, but could see him centering that 3rd line. 

[MrCheatachu]

Hartzy is, in an endering way, a piece of shit.

And that's OK.  It seems like in the current NHL the old school enforcer role is gone from the game, but there is plenty of room for guys who are kinda a piece of shit on the ice. Guys who are able to stir up the pot enough to live rent free in the other teams heads, while also putting up points

Say what you want about Marchand (shut your pie hole Craig) but the guy's an absolute pest, who's also damn near a point-per-game player over his entire 15 year career.

Hate on Tom Wilson, but dude can actually play some hockey.  Look at the Thachucks. 

The Wild need Hartzy to 'play on the edge' but they don't have any room for specialists right now.  If he's going to be a piece of shit, he also needs to play some damn good hockey.  Hartzy needs to also display the high-end talent that you'd expect out of a first round forward.

 

[mnfaninnc]

I guess this is as good a place as anywhere to comment on last night's game. For starters, and keeping with the theme of the article, Hartman gets the only assist on the game tying goal. He carried the puck in, had patience, waited for Johansson to cut in and delivered a perfect pass to him for Johansson to shovel the puck into the net. Nicely done sir!

Both teams were reportedly beaten up. This was one of those wins which was stolen. Will it mean much? It might if we can split the home and home with Dallas. After a quick look at the standings, if the season ended today, we'd be drafting 6th. 

Observations from last night's game were:

1. Boldy answered the bat signal. He needed to and needs to keep this up.
2. Goligoski is really slow. After he got beat in the 3rd period flat footed in the neutral zone, Zuccarello passed him up to interfere a bit with the 2-1 shot. Goligoski lost about a stride with each stride he took. I think if he were to retire tomorrow, we'd still be on the hook for his cap number. The 2 year signing at $2m was a huge mistake.
3. We won this game, but Jon Merrill, I believe, played himself into the A last night. We'd be better off penciling in Hunt for the rest of the season. Sure, he'll make mistakes, but, at least, he'll learn from them. 
4. On another Merrill note, if you're going to drop the mitts, don't just take shots without throwing any punches, why even bother to drop them anyway, maybe then you don't get the roughing minor (which was embarrassing considering Olivier threw several punches).
5. Faber is really good. For all you Addison apologists, and why Addison was so valuable to this team because of his PP numbers, he has 7 assists working the PP all season long. Faber was recently added to the PP and has 1-4-5. I'd say he has replaced Addison on the PP sufficiently! A 3 point night last night, wow.
6. Out of all the players who could have scored in OT, Rossi needed that goal the most. With Kaprizov out, Boldy needs a Robin, and Rossi is the leading candidate for that role.
7. I hope Raska sticks around for the Dallas series. I have a feeling that will be where our meltdown comes. 
8. Petan showed why he is not a full time NHLer. Benched in the 1st period after allowing Sillenger to beat him to that spot. He'll probably be sent back down today. Maybe Beckman is healthy?
9. How long can Fleury keep starting without a break? Until he breaks I suppose. Nice to see him tie for 2nd place in wins all time. I thought he played well having essentially no chance on the 3 goals.
10. We did not beat a good team. We barely beat a bad team. Our team is in serious trouble if playoffs are the goal. We may be done by the allstar break.

If we are done by the allstar break, should John Hynes start overhauling the current system and implementing his? I would think getting a jump start on this might pay off later. I certainly hope he is practicing the guys hard every chance he gets, and by hard, I don't necessarily mean physically, I mean with a lot of teaching and emphasis on what he wants to see. 

Lastly, does Russo or Smith give us updates on injuries within the organization? I'd love to know updates on The Wall, Beckman, Milne and Hentges. It'd also be nice to know how Shaw is progressing? I don't know about you guys, but I would think that in between periods should include updates on the Baby Wild. 

[mnfaninnc]

Good news, The Wall is back playing for the Baby Wild. He played Friday and Saturday night. Bad news, he didn't do so well, giving up 4 and 3 with sv% below .900 

[Sviginak]

Nice assist by Grizzle last night on the Mojo goal to tie the CBJ game at 3. Anybody that can turn NoJo to Mojo even for a flash is a necessary player in my opinion.

[Will D. Ness]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Observations

Pretty much agree with everything, especially the eye test on Goligoski and Merrill... question is, why doesn't the coach?  It's not only obvious but painfully obvious.

Another painfully obvious thing is that our team is soft.  When #51 comes in.. a nobody afterthought from the Addison trade... and instantly looks like the best call up of the year in a matter of 2 shifts, then it really exposes our lack of size and to be honest lack of emphasis in drafting size and a general lack of appreciation for size and strength in putting together our bottom six as well as defense.

I mean Bogosian has been such an upgrade over Addison that I cannot believe that anyone is still a protagonist for Addison.  Bogosian isn't that fast or skilled but just gets it done due to size and attitude and experience.  

[Up North Guy]

4 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I guess this is as good a place as anywhere to comment on last night's game. For starters, and keeping with the theme of the article, Hartman gets the only assist on the game tying goal. He carried the puck in, had patience, waited for Johansson to cut in and delivered a perfect pass to him for Johansson to shovel the puck into the net. Nicely done sir!

Both teams were reportedly beaten up. This was one of those wins which was stolen. Will it mean much? It might if we can split the home and home with Dallas. After a quick look at the standings, if the season ended today, we'd be drafting 6th. 

Observations from last night's game were:

1. Boldy answered the bat signal. He needed to and needs to keep this up.
2. Goligoski is really slow. After he got beat in the 3rd period flat footed in the neutral zone, Zuccarello passed him up to interfere a bit with the 2-1 shot. Goligoski lost about a stride with each stride he took. I think if he were to retire tomorrow, we'd still be on the hook for his cap number. The 2 year signing at $2m was a huge mistake.
3. We won this game, but Jon Merrill, I believe, played himself into the A last night. We'd be better off penciling in Hunt for the rest of the season. Sure, he'll make mistakes, but, at least, he'll learn from them. 
4. On another Merrill note, if you're going to drop the mitts, don't just take shots without throwing any punches, why even bother to drop them anyway, maybe then you don't get the roughing minor (which was embarrassing considering Olivier threw several punches).
5. Faber is really good. For all you Addison apologists, and why Addison was so valuable to this team because of his PP numbers, he has 7 assists working the PP all season long. Faber was recently added to the PP and has 1-4-5. I'd say he has replaced Addison on the PP sufficiently! A 3 point night last night, wow.
6. Out of all the players who could have scored in OT, Rossi needed that goal the most. With Kaprizov out, Boldy needs a Robin, and Rossi is the leading candidate for that role.
7. I hope Raska sticks around for the Dallas series. I have a feeling that will be where our meltdown comes. 
8. Petan showed why he is not a full time NHLer. Benched in the 1st period after allowing Sillenger to beat him to that spot. He'll probably be sent back down today. Maybe Beckman is healthy?
9. How long can Fleury keep starting without a break? Until he breaks I suppose. Nice to see him tie for 2nd place in wins all time. I thought he played well having essentially no chance on the 3 goals.
10. We did not beat a good team. We barely beat a bad team. Our team is in serious trouble if playoffs are the goal. We may be done by the allstar break.

If we are done by the allstar break, should John Hynes start overhauling the current system and implementing his? I would think getting a jump start on this might pay off later. I certainly hope he is practicing the guys hard every chance he gets, and by hard, I don't necessarily mean physically, I mean with a lot of teaching and emphasis on what he wants to see. 

Lastly, does Russo or Smith give us updates on injuries within the organization? I'd love to know updates on The Wall, Beckman, Milne and Hentges. It'd also be nice to know how Shaw is progressing? I don't know about you guys, but I would think that in between periods should include updates on the Baby Wild. 

Nailed it again. Merrill gives traffic cones a bad name. He was not good last year but has regressed so far from that he may be a doppelgänger. Raska didn't show much offensively but certainly played a big boy game. He looks big but I don't know if he is.

[FredJohnson]

17 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Lastly, does Russo or Smith give us updates on injuries within the organization?

Unfortunately no. NHL teams let out 0 information about. Injuries.

[mnfaninnc]

7 hours ago, FredJohnson said:

Unfortunately no. NHL teams let out 0 information about. Injuries.

Sadly, you'd think the A would be a little more forthcoming. Especially in progress, like, is Beckman skating yet, is his return imminent? What the hell happened to Milne to keep him out this long? No, instead we just have to notice when a player shows back up on the stat sheet.