Can Ryan Hartman Be the Spark the Wild's Rookies Need?

Think back to Ryan Hartman's magical 34-goal season with the Minnesota Wild. You'll undoubtedly remember Hartman's many connections with Kirill Kaprizov as their top-line center. The Russian superstar assisted over half of Hartman's goals (18) during that career season.

Look to the beginning of that year, though, and you'll find that Hartman was having a great season before he got that top-line assignment. The Wild hadn't promoted Hartman to be Kaprizov's pivot until November 24. By then, Hartman had already had nine goals and 13 points in 18 games.

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Hartman seemed to find instant chemistry with anyone in that season, regardless of where he was in the lineup. He produced when on grind lines with Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, and Nico Sturm. Heck, he even gave Rem Pitlick the only hat trick of his career, contributing the first assist on all three goals on November 13.

He was a spark plug, and while he hasn't reached those 30-goal heights since, Hartman has still produced at a 22-goal per 82-game pace over the past couple of seasons, even as his average time on ice dropped from the 18-minute range in 2021-22 to the 16-minute zone.

Right now, the Wild have a couple of rookies who need a spark plug.

Marat Khusnutdinov and Liam Öhgren have a combined 12 games this season (32 in their careers) and just one point so far. It's early, but as we saw with Marco Rossi in 2022-23, it's hard for a young player to build confidence when they're not on the score sheet. Khusnutdinov hasn't been able to flash his speed and skill nearly enough (just two shots on goal), and Öhgren has come up empty on his seven shots in four games.

Those players need a life preserver, and though Hartman has been out with an injury these past two games, he feels like the man for the job.

Over the past two years, Hartman has continued to show that he's not simply a product of Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. Just 11 of his 36 goals came off an assist from either of them. Meanwhile, he's finished off plays from forwards up and down the lineup, from stars like Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek and bottom-sixers like Freddy Gaudreau, Marcus Foligno, and Pat Maroon, per Hockey-Reference.

Inserting Hartman between Khusnutdinov and Öhgren seems like a uniquely neat fit for Hartman. Just as Hartman can play a skilled game or as an agitator, Khusnutdinov and Öhgren can play in different ways. They could respond to Minnesota's needs immediately, going all-out to score if behind or disrupting offenses with their speed and physical pressure when in the lead.

Slotting in Hartman to center them should also relieve Khusnutdinov of defensive responsibility, allowing him to focus on speed and shot creation. While the Wild hope Khusnutdinov can play the pivot full-time, getting him going might be more important than getting him reps at center at this point.

Having Hartman as a de facto fourth-liner (with power play responsibilities) is a luxury, and it's one made possible by Minnesota's third line. While Foligno, Yakov Trenin, and most recently, Gaudreau haven't found the score sheet yet (a combined two assists), they've dictated the terms of the game to their opponents.

It's early, but Foligno and Trenin have the fewest expected goals against per hour (0.99) of any combination of forwards that have played 60 5-on-5 minutes together. It doesn't matter if your checking line doesn't score, so long as they don't let their opponents score.

But Minnesota needs more scoring punch down the lineup. Their top two lines (Kaprizov - Rossi - Zuccarello; Marcus Johansson - Eriksson Ek - Boldy) have out-scored opponents 11-1 at 5-on-5 this season. They are out-scored 2-4 with any other line on the ice. Those lines are flying now, but someone will need to pick up the slack once they cool off a touch.

As weird as it might seem to put a $4 million, 20-goal center on the fourth line, that might be exactly what Minnesota needs to get secondary scoring in the lineup. Between the two rookies, Hartman would be able to give the Wild a level of skill on their fourth line, which they haven't seen since Hartman was playing that role in early November 2021.

All data via Evolving-Hockey unless noted otherwise and accurate as of October 23.