NHL DOPS lightens Hartman’s wallet for slew foot

Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman seemed to show immediate regret and contrition after slew-footing Tampa Bay’s Ross Colton on Sunday, trying to grab the centerman and prevent him from hitting the ice any harder than he did.

It may have prevented him from being suspended.

Hartman’s wallet, however, is a little bit lighter today as the NHL’s Department of Player Safety levied a $4,250 fine—the largest allowable by the current collective bargaining agreement—for the trip on Colton. Hartman also served a two-minute minor for his transgression, and later answered the bell by fighting the Lightning’s Zach Bogosian to fulfill the NHL’s honor code or whatever.

In the end, the smaller paycheck is a much preferred result as opposed to a suspention that would have kept him off the ice for at least the Wild’s next game, Wednesday night at the New Jersey Devils.

Hartman has been suspended once prior in his career, sitting for one 2017 playoff game while with the Nashville Predators due to a head hit on the Colorado Avalache’s Carl Soderberg, and has been fined while playing with the Blackhawks when he slashed Brayden McNabb of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018, and also last season with the Wild for tripping the St. Louis Blues Sammy Blais with his stick.