By Mikki Tuohy -
Ryan Hartman is absolutely the Minnesota Wild’s biggest rat, and fans here in Minnesota love him for it.
When you think of Hartman, several shenanigans pop to mind instantly. The biggest one is flipping off Evander Kane on national TV. The NHL fined and suspended him, declaring him a repeat offender. Of course, that means he also faces extra scrutiny for anything he does on the ice.
Therefore, it’s important for Wild fans especially to see the other side of Hartman because, as the ones who come to his defense, we need some good fodder ready to go.
First, Hartman and his wife announced the birth of their baby boy earlier this month. There’s nothing like becoming a parent to soften a person, even the biggest hockey rat. There’s something about creating a life that changes a person’s perspective. That doesn’t mean that Hartman is suddenly going to change his entire style of play. But it could make him second-guess some of those actions that toe the line.
After his wife and son, Hartman loves his dogs more than anything. Unfortunately, one of them passed away at the beginning of the summer. Hartman posted about it on his social media and wrote a very heartfelt post about Riley, who was almost 10 years old. Seeing a hard-nosed hockey player write with love and passion about a pet or child is always touching. It creates a little crack in their hard exterior for us to see the wonderful person they are inside.
But Hartman doesn't exclusively post about high-level family stuff. He has more fun quirks that elevate him to a three-dimensional character. He's a known pumpkin spice latte fan. In the infamous elevator video, he admits he had two of them the day before. A few days ago, he posted a local coffee shop’s countdown to their pumpkin spice season.
Humor is always a fun trait for an athlete to have. Hartman has shown his humor on Twitter and in some of his interviews. Before the infamous almost-goalie fight between Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Binnington, Hartman was chirping Binnington so passive-aggressively that it egged on the near-fight.
He also responded to a hate tweet in the funniest way possible. A social media user with the handle “Colonel, USAF, Retired” posted a long rant about Hartman, complaining about how he was a “living piece of human excrement.” Hartman simply replied, “Thank you for your service.”
Hartman appreciates the fans. He thanked everyone for donating to pay his fine when he flipped the bird at Kane and all the money to the Children’s Hospital. He also thanks individual fans. Here, he offers to give one of his defenders some tickets to the home opener.
Overall, having a little peek behind the curtain is always nice. Behind every hockey player is a human being, and it’s important to remember that. Everybody will have players they dislike, but they are dads, brothers, husbands, friends to someone out there. It’s important to be respectful.
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