Ryan Hartman Needs To Commit to His New Identity

Fair or not, Ryan Hartman was tied to a few of his peers last summer in the short term. That happens when your general manager extends you and two of your teammates within weeks of each other with another year remaining on each contract.

Guerin extended Hartman, Mats Zuccarello, and Marcus Foligno to the consternation of many in the fan base last fall just before the start of the season. The length of those contracts and each player's age evoked various reactions of optimism and concern. The beginning of each extension looked positive, but doubts about their ability to still contribute at a high level in the latter years of each deal raised questions.

Fast-forward more than a year, and Zuccarello and Foligno seem to be living up to the beginning of those extensions. Each has carved productive roles on a Wild team that surprisingly competes with the teams at the top of the Western Conference.

Hartman is a former first-round pick and 30-goal scorer, but his role has been more difficult to find. It’s time for the gritty forward to identify his role on a roster suddenly filling up with forward talent here and arriving soon.

When those extensions were signed, it was easy to see the roles Zuccarello and Foligno would play, even if there were concerns about their ages. Zuccarello has been tied to Kirill Kaprizov's hip since the arrival of the Russian superstar. And while he’s missed time due to a freak injury this season, when healthy, he’s certainly lived up to that expectation, recording 17 points in 19 games and maintaining his status as the lead running mate for Kaprizov.

While Foligno hasn’t contributed to the scoresheet in his age-33 season, his defensive prowess in a shutdown role has been instrumental in allowing the Wild to regain their identity as one of the stingiest teams in the NHL.

Hartman was supposed to be the Swiss Army knife among the forward group. His 65 points in the 2021-22 campaign in a first-line role showed he could play alongside the Wild’s most skilled forwards when needed. When the Wild moved him around the lineup as other skilled, natural centers either arrived (Marco Rossi) or developed (Joel Eriksson Ek) in the next two seasons, he still showed he could produce in various roles.

In his last three seasons, Hartman has averaged an 82-game pace of 26 goals, 30 assists, and 56 points. It’s the sort of player type every contending team needs as they navigate a long season of injuries and adversity.

But this year has been a struggle for Hartman. With Kaprizov, Rossi, and Matt Boldy's continued ascension leading the way offensively for the Wild, Hartman has struggled to find an offensive role. His seven points trail more defensively inclined forwards such as Foligno, Marcus Johansson, and even Frédérick Gaudreau.

But it’s more than the lack of offense that has been concerning for Hartman this season. In a year where he isn’t producing on the score sheet at even strength, he isn’t making much impact in other areas.

Hartman has a single point on the power play as his role has diminished primarily to the second unit. He also hasn’t logged a single minute on the penalty kill, which has been a weakness for the Wild this season.

Even if Hartman can find a way to start contributing more this year, with the impending arrival of offensive talent such as Liam Ohgren and Danila Yurov, one must wonder what exactly Hartman’s role will be on a Wild team expecting to truly compete in the final two years of this $4 million AAV extension.

The Wild need Hartman to find that role now. And fast.

For a guy the Wild have lauded as a crucial glue piece among the roster, the type of gritty forward who can play anywhere in the lineup, Hartman hasn’t shown that this season. His offense has slowed down, but his defensive effort at times has also been severely lacking.

Hartman stood out in all the wrong ways in their blowout loss to the defending Stanley Cup Champions on home ice last Monday. On Matthew Tkachuk’s late tally in the second period to give Florida a two-goal lead, Hartman’s uninspiring backcheck left one of the league’s most dangerous forwards wide open on the back door for a tap-in goal.  

It's a play that perfectly encapsulates the role Hartman must embrace as the Wild’s roster continues to improve around him. The titled “gritty winger” needs to take that role head-on and start excelling in it to fit in Minnesota's future.

As Yurov and Ohgren make their way on the Wild, Hartman will be cemented even more to the third line with limited powerplay time. Sure, his value will still be in his ability to elevate into the top-six should injuries occur, but his everyday role needs to shift to being a strong defense-first forward who can provide offensive pop from the bottom-six.

Plays like the one in the clip above simply can’t happen for a player whose offensive output is slowing down. Whether it be his inexplicable step up in the neutral zone to create that odd-man rush or the lack of a backcheck that followed, it can’t happen. Hartman must become a defensively reliable forward in his new role.

Furthermore, the Wild desperately need a shakeup on their penalty-kill deployment. Minnesota's pitiful penalty kill has been the worst-kept secret in the NHL for a few years. Oddly, Hartman has yet to log a single minute shorthanded this season. That’s not his fault, as the Wild have attempted to rely upon other options, such as Foligno, Yakov Trenin, and Eriksson Ek, to fill those minutes.

However, the Wild have also acknowledged the importance of placing offensive-minded forwards on the penalty kill this year. This summer, John Hynes voiced his desire to have Boldy step up in such a role. He referenced how some of the best units in the league deployed offensive-minded forwards there because of their instincts about what an opposing powerplay is attempting to create.

For a guy who has seen a large chunk of powerplay time in his career and whose man-advantage minutes have diminished this season, it seems to be a perfect opportunity for Hartman to turn himself into a key penalty killer for the Wild. It could be a move to help save a unit that is quickly torpedoing any chance they have at competing in the playoffs this season.

Regardless of what the Wild choose to do this year, Hartman must step up and lean into a new role. He needs to become the true Swiss Army knife the Wild were expecting when they extended him to become a part of their window of competition.

It might not be the role Hartman has enjoyed in the past. Still, it’s what’s needed for him to become the “glue guy” the Wild envisioned him to become.