NHLer Ryan Hartman Fined After Intentional High-Stick, May Have Admitted It On Hot Mic

NHLer Ryan Hartman of the Minnesota Wild has been forced to pony up a few thousand dollars after a high-sticking incident that happened on New Year's Eve against the Winnipeg Jets.

There's nothing particularly unusual about a player getting fined for something like this, but what is a little different is that the player he high-sticked, Cole Perfetti, says Hartman admitted it was intentional. It was also reportedly caught on a hot mic.

The two teams played a home and home series over the weekend, and this incident happened in the second game, which was played in Minnesota.

Under two minutes into the game, Hartman and Perfetti line up for a faceoff. As soon as the puck dropped Hartman briefly lifted his stick and caught Perfetti straight in the chops.

Ouch.

Perfetti stayed in the game and there was no call on the play.

What is odd is that later in the evening, Perfetti claims Hartman told him that the play was intentional.

“He said it in kind of a respectful way. ‘No disrespect, nothing against you. It had to happen for what happened to Kaprizov there,'” Perfetti told reporters on Tuesday, per Sportsnet.

Hartman was referring to a play that happened during the previous game in Winnipeg. There, Wild star Kiril Kaprizov took a cross-check from the Jets Brenden Dillon.

Hartman's Admission Was Caught On A Hot Mic, According To Perfetti

Of course, Perfetti and Hartman had nothing to do with that play so, it was certainly an odd move.

“Kind of a weird thing to come out and admit it,” Perfetti said. “He blatantly said it was for what happened (Saturday), even though I didn’t even do anything in the play. I had nothing to do with it.”

Even weirder was to cop to it, especially when Perfetti was mic'd up for the game.

“We caught it all,” Perfetti said. “I was mic’d up. I don’t know if he realized that or not.”

Fortunately to Hartman, that fact had nothing to do with the $4,427.08 — the maximum allowed — for the incident.

According to Sportsnet's Jeff Marek, the league isn't allowed to use mic'd-up audio when making disciplinary decisions.

Ryan Hartman and his bank account are probably breathing a sigh of relief after that one.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle