We’ve made it all the way to the top line for Minnesota Wild report cards and we’ll start with the player who bounced around the most on that line, Ryan Hartman. It seemed like he had a rougher season than his stats show and a lot of it had to do with missing nearly a month of the season with an injury. Thankfully when he returned he bounced back by the second game and had a goal.
He did start the season on the top line with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, but when they weren’t producing as much as was expected things got switched around. That meant Hartman was the odd man out and was moved around to a different line, however later in the season he did return to the top line. We’ll review his regular season stats and his postseason stats to come up with an overall grade for the season.
Hartman’s Up & Down Season
Hartman had his own struggles this season between his injury, being benched a game, and later being suspended for a game as well, but he did find ways to succeed. He played in 59 games and missed 21 due to an upper-body injury plus the two that were his own fault due to his temperment. He registered 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points which was a dramatic drop off from last season’s 65 points, but still better than prior seasons.
On the defensive side, Hartman recorded slightly fewer hits with 62 but the same number of blocked shots with 48. Sticking with the defensive stats, his turnovers and takeaways didn’t improve from last season to this season, in fact, they got slightly worse. He increased his giveaways from 30 to 32 and his takeaways dropped from 35 to 30. They aren’t huge changes in either direction but that’s not a great way for things to be heading.
Even his time on ice went down from just over 18 minutes to just over 16 and his shot totals took a nosedive as well. While he did have some okay offense for the season, he took almost 100 fewer shots than he did last season. He was at 239 shots during the 2021-22 season but dropped to 149 in 2022-23. Some of that can be attributed to missing 23 games, but he also was just taking fewer shots in total. Hopefully, next season he can come back and be the player from the 2021-22 season, it’s there, he just needs to find it.
Hartman’s Strong Start to the Postseason
While the main fixture on the first line struggled to get anything going in the regular season, Hartman pulled it together to become a force in the postseason, at least in the beginning. He also had an injury problem but thankfully it only lasted one game; the team did miss his presence though. In the first game of the playoffs, he scored the game-winner in double overtime that gave the Wild a 1-0 lead in the series.
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Hartman was unable to play in Game 2 due to an injury but he came back ready to go in Game 3 along with Joel Eriksson Ek but only one would stay. Hartman went on to score a goal and two assists for three points, while Eriksson Ek left the game 19 seconds in with what would later be revealed as a fractured fibula. His point streak lasted one more game with a single assist in Game 4, but no more points would follow.
While Hartman was strong offensively, to begin with, he backed off in the hit department with just eight hits in five games played. His blocked shots could’ve been better but weren’t horrible with six total. His giveaways and takeaways improved slightly, as he had one giveaway in the postseason and four takeaways. Overall not the worst playoffs he could’ve had but also not the best, hopefully, next year is better.
Hartman’s Grade
Hartman had a very consistent season despite his injury and bouncing around the lineup. His offense wasn’t as great as the 2021-22 season but he was still sixth in scoring among Wild players and contributed often. His defensive game could use a little work but it’s not going to hurt his grade too much. He earned a B+, and while that may seem high, he did have the second-best season of his career so far and did amass nearly 40 points despite missing a month due to injury. It may seem low, but he did have expectations to beat from the 2021-22 season and he didn’t plus his defense needs to be better.
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As far as the postseason goes, his offense was tied for the team lead with five points, again he struggled on the defensive side of things, but he did improve some. Overall he earned an A- because he was one of the only Wild players who could get anything going in terms of scoring, but unfortunately it didn’t last which is why his grade isn’t an A. It also isn’t higher because of his defense once again, we don’t expect him to have defenseman-level stats but they should be better.
For his overall season grade, he earned a high B+/low A- for his strong offense that clearly has potential and his decent defense that has room to improve. He really needs to learn to stay out of the penalty box as well as they earned him a benching and his hits eventually earned him a suspension. Hopefully, he’ll stay healthy next season and show that his career highs weren’t a fluke.
