Minnesota Wild’s Ryan Hartman Suspended Ten Games

The already shorthanded Minnesota Wild will be without another player, following the National Hockey League's suspension of Ryan Hartman for ten games.

The suspension stems from a hit on the Senators forward Tim Stützle Saturday night in Ottawa. Hartman was assessed a five minute match penalty (ejection) for roughing with an attempt to cause injury.

During a faceoff, Hartman appears to drive Stützle's head and face into the ice, but Hartman argues he was just leaning on Stützle in an attempt to regain his balance, and that the fall to the ice was an accident.

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The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety did no agree, handing down the ten game suspension.

In determining the length of player suspensions, the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the player's association states:

Players who repeatedly violate league playing rules shall be more severely punished for each new violation.

Hartman has played in 663 games in his NHL career. During that span, Hartman has been fined seven times, and suspended four times -- that's a fine or suspension roughly every sixty games. Not good. The suspension will cost him about $480,000 in salary.

Hartman will be eligible to return to action on March 9th against the Pittsburg Penguins.

This all comes during what has been an injury-plagued season for the Wild, leaving the team shorthanded for most of their schedule.

Most recently, Kirill Kaprizov underwent surgery or a lower body injury on Friday, forcing the team to put him on the long-term injured reserve list -- sidelining Kaprizov until at least March 2nd.