Hartman’s admission of guilt caught on tape

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This article was published 02/01/2024 (645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cole Perfetti was stunned to get high-sticked in the face by Minnesota Wild winger Ryan Hartman right off the faceoff on Sunday afternoon, instantly drawing blood.

But what came next really threw the young Winnipeg Jets forward for a loop.

“He knew what he was doing,” Perfetti said, following his team’s morning skate Monday at Canada Life Centre. “He made it pretty obvious.”

At this point, one might ask what evidence Perfetti has to prove his case. Which, if this were a courtroom, is where the prosecution would present Exhibit A — the smoking gun.

“I was mic’d up,” offered Perfetti, answering a question from the Free Press during a scrum with reporters. “I don’t know if he realized that or not. To come out and blatantly say it into the mic, it worked out in our favor.”

Cue the Law & Order gong.

No penalty was called on the play, which occurred early in the first period, but the NHL’s department of player safety did impose a $4,427.08 fine — the maximum allowed for high-sticking — Monday morning.

It’s believed the department heard the audio, which has not been released publicly. However, none of it can be used as evidence in a disciplinary investigation — part of the NHL/NHLPA agreement.

Hartman has now been fined seven times in his career for various infractions, to go along with three suspensions. He was given a one-game ban last April for a blatant interference penalty on Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who suffered an upper-body injury and missed the first four playoff games against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Jets lost three of those, then his return game, to get knocked out in the first round.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1UYleoFk-k

“It didn’t feel nice,” said Perfetti, who received a few stitches and missed a couple shifts. “I’m glad the league looked after it. I wasn’t expecting anything major like a suspension, but it’s nice to see there’s a little bit of repercussion for that. My face was pretty sore, but it’s all good now.”

The NHL usually takes a hard-line stance on deliberate, pre-meditated violence, so it might be surprising Hartman isn’t being suspended considering he confessed to his intent, considering this was a bizarre form of “payback,” according to the player himself.

“He said, ‘No disrespect, nothing against you, it had to happen, something had to happen for what happened to Kaprizov there,’” said Perfetti. “He wasn’t trying to be a bad guy, I think that’s just what he thought he needed to do to get back at us. And that’s what he chose to do.”

Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday’s game in Winnipeg after taking a couple of cross-checks from Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon which weren’t penalized. He missed Sunday’s rematch and is expected to be sidelined for a week or two.

Wild defenceman Jacob Middleton fought Dillon shortly after the incident, and Sunday’s game began with Minnesota’s Patrick Maroon dropping the gloves with Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry off the opening faceoff.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough to settle things down.

‘Weird thing to come out and admit’: Perfetti

“Kind of a weird thing to come out and admit it. He blatantly said it was for what happened (Saturday), even though I didn’t even do anything in the play,” said Perfetti.

“I had nothing to do with it. I mean, hey, whatever, it’s all good. I was saying to a couple guys, lucky it wasn’t a cheap shot hit from behind or to the head or something that could have been serious. Luckily, it was just a couple stitches.”

Perfetti said it’s unfortunate the officials didn’t see fit to call what should have been a four-minute penalty on the play — or, had they known what Hartman was thinking, a five-minute match for attempt to injure.

“I asked the refs about it. They said it’s tough off of the draw because you’re battling for the faceoff, trying to lift sticks and stuff. It’s sometimes tough because high sticks don’t get called off faceoffs because it’s flying around,” said Perfetti.

“And to be fair, at game speed on the ice, I’m sure that looked like he tried to lift my stick and missed and caught me. But when you watch the video, it’s pretty obvious. The puck was nowhere near. My stick was up in the air and his stick… he decided to come up with it.”

“Lucky it wasn’t a cheap shot hit from behind or to the head or something that could have been serious.”–Cole Perfetti

Perfetti didn’t tell any of his teammates about Hartman’s admission until the game was over. Jets coach Rick Bowness said that was likely a good thing.

“That’s a little old school. If that conversation (between Hartman and Perfetti) had taken place and everyone else was well aware of it at the time, it would have been dealt with in a different way as well,” said Bowness.

Perfetti said it’s now water under the bridge, especially since the Jets took both weekend games (4-2 on Saturday, 3-2 on Sunday).

“They weren’t happy with what happened the day before, and he tried to take (matters) into his own hands. And that’s what he decided to do. He got fined for it. So, we’ll move on,” said Perfetti. “We’ll see him whenever we play him again later down the road. We got the last laugh winning both games, so not too worried about it.”

‘It’s chippy both ways’: Perfetti

Circle Feb. 20 on the calendar, which is when the Wild next face the Jets in Winnipeg.

“Obviously, we have a good rivalry with them. It’s chippy both ways. (Hartman has) obviously got a history with our team and doing a couple things,” said Perfetti.

“Nothing against him, he’s got a role to fill. It sucks when guys get hurt. He sent Fly out last year for a couple weeks. Luckily mine wasn’t too too bad. I didn’t lose any teeth or anything,” said Perfetti. “It was just a couple stitches and that was it. It sucks when guys are getting hurt on purpose. That part’s frustrating. But I understand, the game happens fast and there’s a role for everything.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg