It just so happened Kaprizov was hurt in the first game of a home and home series vs the Jets over New Year’s weekend. In game 2, Ryan Hartman skated into the defensive faceoff circle and, after the puck was dropped, seemed to deliberately high stick Cole Perfetti in the mouth.

Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman has been fined $4,427.08 for an admittedly deliberate high-stick against Winnipeg Jets forward Cole Perfetti that he claims was retribution for a cross-check that injured Kirill Kaprizov on Saturday pic.twitter.com/YD4MWKlohf

— Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) January 2, 2024

The Cole Perfetti story

The shot to Perfetti’s face called for an immediate exit from the contest so he could be sewn up. No penalty was called but Hartman was fined close to $5,000 after the fact.

From there, the story took off after Perfetti told a local Winnipeg reporter that Ryan Hartman told him later in the game, after Cole had received stitches and returned, that he did it on purpose, as retribution for Branden Dillon injuring Kirill Kaprizov.

“He said: ‘No disrespect, nothing against you, it had to happen. Something had to happen for what happened to Kaprizov there.’ 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. I had nothing to do with it. I mean, hey, whatever, it’s all good.”

Cole Perfetti – Winnipeg Jets

Related: Wild Rookie Brock Faber Wants All the Minutes and No Credit

Everyone around the hockey community ran with what Perfetti told reporters in that media scrum. And it caused quite the conversation among the hockey community. Did Hartman go too far, after the NHL allowed Dillon to injure the Wild’s franchise player?

Why did he go after Perfetti, the innocent kid who has already struggled early in his career with concussions and other injuries. Why not go after another star, if that’s what you had to do, etc etc.

The dressing room was the place to be on tonight's panel. 🍿 pic.twitter.com/zqpfHg3xdH

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 4, 2024

Most of the hockey world praised the Jets’ youngster for taking the hit and explanation from Hartman without letting teammates know, until after the game. Even the coach said that, had the rest of the team known that Ryan Hartman high sticked him on purpose, they would have handled the rest of the game differently.

Ryan Hartman paints much different picture

On Friday, Ryan Hartman spoke publicly about his high stick for the first time in an exclusive interview with Michael Russo of The Athletic. In the one-on-one, he is adamant that he DID NOT admit outright to Perfetti that he high sticked him on purpose, as payback for the Kaprizov injury.

Instead, he says it was Perfetti who continued to ask him about the intent behind his high stick. Ryan says everyone in the arena knew Cole Perfetti was mic’d up and he wanted him to admit it on the mic. Finally after being badgered enough, the Wild forward says he told his Jets foe, ‘I’m not gonna say it wasn’t on purpose’.

“It’s written on the wall that he’s wearing a mic,” Hartman told The Athletic after Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “I know he’s wearing a mic all game. He comes up to me multiple times and asks me if I did it on purpose. And finally, all I told him was, ‘I’m not gonna say it wasn’t on purpose.’

“So I didn’t tell him, ‘Hey, I did that on purpose.’ He kept coming up to me, and I finally said, ‘I’m not gonna say it wasn’t on purpose.’ That was the extent of it.”

The Athletic

Related: Bally Sports North May Stream Timberwolves, Twins and Wild on Amazon Prime

Cole Perfetti not as calm, cool and collected as we thought?

But the best part of Hartman’s interview was the way he portrayed Perfetti. After being praised for days over how calm he stayed throughout all of Hartman’s aggression and mansplaining, Ryan makes him seem like a spoiled brat who says one thing and acts another.

He claims Perfetti told everybody that he was high sticked on purpose and that Hartman admitted it. That he was trying to be the cool kid in front of all his teammates.

Hartman also took aim at Perfetti for claiming that he kept the supposed admission to himself until after the game.

“I talked to multiple Jets players during the third period, and he told everyone,” Hartman said. “He’s acting like, ‘I didn’t say anything. They made me tell them.’ He f—ing told everyone right away. And then to bring it up into the media, whatever. I’m not going to apologize for high-sticking him. I didn’t see Dillon apologize for cross-checking Kirill.”

The Athletic

I’m not sure who to believe yet, in all this. I just know I love off-ice, off-field, off-court drama. The more, the merrier.

The transition period, however, really began last year. It didn’t take long for new GM Bill Guerin and head coach Dean Evason to start elevating young players like Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala, methodically pushing veterans down the pecking order, most notably Zach Parise. But the changing of guard was finalized when Parise and Suter were bought out this offseason. And then what happened?

Early Returns?

Well so far, the Minnesota Wild have flourished. They’re 3-0 to start the 2021 season, capturing all six possible points. Two of those points came against new/old division rival, Winnipeg. But is this team for real? Can we really expect this cap-deprived, young Wild team to compete for a Stanley Cup already…?

Let’s ask Billy what he thinks.

Who wouldn’t run through a brick wall for Billy G?! ???????????? pic.twitter.com/cCh8ba0LCN

— 10,000 Takes (@10kTakes_) October 8, 2021

“This is about fucking winning.” There are few general managers around Minnesota sports that have excited me as much as Bill Guerin. He’s played on two Stanley Cup winners so he knows what it takes to build a winner. The new-look Wild have been built in Bill’s image. Their success will shape his reputation as a front office executive.

Great teams win the tough games

We can’t know how the season will finish based off of the first three games. But the Wild have to be taken seriously after winning two out West before returning to beat the Jets in thrilling comeback fashion. Minnesota struggled all night with offensive zone turnovers, an uncomfortable goaltender and a defense that couldn’t keep skaters in front of them.

But somehow, with the help of a late Winnipeg goal that was reversed, the Wild pulled out the win in their home-opener. Great teams win close games, even when they’re not playing their best hockey. All three Wild victories have been by a one-goal margin.

First, Cam Talbot stopped a Jets two-on-one rush before the Wild’s elite young trio of Kaprizov, Fiala, and Eriksson Ek came the other way to pot the winner. From Talbot’s save to the tic-tac-toe finish, it was beautiful.

CAPS LOCK GAME WINNER HOCKEY IS BACK IN MINNESOTA BABY!! @mnwild pic.twitter.com/tpfJgCT0zp

— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) October 20, 2021

The Xcel Energy Center hasn’t been full since March, 2020 so the night was going to be magical either way. But to pull out victory in comeback fashion hit different.

The Wild are taking over the state of hockey

It’s about time we get to watch a legitimate Stanley Cup contender in Minnesota. Sure, it’s only been three games, but the key pieces to last season’s playoff roster are still here and getting better every day. This isn’t the NBA, where 3-4 teams are crowned NBA Champions before the first game tips.

If your team has chemistry and the type of talent this Minnesota Wild roster employs, anything is possible… even a Stanley Cup. Kirill Kaprizov might be the $9 million headliner but the leadership of Marcus Foligno and Jared Spurgeon has taken this team by storm too.

Bill Guerin felt changing the culture in the Minnesota locker room was the most important step to delivering a cup to the State of Hockey. So far, so good. Let’s just buckle up and hope our new leader knows best..

Cooper Carlson | Minnesota Sports Fan

The defense was atrocious early, giving up two goals on WIDE open shots. It wasn’t the defense Bruce Boudreau was hoping for.

“[The Jets] got four, and that’s not as good as you want,” Boudreau said of a Wild defense that has given up fewer than four goals only once in five games. “Look at the end of the year, at [teams whose] goals-against average is three and over, and see where those guys end up. They’re never in the playoffs.

“It seems like we’re afraid to win. All five games, we’ve been tied or ahead with less than 10 minutes to go. When you’re that close in every game, and you come away with nothing, we’ve got to do some soul-searching.”

So, Bruce isn’t happy either. I really like Bruce Boudreau. He doesn’t hide his emotions and I can relate to that. His team needs to be better, though, and part of that is on him.

After the 2-0 early deficit, the Wild found their game. A goal from Stewart, with under 1 minute to play in the 1st period, put the Wild in the locker room feeling a bit of confidence. It was a great play by Stewart, laying the hit and spinning to be in position for the goal seconds later. He has been the Wild’s best scorer early in the season, which is probably a problem. Stewart has 5 goals. Koivu sits behind him with 3. Jason Zucker leads the team early in assists with 4 which is a small change. He was more of the scorer on the Koivu-Granlund-Zucker line before all the injuries.

Mikko Koivu and Marcus Foligno got the first two goals of the 2nd period and the Wild were back on top and seemed to be playing pretty well.

Unfortunately, the Wild couldn’t hold the lead. They gave up a goal with about 30 seconds left in the 2nd period. Then, the Wild went scoreless in the 3rd and a Blake Wheeler game-winner with about 7 minutes left, put the game away.

The Wild will play again tonight vs. Calgary and you don’t want to say a team is desperate or a game is “must-win” only 5 games into an 82 game season but the Wild need to figure something out. The league doesn’t care about their injuries

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan
MinnesotaSportsFan.com @RealMNSportsFan

Stat Help and Videos: NHL.com

Photo: JOHN WOODS – ASSOCIATED PRESS (Star Tribune)

It hasn’t been the start to the season the Wild were hoping for. It’s been the opposite. They’ve lost 3 of their first 4 games. Injuries haven’t helped. They will once again be without Zach Parise vs. Winnipeg. They will also be without Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter are out and will be for an extended period due to injuries.

However, some good news on the injury-front, Mikael Granlund is a game-time decision, after missing the last 3 games. We will see Foligno on the ice. He will be wearing a protective cage to protect his fractured face.

Foligno in. Mask on. #MNWild https://t.co/ouvsR7PSTV

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 20, 2017

It was a slow start to the season. It happened last year too. I don’t know why the NHL sets it up this way but they will get things rolling along much more consistently now. They will play 6 games in 12 days including a game in Calgary a night after this one.

Boudreau says it’s like their season is just starting:

“It feels like, and I told the guys, it’s like we’re starting the season right now. The other games, I mean, it was like few and far between. But once we start playing, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to end playing until mid-December. So I mean, the season sort of starts for us starting tomorrow.”

As far as the Wild are concerned, they need to be much better in their own zone. I expect Suter to come back to his normal self after a -4 performance vs Columbus. This is a team that has touted its depth. Now it needs to show that. Veterans like Suter, Staal, Cullen, and Stewart need to show up early and often on Friday and Saturday. Injuries can’t be your excuse.

Game preview: #mnwild at Winnipeg. https://t.co/BsZWl5XNfV pic.twitter.com/LFDpyPQB6e

— Star Tribune Sports (@StribSports) October 20, 2017

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan @RealMNSportsFan
MinnesotaSportsFan.com