Dean Evason has tightened the leash on his Minnesota Wild and the latest example is Ryan Hartman getting benched for Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers after a string of bad penalties by the veteran forward.
The decision to make Hartman a healthy scratch comes on the heels of veteran defenseman Matt Dumba being benched for two consecutive games after his stretch of poor play. The message: Nobody is safe.
Dean Evason tells @PAOnTheMic on @KFAN1003 that Ryan Hartman will be scratched tonight for #mnwild due to his propensity of penalties.
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 26, 2023
In Tuesday’s 4-2 loss in Tampa Bay, the Wild found themselves down 3-2 after Steven Stampkos scored with under six minutes left in regulation. Forty seconds later Hartman was called for hooking. Even though Minnesota killed the penalty, it killed two minutes of valuable game time and the Wild couldn’t muster enough to tie the game and force overtime.
Hartman was hard on himself afterward, saying he “felt like I let my team down.” Evason wasn’t feeling sorry for him.
“He should be hard on himself,” Evason said. “It’s stupid. Absolutely stupid.”
If the playoffs started today, Minnesota would be watching at home because they’re in ninth place in the Western Conference, one point behind eight place Calgary and one point behind Colorado for third place in the Central Division.
The defending champion Avalanche have won six straight while the Wild have dropped three in a row. With 36 games left on the schedule it’s not time to panic, but Evason is clearly sending a message to his team that if players don’t perform like professionals they’ll be watching from the press box as a healthy scratch.
