The Disciplinary Committee in NHL classifies Hartman as a "repeat offender" and therefore punishes him extra harshly.
The forward himself believes that he only tried to maintain balance when he pushed Ottawa's Tim Stützle's head into the ice in Saturday's match. Hartman received a match penalty for the incident and is now suspended for ten matches. The suspension is the 30-year-old's fifth in his NHL career and the fourth since 2023.
The penalty – which also includes a salary deduction of approximately 5.4 million kronor – is the longest in the league for an on-ice incident since autumn 2018.
Then, Washington player Tom Wilson was suspended for 20 matches for a dirty elbow hit to the head of Swedish St Louis player Oskar Sundqvist in a preseason match.
The penalty was reduced to 14 matches after an appeal, but by then Wilson had already served 16 matches. Sundqvist missed eight matches due to the hit.
