Hartman should be a given
Ryan Hartman has to earn his way back into the Nashville Predators’ lineup, and the fact that he’s no sure bet to be on the ice for tonight’s Game 1 of the Western Conference semis against the Winnipeg Jets is telling.
This should be a given. Hartman should be out there. He seems perfect for this matchup, physical and edgy enough to grapple with Winnipeg – maybe even get under the skin of a Jet or two – and fast enough to keep up.
But there’s no clarity after Hartman was a healthy scratch in Sunday’s Game 6 against Colorado, with Miikka Salomaki reclaiming his spot in the lineup. Scott Hartnell took Hartman’s spot in Game 5 after the NHL suspended Hartman for that game, because of a Game 4 hit in which Hartman’s shoulder connected with the head of Carl Soderberg.
It stood to reason that Hartman would return for Game 6. Hartnell sat back down, but it was Salomaki who replaced him, not Hartman.
“I mean, that’s hockey,” Hartman said Thursday.
It’s also a sign that the Predators either didn’t trust Hartman to contain himself in Game 6, or just didn’t think he was making enough of a difference. It’s a sign, yes, that Salomaki is an asset. It tells us Peter Laviolette is going to make decisions during this postseason purely for on-ice reasons, paying no mind to other considerations such as the fact that the Preds traded a first-round pick to Chicago to acquire Hartman – which isn’t surprising at all.
And it casts more doubt on that transaction, though the bottom line then is the same as now: If the Predators win the Stanley Cup, you can’t really knock it. It was an “all in” move to add more depth, and Hartman has done some good things in Nashville.
“He’s been great, honestly,” Preds forward Colton Sissons said of Hartman. “He jelled with our group right away. Really good player. Works hard, competes, he agitates out there, so he’s been a great addition. I feel like we have probably 14, 15 guys that we’re going to need at some point, and Hartsy’s definitely one of those guys that we count on for that energy. He’s competitive, he’s physical and can really have an impact. We’re lucky to have him in the fold nowadays.”
Hartman didn’t produce much offense in his 21 regular-season games, though – three goals and three assists – after collecting eight goals and 17 assists in 57 games with the Blackhawks. The 23-yearold and 2013 first-round pick had 19 goals last season, his first full season in the NHL. Chicago cut him loose in rebuild mode with the postseason slipping out of reach.
Hartman played the first four games of the postseason on the fourth line, centered by Mike Fisher, and he had an empty-net goal and six penalty minutes.
The fourth line in Game 5 with Hartman suspended was Jarnkrok-FisherHartnell, and in Game 6 Jarnkrok started on the second line and Kevin Fiala came down to join Fisher. Salomaki was a surprise return, Hartman a surprise scratch.
Laviolette is more likely to recite a poem he wrote in high school English class than tell you about his lineup before or during a series, but he did say when I asked him what Hartman needs to do to return to it: “Just what he was doing. He was fast, he was on the edge.” Does he need to be more disciplined? “I already answered that, our team needs to stay out of the penalty box,” Laviolette said. “He goes into the group with everybody else. I mean there’s not one guy in particular that has 90 percent of the penalties.”
And of the hit that got Hartman suspended, Laviolette said: “I think you’re constantly learning the game, you know, like there’s always things you can take from it. I’m learning all the time, players should be learning all the time. Things they can do, things they can’t do. That’s life, though, in general, right? You make mistakes and you get back up and you try to be better and you try not to make those mistakes again.”
Hartman, for his part, said he had a “long talk” with George Parros, head of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, and ultimately agreed with the suspension because there was clear contact to the head.
Asked if he needs to earn trust again, Hartman said: “Uh, I’m just getting myself ready for the second round, putting everything behind me.”
“Being physical obviously is a big part,” Hartman said of his role. “But the (key) to our team success is when everyone is buying in, everyone’s playing good hockey, we’re rolling four lines. When we can do that, that’s when we’re at our best, so we need everybody.”
Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.