Gary Bettman And The NHL Make Major Change To Ryan Hartman's Suspension After Appeal

In early February, Ryan Hartman was given a match penalty after roughing Ottawa's Tim Stutzle, and after being looked at by the NHL's Department of Player Safety, Gary Bettman and the league handed him a 10-game suspension.

Quickly thereafter, Hartman and the Wild confirmed that they would be appealing the decision, and now, three weeks later, it has been officially ruled that the 10-game suspension will be reduced to eight games.

While appeals regarding suspensions are often not overturned, Frank Seravalli has now revealed the reason why it was successful this time, with Bettman ruling that the DoPS too harshly ruled on Hartman based on his history, revealing that the jump between suspended games was too high compared to other players in recent years.

This is a very lucky escape for Hartman, whose longest career suspension before this was just three games, but after putting Tim Stutzle in a very vulnerable position that could have led to a major injury, it warranted some type of lengthy suspension.

Thankfully, the Senators star escaped a long-term injury, and with Hartman's suspension now all but up, it appears that everyone is ready to get back on the ice and move on from what could have been a very ugly incident, and with the Wild currently dealing with plenty of injuries to their forward group, getting him back on the ice in the near future will be a much needed boost.