NHL's Department of Player Safety Comes Down Hard on Minnesota Wild's Ryan Hartman

Ryan Hartman will have plenty of time to think about his match penalty against the Ottawa Senators Saturday night.

The NHL's Department of Player Safety has come down hard on the 30-year-old veteran forward with the Minnesota Wild after his actions against the Ottawa Senators' Tim Stützle.

During the game, which the Ottawa Senators won 6-0, Ryan Hartman decided to take out his frustrations on Tim Stützle while the ref dropped the puck, using his arm to drive Stützle's head into the ice.

As a result, Hartman will sit out the Minnesota Wild's next 10 games.

This isn't the first time DoPS has had to punish Hartman. Far from it, in fact.

Hartman has been given four previous suspensions by the NHL, and fined a total of seven times, which was likely a factor in the Department of Player Safety's decision.

The last player suspended by DoPS was Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers who was given three games for a cross check to the face of Conor Garland of the Vancouver Canucks.

Hartman does have the option to appeal the decision, as all NHL players do when they receive a suspension of this length. We'll have to wait to see if Hartman decides it's worth the effort.