Wild’s Ryan Hartman hoping his playoff performance a sign of better things to come

After a season in which his production was down, he was sidelined by a lengthy suspension and the Wild failed yet again to get out of the first round of the playoffs, Ryan Hartman focused on the future.

“[I’m a] big believer in the past is the past,” he said.

But there was one play he flashed back to: his potential game-winning goal in Game 5 vs. Vegas that was overturned.

With 75 seconds left in the third period, Hartman capitalized on a net-driving shot to give the Wild a 3-2 lead … until the Golden Knights signaled for a video review that showed the Wild’s Gustav Nyquist precede the puck into the offensive zone for an offside ruling that negated the goal.

The Wild went on to lose in overtime, and instead of returning home with a chance to clinch their first series victory in 10 years, they were knocked out with another one-goal loss.

“I definitely thought about it, probably a lot longer than other people, maybe,” Hartman said. “But that’s hockey. Stuff happens. Not much you can do about it afterwards, but would have been nice obviously to change some things.

“But that happens throughout the season a lot. It just happened to be at that point.”

He played his way up the lineup and finished as one of the Wild’s top scorers against the Golden Knights with two goals and four assists, all while drawing three penalties and taking just one. If there ever was a blueprint for how Hartman can be at his best, that was it, and now his challenge is to carry that consistency over to the regular season.

“It’s no mystery that if he plays with the intensity level and the discipline and the details that he played with in the playoffs, he can be a major impact for our team,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “When he plays that way, he’s an impact player.”

This wasn’t the first time Hartman impressed.

Although he arrived as a depth addition in 2019, the forward had a breakout performance in 2021-22, when he netted a career-high 34 goals skating with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. Hartman had 15 goals the next season and another 21 in 2023-24, but then he scored only at 11 in 2024-25.

His ice time declined, but Hartman also missed eight games for roughing Ottawa’s Tim Stützle on Feb. 1; initially, he was docked 10 games for “using his forearm to violently slam” Stützle’s head into the ice after a faceoff, but Hartman appealed, and Commissioner Gary Bettman reduced the suspension to eight games.

Hartman, 31, did that in the playoffs, and he credited his success to playing with confidence and on “autopilot.”

“You happen to be in the right areas because that’s where you know where to be instead of having to consciously think of where I should be,” he said. “That’s when things start going the wrong way.”

While Hartman acknowledged there will be off games — “You don’t have your legs or it’s a long travel day,” he pointed out — he believes he can make a difference when he isn’t burying his shots or the puck luck isn’t there.

“I can be physical or fight or do other things,” he said. “So, my game might not always show up on the scoresheet, but I feel I can be a presence no matter how I feel.”

Not a regular on the penalty kill last season, Hartman has practiced with the PK at training camp, and he would love that role.

“If you look at all the stuff that he did in the playoffs, it was around the net,” Foligno said. “It was smart plays, getting pucks to the net and then moved his feet really well, too. He’s a heads-up player, so that’s something that I feel if we can connect as a line early, then it’s going to be awesome for him and our team.”

Had Hartman’s Game 5 goal counted, maybe the Wild would have eliminated Vegas. Maybe not.

Either way, the series showed the Wild were better because of Hartman, and the opportunity to prove that isn’t going away.

“I’m pretty confident that I’m a 20-plus goal scorer,” Hartman said. “Obviously, minutes and that stuff have to be earned. I’d like to help out special teams-wise and be a guy used like I have been in the past and help this team, because I know that when I have the puck on my stick in good areas I can score.