The Minnesota Wild have signed another veteran to an extension, announcing a three-year deal with forward Ryan Hartman. The deal will carry an AAV of $4MM, more than double his current price tag. CapFriendly adds that Hartman receives a no-move clause effective immediately through the 2024-25 campaign. In 2025-26, he’ll have a 15-team no-trade clause and in 2026-27, it will be a ten-team no-trade clause.
Minnesota acquired Hartman, 29, when they signed him to a two-year, $3.8MM contract in the summer of 2019. He agreed to terms on a three-year extension carrying a $1.7MM cap hit with the Wild before the 2021-22 season began, of which he was entering the final season in 2023-24. His third deal with the Wild keeps him in the State of Hockey through 2026-27, and he’ll be 32 years old when the contract expires.
This is a similar extension to the ones Minnesota signed last week with forwards Marcus Foligno and Mats Zuccarello. General Manager Bill Guerin gave both players two-to-four-year deals around the $4MM mark per season.
At first glance, this looks like a reasonable extension for a player who’s stepped into a valuable role since joining Minnesota. He’d built up a solid reputation as a gritty bottom-six winger before signing with the Wild in 2019. Since then, however, he’s played a pivotal role in centering the team’s first line between Zuccarello and star winger Kirill Kaprizov. While Hartman may not be a long-term solution at the first-line center spot for a team with championship aspirations, he’s still a quality, versatile middle-six forward who’s a solid bet for 40 to 60 points per season over the life of this extension.
After recording a career-high 34 goals and 65 points in 2021-22, Hartman battled injuries last season. An upper-body injury sidelined him for roughly six weeks in November and December of 2022, but he still managed to record 15 goals and 37 points in 59 appearances. That’s on pace for 21 goals and 51 points throughout 82 games. The former first-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks has recorded north of 90 penalty minutes in back-to-back seasons, along with solid possession metrics over his four campaigns with the Wild.
Importantly, Guerin now has even more financial certainty for the 2024-25 campaign – the last season with considerable effects from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts. Minnesota will get dinged again with a combined $14.74MM penalty next season, dwindling to just $1.67MM from 2025 through 2028-29 when the buyouts end. Hartman joins Foligno, Matt Boldy, Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, Frédérick Gaudreau, and captain Jared Spurgeon as core members locked in through 2027. Notably, Kaprizov’s current contract carrying a $9MM cap hit will expire in 2026.
Looking specifically down the middle, the team’s current top three centers, Hartman, Eriksson Ek and Gaudreau, are now locked in for the next four seasons. What does that mean for 22-year-old Marco Rossi, who will stick in the NHL full-time this season for the first time since Minnesota selected him ninth overall in the 2020 NHL Draft? He’ll likely assume a fourth-line role for this season, but moving forward, it’s apparent Hartman will likely shift back to his natural position on the wing before this extension expires.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that the two sides were nearing an extension and the $4MM price tag.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
3 at 3 is more like it.
I’m wondering about the writer of this article? Did he do any research on the Wild at all? Rossi is the 3rd line C. Even though Gaudreau (and eventually Hartman) have played C, both have also played W, giving the Wild a chance to improve up the middle. The question is, capwise, can they afford to do that?
The Zuccarello extension was the absolute definition of brain dead on Guerin’s part.
Your posts are the definition of brain dead!
Wilf believes that anyone above the age of 29 needs to retire from hockey and stop embarrassing himself