Wild forward Ryan Hartman had until today to decide if he’d file an appeal of the ten-game suspension handed down by the league on Monday. He has elected to do so as the NHLPA announced (Twitter link) that they have filed an appeal on Hartman’s behalf today.
The incident occurred on Saturday versus Ottawa. Off a faceoff, Hartman drove Tim Stutzle face-first into the ice. He received a match penalty on the play and after being offered an in-person hearing, was given the ten-game ban, the fifth suspension of his career. As a result, he forfeits more than $487K in salary as he qualifies under the repeat offender (meaning he’s fined ten games’ play, not ten days’ pay).
Hartman will remain under suspension during the appeal process. While it often takes longer than the duration of the appeal for it to be heard (meaning the appeal is primarily an attempt to recover some of the lost wages), that might not be the case for Hartman. With the NHL heading for a break next week due to the 4 Nations Face-Off, it’s quite possible the appeal will be heard during that time when he’ll have only missed three of the ten games.
This appeal will be heard by Commissioner Gary Bettman whose role will be to determine whether the decision was supported by clear and convincing evidence. If Hartman’s suspension is upheld or is reduced but remains six games or longer, Hartman can further appeal to a neutral arbitrator who would then have the final say.
Why would he think that it’s ok to appeal this it could of been more if the NHL wanted to put a stamp on this S*** . He is lucky that he was kicked out of that game.
For intentionally bashing a guy’s head into the ice, he’s lucky he only got suspended for 10 games.
Add a game on for appealing
the comments section can be mad but we know this is getting reduced to 7 or 8 games.
I thought the 10 games was harsh (based on precedent). I think it’s the right message to send to get stupid plays like that out of the game, and would have been fine if it set a new baseline for these types of plays, but it’s NHL Players Safety, so it’s definitely going down from 10 with the appeal.
I could argue ten games is not enough. The NHL has been distancing themselves from any notion of premeditated violence.
We have come a long way since May Day.
This wasn’t during an active play, so there is absolutely no excuse for this to happen.
If it was McDavids head, I am sure people would feel this isnt enough.
It was a ridiculous suspension, It should be closer to five games, But we know Uncle Gary took fighting out of the game, And now he wants to take contact out of the game, Rempe has been unfairly targeted by the league since day one, Solely because of his size, Welcome to Uncle Gary’s Disney On Ice!!!