NHL Player Safety confirms bad news for Ryan Hartman.

The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety has confirmed the bad news for Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman.

Earlier today I brought you a report that strongly suggested Hartman would be facing a suspension from the disciplinary arm of the league, and now the Department of Player Safety has all but confirmed that news. In an official announcement, the league has announced that Hartman will have a hearing tomorrow for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Although this is indeed bad news for Hartman and the Wild there may be a silver lining here for both parties. As I mentioned in my initial article on this story, Hartman was facing a minimum suspension of 3 games under NHL rule 40.4 for abuse of an official, however the NHL does not appear to be enforcing that rule here.

Instead Hartman is being punished under the "unsportsmanlike conduct" rule, which suggests to me that the NHL will likely seek to suspend him for less than the 3 games that would have been mandatory under the abuse of an official rule. That is of course only speculation on my part.