Ryan Hartman suspended by NHL Player Safety

UPDATE: In addition to news earlier today that the Minnesota Wild fired head coach Dean Evason, NHL Player Safety announced that forward Ryan Hartman has been suspended two games for his slew foot on Detroit Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat.

Check it out:

And here's the infraction in question:

For our earlier report on the Wild's coaching change earlier today, read below.

This just in, the Minnesota Wild have fired head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Bob Woods.

The 5-10-4 Wild are currently riding a seven game losing skid and are nowhere near the NHL's playoff picture in the Western Conference. The team is currently 3rd last in the Western conference and are about 8 points back of a Wild Card spot. In other words, the time is NOW for the Wild to turn around their season if they have a hope of getting into the post-season. Evason was in his fifth season as the Wild's head coach, a team that he failed to earn a playoff round victory with.

The early reports are that the team has replaced Evason with former New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators head coach John Hynes.

From NHL insiders Elliotte Friedman and Frank Seravalli:

Hynes was fired by the Predators this past offseason, after three seasons with the team. He was previously with the Devils for four and a half seasons before being fired during the 2019-20 season. Hynes is known as a defensive specialist who employs a pretty strict system for his team's, especially in the defensive zone. It'll be interesting to see if he can turn things around for the Wild because they don't have much time to adjust to a new head coach. This is a team that needs to start winning NOW. Your move, Coach Hynes.