Things get heated between Jamal Mayers and Jennifer Botterill on Sportsnet panel

Earlier this week Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman was been fined approximately $4,400 for high sticking Winnipeg Jets forward Cole Perfetti.

From NHL Player Safety:

This is the 7th... yes 7th... fine/suspension for Hartman from NHL Player Safety over his 9 year NHL career.

And here's the high stick in question:

It may look accidental but Perfetti himself told reporters that Hartman deliberately high-sticked him in the face as payback for the Brenden Dillon and Kirill Kaprizov play a day earlier. 

More from Jets insider Mike McIntyre:

Wow. Ryan Hartman flat out told Cole Perfetti he deliberately high-sticked him in the face as payback for the Brenden Dillon/Kirill Kaprizov play a day earlier.

Source: Cole Perfetti, just now, AND the microphone he was wearing in game that caught it all.

Rick Bowness just told me Cole Perfetti kept Ryan Hartman’s comments about deliberate high-stick to himself until after the game. Bowness says it would have been dealt with much differently had the team known during the game.

Cole Perfetti on Ryan Hartman high-sticking him:
"It sucks when guys are getting hurt on purpose."

On the mic'd up admission:
"He said it in kind of a respectful way. No disrespect, nothing against you, it had to happen for what happened to Kaprizov there."

"Kind of a weird thing to come out and admit it. He blatantly said it was for what happened (Saturday), even though I didn't even do anything in the play. I had nothing to do with it."

"We caught it all. I was mic'd up. I don't know if he realized that or not."
"We'll see him whenever we play him again down the road. We got the last laugh winning both games."

Mike McIntyre

Last night the Sportsnet panel led by Jennifer Botterill and Jamal Mayers discussed the play and the fine to Hartman, with the two respected analysts vehemently disagreeing on the matter.

Mayers maintains that, while what Hartman did was a dirty play, it's still within the NHL's 'code' with regards to protecting star players. Mayers, rightly so in my opinion, states that the NHL operates on an 'eye for an eye' policy and that if you make a dirty play on a star player, expect one back at any moment. Kaprizov, Hartman's teammate and Minnesota's best player, was taken out by a cheap shot so it's up to Hartman to equal the level the score. His high stick on Perfetti was dirty, no doubt, that's why he incurred a fine. But that's the cost of doing business in professional hockey.

Botterill, meanwhile, disagreed strongly citing a need to put player safety and the marketability of the NHL over any revenge.

Check out the entire exchange:

Credit to Botterill for sticking to her guns and not backing down on this, but I've got to side with Mayers here. It may be dirty hockey, but intimidation and dirty play will ALWAYS be a part of this game. It's a tough game and it's an element of the game that I absolutely adore.