Eager to build something special, Hartman chooses future in Minnesota

There's a belief in hockey that everyone in the NHL was once a scorer.
Whether it was growing up in high school, perhaps it was in college or junior, or even in the American Hockey League, every player that reaches the NHL has typically been the best player on his team at most levels along the way.
That's especially true for first-round picks like Wild forward Ryan Hartman.

Selected 30th overall in 2013 by the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, Hartman was a product of the U.S. National Team Development Program. He was a part of gold-medal winning teams at the World Junior Under-18s and the World Junior Championships.
Even after turning pro, Hartman tallied nearly a point-per-game in his first taste of the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs as a 19-year old in 2014.
But not every guy in the NHL is a scorer.
On teams with 12 forwards dressing on a typical night, the best teams in the League aren't always the ones with the most offensive firepower on a given night.
It's the teams that have the most buy-in that have the most success, and in order to make it in the NHL - and perhaps more aptly, stay in the NHL - guys have to buy-in regarding their role.
In the cut-throat business of professional sports, it really is adapt or die.
Now 26 years old, Hartman has done just that and he was rewarded for it last week when he signed a three-year contract that will keep him with the Wild until at least 2024.
It hasn't always been easy, especially entering the League with the lineage of being a first-round pick. But Hartman has made his peace with it, and is now thriving in his second season with Minnesota.

"There were definitely struggles at the beginning of my career," Hartman said. "No matter if you're a first rounder or fifth rounder you're just trying to make it in general and do what the organization tells you to do. There's been places that I've been that I wasn't necessarily given the right opportunities."
Those opportunities are often everything for a player like Hartman, who was a part of four NHL organizations before signing a two-year contract with the Wild as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019.
Hartman scored 19 goals as a rookie with the Blackhawks in his first real shot at sticking in the NHL.
He's been a big part of trades that have sent him places where expectations were high.
He was traded to a team that released him before he ever played a game for that franchise.

Hitting the market as a free agent at 25 years old, Hartman was allowed to shop for the right opportunity, and believed he found it when he agreed to terms with the Wild.
Clearly, he hasn't been disappointed.
"This is the first team I've actually killed [penalties] on and I've killed my whole life. That's a big part of my game. This is the first team that's given me the opportunity to kill penalties which I think is a big part of my game," Hartman said. "It's opened up opportunities for me elsewhere. I wouldn't have signed here if I wasn't happy with my role here. I appreciate the opportunity."
Signed to be that penalty killer that could also chip in offense as a fourth-line right winger, Hartman has proven invaluable as someone who excels at doing just that ... but also being able to move up and down the lineup, and play wing or center.
Hartman has settled into the center position this season, lately playing the pivot between Marcus Johansson and Kevin Fiala.
The results have been incredibly promising, as Hartman has helped solidify the Wild's overall forward depth, as well as the team's center depth. His sneaky speed has fit in well with two of the team's best skaters in Fiala and Johansson.
And he's earned himself a big fan in Wild GM Bill Guerin, who wasn't yet with the team when Hartman signed with the club. Despite that, it didn't take long for Hartman to endear himself to the team's new general manager.

"I knew where he was drafted, I knew where he came up. I obviously knew him just from watching games, but really getting to know him and watching him play on a night to night [basis], I don't even think Ryan's reached his full potential yet," Guerin said. "And I think what we saw this year when we moved him to center, there's a lot more there. I think we can help him become a better player and he's been a big contributor so far, but I do, I think there's more. I believe in him, I do."
Since his arrival in Minnesota nearly two years ago, Guerin has stressed "team," and that guys be willing to sacrifice individual accolades for the greater good.
While Hartman had to adapt his game to survive in the NHL, that realization encapsulates exactly the kind of attitude Guerin is looking for in players he brings to Minnesota.
"This is a good league, and it's really tough to be a point producer in this league. But if you swallow your pride a little bit and look at it from a little bit of a business aspect and where you are and what team you're on and what role you can fill, you've got to put that draft pick stuff aside," Guerin said. "The sooner that guys can do that, they get it out of their own head where they're 'supposed' to be. Young players fail to make it in the league because they're not willing to bet like a guy like Ryan is.
"He's accepted what he is in this league. A lot of players don't, and that's why they don't play."
Hartman has been so good at what he has become that he was almost becoming too good.
Valued for a similar role he held with the Philadelphia Flyers in 19 games in 2018-19, Hartman was traded after the season to the Dallas Stars because the Flyers were afraid of what he'd command in salary arbitration as a restricted free agent.
Dallas didn't qualify him an offer, which made him free to sign with any team.

After signing for two years with Minnesota, he faced a similar situation this coming summer, armed with arbitration rights as a restricted free agent.
In a flat salary cap world and with a number of other RFA priorities this summer, there was no guarantee he would fit into the Wild's salary structure beyond this season.
But with the playoff-bound Wild in the midst of a strong season, and with young stars emerging on the scene, Hartman was determined to stick around and continue to be a part of things in Minnesota.
"All I want to do really in this League is win. I think that's everyone's goal," Hartman said. "To be honest, money doesn't really matter. It's winning. You can make as much money on your career and if you don't have nothing to show for it what's the point really in my mind.
"I saw where this team is heading. I know what this group has and how special it is. I think we're very confident here and that was a big reason of staying around."

And while Hartman sacrificed some of that earning potential in exchange for added security, the bottom line was that Hartman saw in Minnesota an opportunity to win games.
That's what excites him most about the future.
"I think earlier in my career that's what's gotten me traded a few times was looking for more and expecting more," Hartman said. "I want to be here. I know what this team is capable of and I see a really bright future.
"It's the longest deal I've had since my entry level. I've been playing off of one- and two-year deals. I like the camaraderie of this team, this locker room, the direction of this team is heading. A lot of upside. And I think we're just getting started.
"[A new contract] was something that I maybe could have waited for, but I think at the same time, it runs the risk of me not being here if I wasn't to make something happen sooner than later. Beginning of your career, you picture yourself playing in one place your whole career. And obviously, in the beginning of my career, that wasn't the case. And for me, I think I want to build a base with a team and become a part of a core group and be a part of a team for a long time."
In terms of being a part of that core group of guys, that's certainly how Guerin views Hartman right now, and in the future.
"We really like him. I like everything about the kid," Guerin said. "He's kind of one of the centerpiece guys in this evolving core. You can tell. He's kind of in the thick of things. He wants to be here. He wants to be part of building something special here. We love that about him."