ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Ryan Hartman is enjoying the best season of his NHL career and certainly has plenty of support in Minnesota.
The Wild Center was fined $4,250 by the league for unsportsmanlike conduct in Tuesday night’s game against Edmonton, which stemmed from a struggle with Oilers left wing Evander Kane. After the fight was over and the two were separated, Hartman made a profane gesture towards Kane with his middle finger as they continued to yell at each other on their way off the ice.
In anticipation of the post-game financial punishment, Hartman said it was “worth it.”
More than he expected given a flood of donations from Wild fans wanting to support him.
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Hartman’s Venmo account was quickly shared on social media after the NHL announced Fine Wednesday, and the light-hearted and mostly humble posts began pouring in. Kane’s ex-wife also participated, The Athletic reported.
Hartman told reporters in Dallas Thursday before the Wild played the Stars that he began to realize what was happening when he noticed the sheer volume of notifications associated with his Venmo account.
“I’ve been fined a few times in my career and it’s the first time a fandom has tried to help me pay it off,” Hartman said. “As a team we’ve stuck together and defended each other all year and the fans are a part of that so it was pretty cool to see the fans supporting us like that.”
Hartman announced on Twitter that the money deposited into his Venmo account by Friday night would be packaged as a donation to Children’s Minnesota, the pediatric health care system that has a hospital a few blocks from Wild’s Arena.
In his eighth NHL season, Hartman scored a career-high 27 goals for the Wild through Wednesday while primarily playing in the front row between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.