Jets' Cole Perfetti Says Wild's Ryan Hartman Admitted Dirty High-Stick Was Intentional

Perfetti said Hartman “blatantly” admitted his high-stick on New Years Eve was done intentionally as an act of retribution.

Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman has been fined $4,427.08 by the NHL, the maximum allowable fine, following an incident against the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 31, in which he high-sticked Cole Perfetti in the face during a faceoff.

On Tuesday, Perfetti told reporters that Hartman admitted to him that the violation was intentional, and done in retaliation for an incident that resulted in an injury to Wild star Kirill Kaprizov just one day earlier.

“Yeah, he did. He made it pretty obvious,” said Perfetti, via Dave Minuk of Illegal Curve when asked if Hartman’s actions were done in retribution.

“He did it in kind of a respectful way. I mean, he said, ‘No disrespect, nothing against you, just had to happen,’” explained Perfetti. “He wasn’t trying to be a bad guy. That’s what he thought that he needed to do to get back at us, and that’s what he chose to do.”

Here is Jets forward Cole Perfetti responding to @mikemcintyrewpg asking if Ryan Hartman admitted the high-stick was retribution for what happened to Kirill Kaprizov the day before.

Full media: https://t.co/0RBV4mZ4gN pic.twitter.com/FwFtgBGE05

— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) January 2, 2024

Perfetti was mic’d up when the exchange occurred, and laughed when asked about the fact that the incident was caught on tape. “I was, yes,” Perfetti said. “So we got it all. We got the whole convo. ... I don’t know if he realized that or not, they’re supposed to get notified.”

As Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek noted on X, formerly Twitter, audio captured while a player is mic’d up cannot be used in potential discipline. 

During their matchup on Dec. 30, Kaprizov went down with an injury after being cross checked twice by Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon. Kaprizov, who leads Minnesota with 34 points in 34 games, will miss at least one week due to the injury he sustained in the incident.

When the teams faced off the next day, Hartman got revenge on the Jets with his high-stick to the face of an unsuspecting Perfetti. He was not penalized by referees. 

Cole Perfetti back on the ice for the Jets after taking a high stick to the face by Ryan Hartman off the faceoff during his first shift. pic.twitter.com/LgD6wmMtwo

— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) December 31, 2023

Perfetti, who was not involved in the play that led to Kaprizov’s injury, required stitches after taking Hartman’s stick to the face.

The two teams will meet again on Feb. 20 in Winnipeg, and once more after that on April 6.