Jets' Cole Perfetti makes damning admission about Ryan Hartman, claims Wild forward deliberately high-sticked him  

Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman finds himself at the center of controversy after being fined $4,427.08, the maximum allowable under the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement. He received it for a high-sticking incident involving Winnipeg Jets forward Cole Perfetti during an NHL game on Sunday, Dec. 31.

The incident, which occurred at 1:51 of the first period, has taken an unexpected turn, with Perfetti alleging that Ryan Hartman purposefully high-sticked him. The Jets forward also claimed Hartman told him the hit was "payback" for Saturday's Brenden Dillon/Kirill Kaprizov play.

NHL insider Mike McIntyre unveiled the shocking revelation on X.

In response to the revelation, Perfetti expressed his discontent:

"It sucks when guys are getting hurt on purpose."

He shared Hartman's on-ice admission respectfully and said:

"No disrespect, nothing against you, it had to happen for what happened to Kaprizov there."

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced the fine, with the funds allocated to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Kaprizov, a key player for the Wild, is expected to miss one to two weeks due to an upper-body injury sustained during Saturday's game against Winnipeg.

Further adding to the intrigue, Perfetti kept Hartman's comments to himself until after the game, as revealed by Jets coach Rick Bowness. As per McIntyre's tweet, Bowness expressed that the situation would have been handled differently had the team known during the game.

Perfetti deemed Ryan Hartman's admission as unusual.

"Kind of a weird thing to come out and admit it," Perfetti said. "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."

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Cole Perfetti on Ryan Hartman's remarks

The young Jets forward Cole Perfetti also highlighted that the entire incident was caught on his microphone.

"We caught it all. I was mic'd up," Perfetti said. "I don't know if he realized that or not."

Perfetti concluded with a defiant tone and said:

"We'll see him whenever we play him again down the road. We got the last laugh winning both games."

As the hockey world processes this startling revelation, the incident adds a layer of intrigue to the ongoing narrative between the Minnesota Wild and the Winnipeg Jets, creating a tense atmosphere for their future matchups.

Hartman and the Wild have yet to comment on the incident.