Last season Hynes used Joel Eriksson Ek as the Wild's 1C with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy as his wingers. This left Mats Zuccarello with Marco Rossi and Marcus Johansson with Hartman rotating in as a winger.
Instead of starting the season with the Boldy-Eriksson Ek-Kaprizov line again, Hynes indicated he will use Hartman back at center with Kaprizov and Zuccarello in hopes to ignite a line that was one of the best in the NHL a few years ago.
Hartman, 29, scored 34 goals and had 65 points during the 2021-22 season. He was playing on a line with Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Kaprizov had 47 goals and 108 points that season and Zuccarello had 24 goals and 79 points that season.
Last year the Wild were a one line team it felt like, especially towards the end of the season in the middle of a playoff race. This year, Hynes hopes to get multiple scoring lines and starting Hartman as the 1C could be the trick.
"We will most likely not start the year with Eriksson Ek, Kaprizov, and Boldy together," Hynes said. "I just think a fresh slate for different players and try some different combinations. See if we can be a deeper and harder team to play against. That is what we ultimately want to be."
The Wild finished their last game of the season last year with a top-nine that looked like this:
Kaprizov - Eriksson Ek - Boldy
Ohgren - Rossi - Zuccarello
Johansson- Khusnutdinov - Hartman
The plan is for Hynes to take a guy from the second line (Zuccarello) and a guy from the third line (Hartman) and combine them with a guy from the first (Kaprizov) to form a new first line.
This would leave Eriksson Ek and Boldy likely together but on a different line.
"You have to be able to have four lines that can contribute with and without the puck and on the scoreboard," Hynes said. "We definitely have had lots of discussions how can we go about that."
What About Marco Rossi?
Hynes made it clear there is a plan for Marco Rossi to also get looks with Kaprizov and Zuccarello in camp. Rossi spent some time last year centering Kaprizov and Zuccarello and looked great.
Just because he is not starting with them doesn't mean he can't or won't finish there.
"You have to give other guys different opportunities," Hynes said. "We will start that way (Hartman center), but we'll also look at Marco there or Eriksson Ek then move Marco and Hartzy with other guys and see how it goes."
