Late-game antics from Ryan Hartman that left Evan Bouchard shaken and hobbling to the bench needs to be looked at by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.

And given his long track record of supplemental discipline coming in the form of seven fines and four suspensions for seven games, it shouldn’t be hard for the league to get in touch with him.

With a little under four minutes left in the game and the Oilers up 6-1, a puck was dumped into the Oilers zone that saw Bouchard and Hartman give chase. The puck bounced off the boards behind the Oilers net back out to the goal line, as Bouchard had the inside track.

As the two approached the net, and before either had possession, Hartman deliberately hit Bouchard towards the net, with his left knee meeting Bouchard’s right. His head and shoulder appeared to hit the side of the post and net as he spun into the boards. The play would continue as Minnesota cycled the puck, with Bouchard slowly getting to his feet and hobbling towards the Oilers bench, clearly labouring his lower body.

A replay would show Bouchard writhing in pain on the bench before heading down the tunnel.

Dirty hits like these are nothing new for Hartman, whose laundry list of antics spread far and wide. From headshots to late hits, to slew foots and sticks thrown onto the ice, he’s been suspended for it all, and the league has taken notice. During the ruling for his slew foot on Red Wings winger Alex DeBrincat, the league highlighted the “intentional nature of this action, combined with a disciplinary history of related incidents.”

His hit on Bouchard fits the bill.

While Hartman was trying to get the inside on Bouchard, the timing of the hit is questionable, happening when the Oilers defender was closest to his net in a vulnerable position. Whether Hartman was trying to hit Bouchard into goaltender Calvin Pickard or the post, he succeeded. Granted, Bouchard could’ve done a better job of bracing himself for such contact, players know what they are doing on the ice, and Hartman knew exactly where Bouchard, the post and Pickard were on the play.

After the game, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch offered no update on Bouchard’s status.

“We’re gonna fly home and get it checked out,” he said. “Hopefully it’s something minor, but probably won’t be able to tell until tomorrow.”

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, meanwhile, said Bouchard “had a slight limp postgame and soreness, but otherwise seemed to avoid the worst of it.”

Hockey is a fast game and one where unintentional consequences can occur due to the sport’s explosive nature, but there’s another possibility in all of this, too: could Hartman have been looking to take a pound of flesh out of frustration, or for the fact that Drake Caggiula nearly left Wild super star Kirill Kaprizov seriously injured?

That collision happened partway through the two teams’ Nov. 21 game when Caggiula tried to lay a hit on Kaprizov, causing a knee-on-knee collision in the process. Kaprizov was able to return and play the rest of the game en route to a 5-3 win, but it’s hard to say if Hartman would’ve still had that on the mind, doubly so considering Ty Emberson and Jakub Lauko had fought earlier in the game.

Nonetheless, Hartman’s history with the league’s discipline department, and the fact he caught Bouchard in a vulnerable spot, needs to be further looked at.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.