The story behind the Wild victory chain: ‘Choose your hard,’ Hartzy’s workshop and a new team attitude

The day before the season opener, Hartman went to Home Depot and bought the thickest steel chain he could find — one that can pull a 1,500-pound load. He also bought green and red spray paint, giant lettering and “one of those wood things for address numbers you drill into a house,” he said, proudly. “The night before our first game, I built a little workshop in the garage and I put it together,” Hartman said. “It hasn’t fallen apart yet.”

Hartman brought the chained “HARD” trophy to the rink on the morning of the Wild’s home opener against Columbus. The treasured prize has been handed around the locker room 10 times thus far this season.

“It goes to the guy who not necessarily puts up the most points in a game,” Foligno said. As Hartman said, “Otherwise Kirill (Kaprizov) could win it every game. Sometimes you want to spread it out.”“We give it to the guy who maybe at the end of the game blocks three shots or lays the big check or broke up the big play with a backcheck,” Foligno said.

Still, Kaprizov is second in the league in scoring. At some point, he should probably win the “HARD”ware at least once. “Don’t worry,” Foligno said. “He may get a bigger trophy at the end of the year.” Maybe not a HARD trophy but a Hart Trophy.