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Ryan Donato

Blackhawks Notes: Donato, Soderstrom, Sorensen

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On Friday, the Blackhawks rekindled discussions about a possible contract extension with pending unrestricted free agent forward Ryan Donato and while an agreement wasn’t reached, Chicago elected to hold onto him anyway.  Scott Powers of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that the deal that the team put on the table was a three-year offer worth somewhere around $4MM per season.  That would effectively double his current price tag while the term is low enough that he’d be off the books when some of their younger core will be heading toward pricey second contracts.  The 28-year-old has a career-best 23 goals and 25 assists through 62 games this season despite not even averaging 16 minutes a night.  He’ll now have to weigh if he can do better than that on the open market or if he’s better off staying in a place he knows he fits with.

More from Chicago:

  • Also from Powers’ piece, he notes that the Blackhawks will look at signing defenseman Victor Soderstrom for next season. Acquired as part of the trade that saw Chicago pick up Shea Weber’s contract earlier this week, the 24-year-old returned to play in Sweden this season and has fared quite well, tallying 36 points in 48 games with Brynas.  Soderstrom has 53 career NHL games under his belt with Phoenix (who drafted him 11th overall in 2019) and 170 outings in the AHL.  But if Chicago views him as more of a depth option on a two-way deal, Soderstrom could elect to stay and play a prominent role at home.
  • During his post-deadline press conference (video link), GM Kyle Davidson noted that with the deadline now gone, they will turn their focus to a decision on their head coach. Anders Sorensen is the interim bench boss following the early-season dismissal of Luke Richardson but the team doesn’t have an inclination of what route they intend to go with Sorensen just yet.  The team has played to a 12-19-7 record, good for a .408 points percentage compared to the .346 they were at before the change.

Oilers Showed Interest In Mikko Rantanen, Ryan Donato, Rickard Rakell

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It was a quiet but impactful Trade Deadline for the Edmonton Oilers. They brought in top-four defenseman Jake Walman and bottom-six bruiser Trent Frederic to bolster an offense that already ranked eighth in total goals this season. But as the dust begins to settle, it seems Edmonton came close to a far more exciting deadline season, and even had a chance at Carolina Hurricanes asset Mikko Rantanen. Edmonton was reportedly close to agreeing on extension terms with Rantanen, but ultimately couldn’t build a trade package that enticed Carolina enough to land the deal, shares TSN’s Ryan Rishaug. In the end, Rantanen was moved to the Dallas Stars in exchange for top young forward Logan Stankoven, two first-round draft picks, and two third-round picks.

It’s hard to imagine Edmonton could put together an offer better than that. Edmonton only has one pick – a 2026 second – in the top-two rounds of 2025 and 2026. They also don’t have nearly the young talent that Dallas had to offer. Vasily Podkolzin is almost certainly their closest comparable – one year older and as NHL engrained as Stankoven – and he’d be hard to move after a nice stylistic fit in Edmonton has led him to 21 points in 61 games this year. The Oilers could have offered top prospect Matthew Savoie, who ranks third on the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors in scoring with 40 points in 47 games. But neither asset quite stands up to Stankoven’s pedigree, and it’s likely their lacking draft capital was the ultimate dividing line.

Rishaug adds that Edmonton also tested the waters on acquiring top winger Rickard Rakell from the Pittsburgh Penguins, and red-hot centerman Ryan Donato from the Chicago Blackhawks. Rakell has been a standout, top-line option for the Penguins this season – boasting 29 goals and 53 points in 64 games this season. That scoring – and his standing as one of a few bright spots in Pittsburgh’s season – certainly hiked up his price at the deadline. Especially in the midst of an inflated market, it’s again hard to imagine Edmonton’s empty draft cabinet could have pried Rakell away. Donato would have likely cost much less – though he is having a career year with 23 goals and 48 points in 62 games – but his center role would have buried him down Edmonton’s lineup. In the end, they landed their third-line boost in a deal with the Bruins – and get the boost of adding a hard-nosed enforcer to protect superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the postseason.

For as quiet as it ended up, it seems Oilers general manager Stan Bowman made sure to busy up his deadline. The Oilers have six players headed for unrestricted free agency, and two headed for restricted free agency, which should clear up roughly $14.71MM in cap space this summer per PuckPedia. That could be just enough space to get Bowman back on the phones as the NHL Draft and start of free agency role around. The Oilers added plenty of new faces last summer, signing each of Viktor Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner, and Corey Perry to short-term deals.

Blackhawks Discussing Extension With Ryan Donato

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As a pending unrestricted free agent, there has been an expectation that the Blackhawks would be moving forward Ryan Donato before today’s 2 PM CT trade deadline.  However, that might not be the case, as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are discussing a potential contract extension.  Even if an agreement on that front can’t be reached, LeBrun adds that teams have been told that Chicago won’t move him unless they’re blown away with an offer.

The 28-year-old is in the midst of a career year, tallying 23 goals and 23 assists in 60 games, buoyed by a 16.9 shooting percentage.  By comparison, his previous personal best in points in a season was 31.  Perhaps more impressively is that he has done so without a dramatic jump in playing time as Donato is logging just 15:30 per night.

Donato is in the final season of a two-year, $4MM contract signed with Chicago after Seattle non-tendered him back in 2022 to avoid giving him salary arbitration eligibility.  With the year he’s having, Donato appears to be well on his way to potentially doubling his current price tag if not more on his next deal.

In the meantime, GM Kyle Davidson has set a high asking price for Donato’s services.  Earlier this week, as relayed by All CHGO’s Mario Tirabassi, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that the Blackhawks are seeking a first-round pick to move Donato.  While that might seem lofty given his overall track record of being more than a depth scorer, Donato has been a legitimate top-six forward this season and his price tag from a salary cap perspective is much cheaper than many of the other top-six options out there.  Notably, Chicago has used its three retention slots so they won’t be able to pay down any of the contract to help facilitate a move.

Clearly, Chicago’s preference is to get Donato locked up to a new deal but even if that doesn’t happen, it appears as if there’s at least a chance he’ll remain with the Blackhawks for at least the rest of the season.

Analyzing Ryan Donato’s Trade Value

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Since the turn of the calendar, especially leading up to the trade deadline, one player receiving plenty of interest is Chicago Blackhawks winger Ryan Donato. Despite the perceived market building around Donato, the Blackhawks reportedly haven’t ruled out negotiating an extension for their third-highest scorer.

The trade interest isn’t just because of hasty buyers either. Donato is having a career year, scoring 19 goals and 18 assists in 53 games which has already topped his previous high of 31 points in 74 games during the 2021-22 season.

Typically a pending unrestricted free agent averaging 0.70 points per game on an affordable $2MM salary would command a first-round pick or a pair of seconds. However, there is some reason for pause when considering Donato as a potential trade deadline pick.

Since January 1st, Connor Bedard, Taylor Hall, or Teuvo Teräväinen have assisted on six of Donato’s eight goals. Additionally — those three players have contributed to just over half of his total points this season. Now it’ll become a question about who exactly is contributing more to who’s success.

Given that Donato is having an offensive breakout in his eighth season, and his average ice time has jumped from a career average of 12:46 to 15:03 this season, he’s most likely benefiting from Chicago’s poor supporting cast. The Blackhawks have given Donato more responsibility than he’s ever had at the NHL level, allowing him to play with the game’s young star in Bedard and one of the best passers in Teräväinen.

If interested parties begin to believe this, it could limit what they’re willing to spend on Donato. It’s likely the probable reason why Chicago is entertaining an extension rather than giving Donato away for less than their asking price.

The comparable deal for Donato in recent history is the trade that sent Tyler Toffoli from the New Jersey Devils to the Winnipeg Jets last trade deadline for a 2025 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick with the Devils retaining the remaining 50% of his contract.

Toffoli had 26 goals and 44 points in 61 games for the Devils before the trade — similar to Donato’s production this season. Should the Blackhawks want more than a second and third-round pick for their highest-goal scorer, they might be better served in signing him to a two- to three-year extension.

Blackhawks Haven’t Ruled Out Attempting To Extend Ryan Donato

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The Blackhawks trading pending unrestricted free agent forward Ryan Donato ahead of the March 7 deadline remains the likeliest outcome. It’s not a foregone conclusion, however, as Scott Powers of The Athletic writes Monday.

General manager Kyle Davidson isn’t as sold as moving on from Donato as he was from veteran Taylor Hall, who they sent to the Hurricanes for their own 2025 third-rounder in last month’s three-way Mikko Rantanen deal, Powers reports.

Suppose that’s the best offer they get for Donato. In that case, Powers said, there’s a strong chance they’ll opt to reap instead the benefits of him sticking around as a support player for the rest of the season to avoid overtaxing younger players’ development before engaging in extension talks.

But a first or second-round pick, whether in 2025 or 2026, likely makes it a more prudent move for Davidson to part ways with the winger. As Powers writes, the prospect of Donato sticking around in Chicago is murky. Now 28 and amid a career year, Donato has played for five clubs since entering the league in 2017 and will likely prioritize security on the open market this summer. The Blackhawks, cautious of overcommitting term to veterans outside of a potential big-fish splash in free agency, would rather keep a long-term slot open for one of their developing players rather than give Donato a four- or five-year commitment. If he’s willing to accept a short-term, higher-AAV deal, an approach Chicago has taken multiple times recently with players like Andreas Athanasiou and Jason Dickinson, that fits their short-term outlook.

Donato has already set career highs in goals (19) and points (37) and tied a career-high in assists (18) through 53 games. He’s also spent far more time down the middle than in the past, taking 335 faceoffs with a 46% win rate. The 6’0″ forward also has utility on either wing and plays a more physical game than his reputation begets, ranking third on the team with 89 hits.

Since Mikael Granlund and Marcus Pettersson have already fetched first-rounders on the rental market this year, there’s strong reason to believe Chicago could fetch a second for Donato. A first remains unlikely – Pettersson is arguably a top-10 shutdown defenseman in the league and subsequently agreed to a six-year extension in Vancouver. At the same time, Granlund has produced at a 72-point clip over the past two seasons on a profoundly flawed Sharks roster.

Even then, it’s questionable whether Chicago needs the draft capital more than quality talent to continue supporting players like Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar down the stretch. The Hawks have two second-rounders in this year’s draft and three in 2026. An already-drafted prospect would likely be more enticing to Davidson, but it’s unclear if any Donato suitors would be willing to part ways with one.

Senators Linked To Ryan Donato, Brandon Tanev

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Multiple reports over the past couple of weeks indicate the Senators are looking to add a forward ahead of the March 7 trade deadline. The Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato and the Kraken’s Brandon Tanev are two of the names they’ve identified as acquisition candidates, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen wrote Saturday.

Ottawa’s drive to add further in advance of the deadline is likely driven by a pair of factors. Available options are quickly dwindling after a slew of major swaps over the past week, and they’ve lost a depth option for potentially the rest of the season after Garrioch reports Nick Cousins underwent knee surgery Friday, extending his previously issued six-to-eight-week return timeline.

Tanev would be a more direct replacement for Cousins in a bottom-six role, albeit one with more offensive utility. Donato, however, would provide head coach Travis Green with another option to deploy in second-line usage alongside Drake Batherson and Josh Norris amid a career-best season.

The 28-year-old Donato is a pending unrestricted free agent, likely to land at least a marginal raise on his current $2MM AAV on the open market this summer. That’s because he ranks third on the Blackhawks in scoring with 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points in 50 games, trailing only Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teräväinen.

Donato has produced at a 49-point pace despite averaging 14:47 per game, seventh among active Chicago forwards. His 46.6 CF% at even strength leads Hawks forwards after Taylor Hall’s departure via trade last month, and only five of his 30 points have come on the power play. His 14 even-strength goals lead Chicago by a margin of five.

He’s a historically inconsistent but versatile secondary scoring piece who’s flourished amid a lack of support in the Windy City, not all too dissimilar to Max Domi in the 2022-23 campaign. He notched 49 points in 60 games after signing as a free agent and fetched them a second-round pick from the Stars at the deadline.

The Senators should expect to pay a similar price for Donato, especially after the rental market was set over the weekend. Mikael Granlund and Marcus Pettersson both fetched first-rounders for the Sharks and Penguins. Donato’s utility down the middle won’t matter much for the Sens in their current state with Norris, Tim Stützle and Shane Pinto as their top three centers, but knowing he can slide over from the wing is good to have in case of injuries.

The type of forward they choose to acquire likely depends on how David Perron performs over the coming days. The veteran winger is getting an audition alongside Norris and Batherson after a lengthy personal leave and a back injury have limited him to one assist in 14 games. An uptick in production likely means they go for a more physically involved checking winger to replace and upgrade over Cousins, but otherwise, adding a more scoring-inclined weapon to the league’s 21st-ranked offense will be at the top of general manager Steve Staios’ wish list.

Tanev would also be a rental, checking in at a more expensive $3.5MM cap hit. He also has some control over where (and if) he goes at the deadline with a 10-team no-trade list.

The 33-year-old left-winger has been with the Kraken since their inception, selected from the Penguins in the expansion draft two seasons into a six-year, $21MM extension. He missed over half of the 2021-22 season and a good chunk of the 2023-24 campaign due to injuries but has been mostly healthy this season, playing in 51 of Seattle’s 53 games.

While Tanev was once an option to score double-digit goals, those days may be behind him. He had a career-high 16 goals, 35 points and a +21 rating while skating in all 82 games during the Kraken’s lone playoff-bound season in 2022-23, but has 15 goals and 31 points in 117 combined games since then.

Nonetheless, he’s still among the league’s most fervent checkers. He leads all forwards with 82 blocks and ranks third on Seattle in hits with 107.

Tanev also remains an option to log heavy shorthanded usage, but his even-strength possession metrics have nosedived this season. His 43.2 CF% ranks last on the team among qualified skaters, and his -8.6 expected rating is trailed only by Jamie Oleksiak and Chandler Stephenson.

Ottawa should be able to land Donato without salary retention but may need a little help from the Kraken if they zero in on Tanev. They project to have $3.33MM in deadline space, per PuckPedia, a figure that could change once goaltender Linus Ullmark comes off long-term injured reserve in the days leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Ryan Donato Receiving Trade Interest

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While Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato has been pretty consistent over the years with his production, he hasn’t had much stability, lasting no longer than two seasons with each of his five NHL teams.  It appears that trend may soon be continuing as Chris Johnston relays in his latest Trade Board for The Athletic (subscription link) that the 28-year-old is starting to attract some attention from other teams on the trade front.

Donato has put up at least 20 points in seven straight seasons now, including this one.  While his career high in that department is 31 set back in 2021-22, he is well on his way to beating that.  In 46 games so far with Chicago, he has 14 goals and 14 assists despite playing less than 15 minutes a night.  On top of that, he has played down the middle more often than usual this season; that versatility will only help his trade value.

So too will a reasonable contract.  Donato is in the final season of a two-year, $4MM deal signed back in 2023.  That’s pretty good value for a player who currently sits third on the Blackhawks in points.  The fact that Donato is having that success in more of a middle-six role should also be appealing as he’s likely to be in the bottom six on most contending teams where his 22 even-strength points will fit in well.

Considering Donato’s performance this season and the fact that Chicago is still trying to find the right mix of veterans to keep in the fold, there’s certainly a case to be made that the Blackhawks might be better off trying to re-sign him.  Given how much he has bounced around, it’s possible he’d be interested in some stability in which case it might not cost considerably more to re-sign him.

But on the other hand, as someone who isn’t expected to be part of their long-term plans when their rebuild is completed, GM Kyle Davidson might simply elect to move him for the best possible offer, ensuring at least a return of some value for a low-risk addition just a year and a half ago.  The Blackhawks have just one retention slot remaining following yesterday’s three-team swap so they could use it on Donato to make him affordable to even the most cap-strapped of teams which should only help his return.  Either way, it looks like he’s a strong candidate to be moved by the March 7th deadline.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Ryan Donato

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed forward Ryan Donato to a two-year, $2MM AAV deal, first reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. The Blackhawks have also officially announced the deal.

The 27-year-old spent the last two seasons in Seattle, putting up decent secondary scoring numbers along the way.  After picking up 16 goals and 15 assists in his first season with the Kraken, Donato followed that up with a 14-goal, 13-assist performance in 71 games despite seeing his playing time drop by more than 2:30 per game to just 11:15 a night.

While playing time was hard to come by on a deep Seattle squad, that shouldn’t necessarily be the case this time around on a Chicago team that has been busy adding this week after parting with many of their regular forwards in recent months.

Over the past few days, Taylor Hall was added to give top pick Connor Bedard a capable running mate on the top line while Andreas Athanasiou was recently re-signed.  Meanwhile, veterans Nick Foligno and Corey Perry were brought in on one-year, $4MM deals but those two figure to play on the fourth line, meaning there should be an opportunity for Donato to grab a hold of a regular spot in Chicago’s middle six.  If he’s able to do so, he could be in line for a career year which would also result in the Blackhawks getting a pretty good bang for their buck on this signing.

Seattle Kraken Re-Sign Ryan Donato

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After not being given a qualifying offer this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent, Ryan Donato is heading back to Seattle anyway. The Kraken have signed Donato to a one-year, $1.2MM contract. General manager Ron Francis released a statement:

Ryan elevated his game last season and we’re happy to have him return to the Kraken. He completed a career year and will hopefully eclipse that in 2022-23.

While Donato’s qualifying offer would have been less than this, it would have opened up the possibility of arbitration which would have almost certainly resulted in a higher cap hit than $1.2MM. The 26-year-old forward reached new career-highs with 16 goals and 31 points in 74 games this season, after signing a one-year, $750K deal with the team in 2021.

It’s been a rollercoaster career for Donato since turning pro in 2018. He registered three points in his first game for the Boston Bruins and looked like he might be a key member of the team in the years to come. Before the end of his first full NHL season, he would be traded to the Minnesota Wild as part of the package for Charlie Coyle, and less than two years later would be sent to the San Jose Sharks for a third-round pick.

At the end of the 2020-21 season, he was left unqualified by the Sharks after scoring just six goals, leaving him without a clear path forward. With the Kraken, he has put his career back on track and now looks to take advantage of his second contract with the expansion franchise.

The Kraken, despite only entering the league a year ago, now have more than $80MM committed for 2022-23, leaving them with just over $2.2MM in cap space. Donato will try to continue carving out ice time in a forward group that has added Andre Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and potentially Shane Wright this summer, depending on what the team does with the latter.

Pacific Notes: Kraken, Foegele, Canucks

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After acquiring winger Oliver Bjorkstrand from Columbus on Friday, the heavy lifting for Seattle’s offseason appears to be done.  However, GM Ron Francis told reporters, including Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, that he’s still open to adding another depth defenseman and another depth forward.  The team has roughly $3.6MM in cap space per CapFriendly with Morgan Geekie still needing a new contract that will cut into that cap space.  Ryan Donato was an intriguing non-tender earlier this month likely due to his arbitration eligibility despite recording 16 goals and 15 assists (good for sixth in team scoring) and Francis indicated that the door is still open to his return as well at the right price.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • With the Oilers being among the teams that are still looking to clear out some money this summer, Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal posits that the cleanest option for Edmonton might be to move winger Warren Foegele. Acquired in a trade from Carolina last summer, the 26-year-old signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal that has two seasons remaining.  Foegele had 26 points in 82 games last season but posted 127 hits (a new career-high) which could be of interest to teams looking for some grit in the bottom six.  Edmonton still has to re-sign forwards Jesse Puljujarvi, Ryan McLeod, and Kailer Yamamoto and are basically down to the LTIR space from Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith ($6.367MM combined).  It will be difficult to sign those three with that money so finding a spot for Foegele would certainly help their cause.
  • Winger Ty Ronning expressed an interest in signing with Vancouver this summer to play with AHL Abbotsford, notes Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province. However, the team indicated that their preference was to focus on the development of their prospects which would have limited Ronning’s playing time and resulted in him signing with Minnesota’s farm team instead.  The 24-year-old spent five years with WHL Vancouver so joining the Canucks would have been a homecoming of sorts.

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