Ryan Donato Is Setting An Example For Future Blackhawks
Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
When the Chicago Blackhawks went shopping this offseason for talented forwards to help raise Connor Bedard‘s game, the secondary goal seemed to be squeezing out replacement-level players. We’ve seen this process continue to play out in-season with the waiving of Andreas Athanasiou earlier this week. But after all that turnover, through the first 20% or so of the season, your leading goal-scorer is… Ryan Donato.
Huh?
Donato’s not someone you’d think would have much staying power for the Blackhawks. He’s 28, so we’re not talking about some upstart prospect. While he was worth one-to-two points in the standings in each of his seasons before signing with Chicago, he’s been almost exactly replacement-level (0.1 Standings Points Above Replacement, per Evolving-Hockey). Since becoming a full-time player, he’s never played more than 14 minutes per night in a season. His defense consistently rates as poor, which is a no-no for many coaches in the league.
A lot of players with NHL-caliber offense and bad defense flame out of the NHL well before age 28, but here’s Donato, still standing. He has 417 NHL games and counting and is playing regularly for the Blackhawks, even getting some power play time.
What a pass by Ryan Donato, who gives it over to Connor Bedard, who connects with Tyler Bertuzzi on the power play for his third goal in five games. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/Sbl9PV82DD
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 8, 2024
How do you stick around for that long as an offense-first role player? Donato is practically writing the manual for every offensive post-hype ex-prospect who can’t find their way into their big club’s top-six forwards.
For one thing, your offense has to be high-level, and Donato’s able to do arguably the hardest thing as a forward: Create shots and score goals in a short amount of time. When you’re a regular top-six forward who gets power play time, those minutes afford you the chance to get puck touches often and into the rhythm of the game. If you start slow in a game, that might not be a problem, because you can build steam as you get the puck more. It’s like a convection oven cooking a baked potato.
While Donato got 14:00 of average TOI last season, he’s spent his career having to microwave. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, there are 390 forwards who’ve played 1000-plus minutes at 5-on-5. Donato has 8.9 shots per hour during that time, which is about the same rate that stars like Kyle Connor, Travis Konecny, and Andrei Svechnikov fire the puck. While those guys get 13-15 minutes of 5-on-5 time per night, Donato averages just 11:15.
Donato has to do more with less, and he does. His 1.01 goals per hour during that time (matching the likes of Kirill Kaprizov, Jamie Benn, and Tyler Seguin) rank 47th among those 390 forwards. The only player who scores more frequently with less 5-on-5 ice time per game is Daniel Sprong, one of the few players who can lay claim to sharing Donato’s unique role as a microwave high-volume shooter.
But hey, there are a lot of good, talented shooters in the AHL ranks. What else separates Donato? What makes him trusted by coaches, even when he can’t defend well?
Courtesy of Evolving-Hockey
Sure, Donato’s defense isn’t good, but crucially: He works hard enough so that his defense isn’t horrible. At first blush, you might not think there’s much of a difference between someone in the bottom-fifth in the league in defense and someone whose defense is in the tenth, or even fifth percentile. But that gulf is massive, and Donato’s effort on defense keeps him as a net positive at even-strength.
That gets to the final part of the equation, and arguably, the biggest: You have to endear yourself to your coaches and teammates. Donato does that with his effort, and he’s a well-liked player. Bedard told the Chicago Tribune last week, “He just causes a lot of chaos out there with forechecking and being physical and always moving his feet.”
Coach Luke Richardson loves not only the fact that Donato is always “scrapping away, [with] guys knocking him down, he’s still scoring a goal,” but he brings the kind of attitude coaches love to the ice. “He’s a guy that can move around, and he’s 100% fine with it. ‘Yes, coach, whatever you need.’ That’s the answer you get.”
The Blackhawks have a ton of talent in their prospect pool, from new NHLers like Lukas Reichel, to AHLers in Frank Nazar and Colton Dach, to KHLers like Roman Kantserov, and NCAA/Juniors players like Sacha Boisvert, Oliver Moore, Nick Lardis, and more. Some of them are going to be high-end NHLers, and a few of them are going to get to play with Bedard.
But what happens if you don’t crack the top line? Or the top six? Take notes, young Hawks. Donato is showing you the way.
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