StandingO

I feel for you, Ryan. If there was a player that I was rooting for to have himself a coming-out year it almost certainly was former Wild (now Sharks) forward Ryan Donato. I mean, how can you not like the guy. He has carried himself like a pro both on and off the ice while maintaining an even-keeled attitude during his roller coaster of a ride in the NHL, so far.

In his first three years, he has only managed to suit up for 130 games and within that manage an average of 12:20 ice time. It doesn’t help his cause when you look at his mere 57 points during his first 130 NHL games. Less than half a point per game is not going to garner you much attention. But, as they say, stats don’t always tell the whole story and this is especially the case for the Harvard alum and second-round draft pick of the Bruins. 

Donato was living every hockey kid’s dream as he entered the NHL. Born in Boston, he was the hometown kid being drafted by his hometown team. Hell, even his father(Ted) played in the league and for none other than the Boston Bruins. It was already a great story and could have only skyrocketed upwards for the Donato family had things worked out for Ryan in Boston. But, unfortunately, they just didn’t. 

There was a glimmer of false hope during his initial call-up year, the 2017-18 season, and his first game for that matter. Ryan made an impact immediately scoring 3 points in his NHL debut. He then went on to finish the season with 9 points in 12 games as a late call-up in March. Things looked good for Boston hoping for a young breakout star to rise up during his first full NHL season. Instead, the ship started to steer in the wrong direction.

With an already stacked roster, the Bruins couldn’t find room to fit Ryan into the lineup most nights.  He spent time in both Providence and Boston the first half of the season, Ultimately, he was shipped off to Minnesota with a fifth-round pick for another hometown Boston kid in Charlie Coyle. 

In most cases, a change of scenery and improved playing time for an athlete is all they need to have a breakout year and harness their full potential. That seemed to be exactly what Ryan was heading towards with the Wild. A mediocre club looking for a forward that could help them score. It should have been a win-win scenario for both sides. 

And then nothing happened. It seemed to be almost the same case in Minnesota as it was in Boston. A young talented forward who needed more ice time and more NHL shifts just never received that. Ryan was mainly penciled in on the third line and was never really given a chance to succeed with the Wild. So why did the Wild trade for him to ultimately set him up for failure? I have no idea. Not only was he skating with the third line majority of the time he seemed to also be a healthy scratch far too often towards the end of his time in Minnesota. 

The kid could score I have no doubts about that. Put him around other playmakers and he would find his way in front of the net and his game would soar. Every shift out on the ice he would skate his ass off and grind for loose pucks until his shift was over. At times did it seem as if he was almost too out of control and coughed up a few pucks? Yeah, that happened. But he was a young kid put on the third line trying every chance he got to make a good impression on the organization. He was not given the right opportunities for his game to take the next step. 

During his time with the Wild, he eclipsed a 1.19 even-strength goals per 60 minutes. You can mark that down as better than Zucker, Parise, Staal, and many others on the Wild squad. So, it’s not like he didn’t do his job while he was on the ice; which by the way was not that often. During the 2019-20 season, Ryan averaged only 10:38 of ice time. Yes, that is correct. That is also why stats don’t tell the whole story of a 23 point season in 62 games. It is very difficult to score from the bench. Also, it’s not as if the Wild were in the same predicament as the Bruins and had too many skilled forwards to find him a spot. But hey, that’s just Minnesota sports. 

With all that said, it happened and now Ryan finds himself wearing his third different NHL jersey in just his fourth year in the league. And I hope it works out this time in San Jose. I think it will. They say third time is the charm, right? There are some early reports that suggest San Jose is intrigued by putting him on the second line and pairing him with playmakers such as Logan Couture and Timo Meier. We will have to wait and see where exactly he slides in but I just hope a team finally utilizes him in the right way. Let’s also not forget that Ryan is still only 24 years old and has only 130 games under his belt. The talent is there and I look forward to seeing it in full display the next time we get ourselves a great Wild and Sharks matchup.