The Chicago Blackhawks and Kyle Davidson have made their first signing of the free agency period on Saturday. After remaining fairly quiet for the first few hours, the Blackhawks and forward Ryan Donato have come to terms on a two-year deal.
Donato will receive $2 million per season from the Blackhawks. The 27-year-old forward burst onto the scene with the Boston Bruins after signing with the team following a great junior season at the University of Harvard. In 12 games during the 2017-18 season, Donato registered nine points (five goals, four assists).
However, following that season, Donato slotted into more of a depth role going forward. He was traded halfway through the following season to the Minnesota Wild where he experienced another breakout. He spent one more season with the Wild before a lone season with the San Jose Sharks and the last two seasons with the Seattle Kraken. In the last two years, Donato has developed into a quality depth scorer. He had 16 and 14 goals, respectively, over the last two campaigns.
This contract is a perfect low-risk, high-reward solution for Chicago. He is still young enough to continue developing, especially with what should be ample opportunity. Worst case scenario is that he continues to provide solid depth scoring on a very cap-friendly contract for two seasons.
Certainly Kyle Davidson sees the greatest extreme being a trade at the deadline if Donato has a big impact and he's not in the future plans, same as he did with Sam Lafferty. That said, Donato is the exact type of player Chicago likes. He plays fast, hard, and has versatility at multiple forward spots.
Donato's deal puts the Blackhawks firmly over the salary cap floor. However, Kyle Davidson has plenty of cap space to potentially weaponize if the opportunity arises. Donato should see top-9 time this season, and possibly top-6 time, with the likes of Corey Perry, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Johnson, Taylor Hall, and Nick Foligno gracing the lineup as well.
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