The San Jose Sharks have acquired forward Ryan Donato from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2021 3rd round pick (via Pittsburgh, acquired in the Patrick Marleau trade).
Donato is still young, and his contract situation is fine with one year left with an AAV of $1.9 million, and he will be an RFA afterwards. While he isn\’t going to be a top-six winger, he has shown that he can score at the NHL level, and he has seen limited ice time. Even though he has 18 goals in 84 games with the Wild, Donato has averaged just 11 minutes and 55 seconds per game with Minnesota. The Sharks lack scoring depth, and Donato will give them that, especially if he sees more ice time than he did with the Wild. The former second round pick has showed promise at times, but he should be treated more like a 3rd liner, and less like a 4th liner. The Wild are giving up on him way too early, especially after he had 16 points in 22 games for them in 2018-19. If Donato can show production somewhat close to that, this has the makings of a robbery.
Donato, 24, scored 14 goals with nine assists for 23 points in 62 games for the Wild this past season. In his NHL career for Minnesota and the Boston Bruins, Donato has 29 goals with 28 assists for 57 points in 130 games.
CarterHud 