Ryan Donato: Sell High, or Don’t Sell at All

As the National Hockey League heads into a crazy two-day period leading up to Friday’s trade deadline, Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is a good spot. He’s already traded Seth Jones to the Florida Panthers, which cleared $7 million in cap space and added Spencer Knight as a potential franchise goalie. Believe it or not, he has an in-demand trade chip in Ryan Donato.

Ryan Donato’s Production & Versatility Make Him Valuable

Trading Donato isn’t a black or white issue; there are a lot of moving parts and gray areas. The 28-year-old forward is a vital part of this current team. When captain Nick Foligno says that this team wants the identity of being hard to play against, Donato is the first player that fits that mold. Not only is he having a career year offensively with 22 goals and 45 points, but he’s also done it while constantly moving up and down the lineup. He’s not doing what Philipp Kurashev did last season by exclusively playing with Connor Bedard.

Donato has scored 17 5v5 goals this season. That’s more than Jack Hughes, Jason Robertson, Brayden Point, Alex Ovechkin, Jack Eichel, and Connor McDavid, to name a few. He scores his goals from the dirty areas of the ice, with many of them coming on second and third efforts. While he has his flaws, you won’t ever question his effort. His style of play is perfect for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and that’s why teams looking for middle-six help are interested in Donato.

Teams around the league aren’t waiting for Friday to fill their needs, which only drives up Donato’s value. The trades of Gustav Nyqvist, Trent Frederic, and Yanni Gourde, along with Jake Evans‘contract extension, increase the focus on Donato for teams still looking for middle-six help. Davidson should be able to set his price high and wait for the offers to roll in.

Sell High or Don’t Sell at All

For the record, I’ve favored keeping Donato beyond this season. He put in the hard work in the offseason to improve his skating, and it’s paying off. He’s a lead-by-example guy and is well-liked by his teammates. The young guys coming up over the next couple of seasons can benefit from watching how Donato approaches being an NHL player. He doesn’t cheat the game and is a consummate professional off the ice.

It was easy to dismiss the Donato trade rumors a few weeks ago when a third-round pick was the likely return. His value to this team is greater than a mid-round draft pick. Now that he could fetch more than that, it’s hard not to sell at an unexpectedly high value. If a rival general manager offers a first or second-round pick or an NHL-ready prospect, passing that up won’t be easy.

A second-round pick is not out of the question, considering Nyqvist and Frederic already fetched those in return. Yes, both trades involved salary retention, but Donato’s $2 million cap hit shouldn’t be hard to move. Last year, the Winnipeg Jets gave up a second and third-round pick to acquire Tyler Toffoli from the New Jersey Devils, with 50% retention. Toffoli’s production was similar to Donato’s, with 26 goals and 44 points at the time. I prefer the Blackhawks get a young player back over a draft pick in any Donato trade, but that seems to be a lost art in the NHL these days.

If I’m Davidson, I set my price as high as possible with a second-round pick as the minimum I accept to make a deal. If nobody meets that expectation, you keep him for the final 19 games of the season and work on an extension. Trading Donato just for the sake of making a trade is nonsensical. Continuity is important when trying to improve a rebuilding team. There are pros and cons to trading Donato, but if a team is desperate enough to grossly overpay for him, it would be malpractice not to take it.