The Blackhawks, as expected, were quiet but not silent during the opening of the NHL free-agency market Saturday.
The Hawks signed bottom-six forward Ryan Donato, 27, to a two-year contract with a $2 million salary-cap hit.
Donato had 14 goals and 13 assists in 71 games with the Kraken last season and has hovered between 20 and 31 points in his five full seasons in the NHL, demonstrating solid consistency as a third-line winger.
He also boasts a career 50.5% scoring-chance ratio and is coming off a particularly strong analytical season in which the Kraken outscored opponents 42-24 during his five-on-five ice time.
“Ryan adds depth and versatility to our team and will complement our forward group well,” general manager Kyle Davidson said in a statement. “He will be a great addition to our system.”
Donato’s father, Ted, played 796 games in the NHL — mostly for the Bruins — and has coached Harvard’s hockey team since 2004. Ryan Donato also attended Harvard, where he overlapped with Hawks forward Colin Blackwell as a freshman in 2015-16.
The Hawks probably will announce a few more minor signings in the days ahead — they still have an organizational depth issue at right-side defense, for one thing — but their general quietness will continue.
Forward roster crowded
With Connor Bedard, Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno, Corey Perry and Donato joining the Hawks’ forward lineup and Lukas Reichel and Cole Guttman ready to play in the NHL full-time next season, the Hawks are up to 16 forwards on the roster.
They won’t start the regular season with more than 13 or 14, which spells bad news for some depth players who spent all of last season in the NHL: They might not get their jobs back. Blackwell, MacKenzie Entwistle, Reese Johnson and Boris Katchouk could be in jeopardy.
The crowdedness also makes it extremely unlikely that the Hawks bring back Max Domi at this point, although he has yet to sign anywhere as of Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, Northbrook native J.T. Compher — another free-agent forward to whom the Hawks had been connected — signed a five-year contract with the Red Wings. Other notable signings around the league Saturday included Ryan O’Reilly with the Predators, Matt Duchene with the Stars, Alex Killorn with the Ducks, John Klingberg with the Maple Leafs and Dmitry Orlov with the Hurricanes.
Off-ice camp
Coach Luke Richardson went more in-depth to explain why the Hawks decided to hold prospect development camp — which began Saturday with 24 forwards, eight defensemen and three goaltenders — entirely off-ice this year.
“Some guys played just a few weeks ago in the Memorial Cup, and then some guys haven’t played in months,” Richardson said. “So you’ve got guys that are tired, and you’ve got guys that aren’t really ready [to go] full bore.
“They go from here and a lot of them go to the World Junior camps. Then they go to rookie camps. There’s no rest for their bodies. You don’t want to rest and do nothing, but you can take a rest from the grind of the everyday wear and tear.”
Richardson mentioned 2022 first-round pick Frank Nazar, who had hip surgery after arriving at Michigan last fall, as an example of the potential dangers of summer overwork.
Instead, the Hawks will teach the prospects some lessons and exercises in the gym, such as boxing classes. Considering most of them need to gain weight, those could prove useful.
