Sipping coffee in Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, before the Blackhawks-Wild game Sunday, Hawks forward Ryan Donato learned something new: Historically, he has been dominant in December.
“I didn’t know that, but that’s a good thing to hear right now,” he said, his expression reflecting equal amounts of confusion and encouragement.
It’s true: The 27-year-old Massachusetts native, now in his seventh NHL season with his fifth team, is something of a wunderkind during the holiday season. Consider his career stats by month, entering the Hawks-Ducks game Thursday: six goals in October, eight in November, then 19 in December before dropping back to normal with 10 in January and seven in February. The trend doesn’t stem from any differences in sample size; he has played between 46 and 50 games in each of those five months.
Digging deeper, Donato’s goals-per-game rate in December (0.38) is just a hair below former Hawks star Patrick Kane’s career rate and well above Jonathan Toews’.
“I just prepare the same way — [I] say a prayer before the game,” Donato said. “Sometimes [my shots] go in, and sometimes they don’t. But for me, I just try to prepare the same way. I don’t know if I’m lucky in December or what, but hope-fully I can continue that.”
Entering Thursday, he hadn’t yet continued it this season with the Hawks, having been held without a point in each of their first three games this month — a struggle that’s in step with the offense overall. But Donato also had no points through his first four games of December last season with the Kraken before he erupted for five goals in a six-game span. So, there’s still time.
Despite being demoted from the first line with rookie Connor Bedard, where he began the season, to the third and fourth lines more recently, Donato has been a bright spot for an overall weak forward corps. The Hawks’ scoring-chance ratio during his five-on-five ice time entering Thursday was 48.3%, the best of any forward on the team, even though six others have started a larger percentage of shifts in the offensive zone. Donato also has 42 individual scoring chances to his name during five-on-five play, second-most on the team (behind Bedard with 61). And he’s on pace to finish this season with a career-high 34 points after finishing with 31 and 27 the last two years in Seattle.
“It’s a little disappointing to lose ice time for anybody, right?” Donato said. “But for me, the coaches know I’m willing to bear my head down and do the work to be in any position.
“Sometimes it calls to be on the first line. Sometimes it calls to be on the second, third or fourth. Whatever it may be, I usually prepare the same way, and I think that’s what the coaches expect of me.”
Hawks coach Luke Richardson and general manager Kyle Davidson signed Donato last summer with that versatility in mind. They had his shooting ability in mind, too, so Richardson wasn’t surprised to hear Wednesday that Donato ranks second on the team in scoring chances.
“You have to play to your strength, and that’s what his strength is — he’s a really good shooter,” Richardson said. “He shoots it hard and heavy . . . and he takes it to the net quite a bit. And
he’s not afraid to take a bit of a beating going there.”
For that reason, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see the Hawks move Donato back into the top six at some point in an attempt to create a spark — especially if his usual December bump repeats itself.
