Chicago Blackhawks extend Ryan Donato to 4-year contract – Hockey Writer – Chicago Blackhawks

Apart from the upcoming 2025 NHL Draft, the most pressing thing for the Chicago Blackhawks this summer is to rejoin Ryan Donato. The job was done less than 24 hours after the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, General Manager Kyle Davidson completed the job, a team-friendly four-year, $16 million deal.

Ryan Donato has four years left

📰📰 pic.twitter.com/cscsqsqdczjo

— Chicago Blackhawks (@nhlblackhawks) June 18, 2025

Chicago’s 2024-25 season was bleak, but Donato shines. The 29-year-old has more than doubled his career high in scoring, recording 31 goals and providing many assists for teams with offensively lacking the Blackhawks. Leading every 60 minutes of ice time (2.85), the player who contributed most of his career would have brought the Blackhawks to the Cleaners. However, both sides introduced more or less the rate of third-line talents.

At this stage, Donato’s ground It seems to be a third-tier player. He may never reach the height of 62 again, but even though he cut his output in half during the half-stage of the trade period, it wasn’t a bad thing. However, a reasonable ceiling could be a consistent 50-point six-pointer, which is very valuable to the Blackhawks.

It is not clear where Chicago will be in the offseason. Whether they add some work in 2024 or run with the second-fleet team in hockey, it’s not entirely fooling the lineup, it’s a step in the right direction of reconstruction. The focus now can be on adding rather than subtraction.