The Boston native brings an A-game personality for fans and teammates alike. When 2021 top draft pick Matty Beniers joined the squad after the NCAA Frozen Four, Donato was a familiar face from both their Massachusetts roots and playing together on Team USA at the 2021 International Hockey Federation World Championships. The Kraken teammates work out together in the offseason and live one town over from each other.
When asked about his hopes to return with Seattle during an exclusive interview late in the inaugural season, Donato was quick to his statement: "I would love to. They [front office] have a lot of decisions to make, things to figure out. For me, I love the guys and would do anything to get back here."
In any case, Donato said he was intent in staying in game shape throughout the later summer months. He will be ready for training camp as he said in the spring "continue to do what the coaches and organization wants me to do."
"I don't take much time off," said Donato about his summer training plan. "For me, I enjoy games quite a bit. I will get on the ice too. I build a base throughout the year. I kind of lose it if I don't stay strong. I might take 10 days to two weeks off at the most."
Donato arrived at Seattle's training camp last fall with 35 goals and 42 assists notched in 180 NHL games with three teams, Boston, Minnesota and San Jose. He was drafted by Boston in 2014 in the second round (56th overall) on the strength of his scoring prowess as a hometown prep hockey star.
Donato played three years at NCAA Division I Harvard (60 G, 44 A in 97 games) and helped lead the team to the 2017 Frozen Four. He made his debut with the NHL Bruins in the spring of 2018 after starring in the 2018 Olympics for Team USA (scoring a team-high five goals in five games) completing his third season at Harvard.
Donato's father, Ted, played 13 seasons in the NHL, most with the Bruins. He scored 150 goals and added 197 assists in 796 NHL career games. The elder Donato, who played at Harvard four years himself, coached his son during Ryan's Harvard years and has coached the formidable hockey program since the 2004-05 NCAA season. Kraken 2022 fourth-round pick, defenseman Ben MacDonald, a rising high school senior, is committed to play for Harvard and the elder Donato for the 2023-24 season.
After the 2018 Olympics star turn and the Harvard season, Donato scored goals in his first two NHL games that spring and finished with nine points in 12 games that season, plus appeared in three playoff games.
The next season was a whirlwind for Donato, who played for both Boston and the American Hockey League's Providence Bruins (7G, 5A in 18 games for first-year coach and now Kraken assistant Jay Leach) before he was traded to the Minnesota Wild at the 2019 NHL trade deadline for another Massachusetts native, veteran center Charlie Coyle.
Donato, six-foot and 192 pounds, played most of that season's second half with Minnesota, then helped the AHL Iowa Wild make a first and deep playoff run. At the NHL level, Donato scored 10 goals and added 15 assists in 56 games.
In 2019-20, Donato registered 14 goals and nine assists in 62 games, then signed as a free agent for San Jose during the 2020-21 season. He put up a 20-point season in 50 games.
