From the Rink: Donato preps for Wild debut

Good morning from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, as the Wild and New York Rangers will take center stage at the World's Most Famous Arena this evening.
Tonight's game marks the Wild debut of forward Ryan Donato, who was traded to Minnesota from the Boston Bruins on Wednesday along with a conditional fifth-round pick in this summer's NHL Draft in exchange for Charlie Coyle.
Donato's journey to the Big Apple was a busy one. He left Providence, where he was playing for the Bruins' AHL affiliate, to drive to Boston to have dinner with his dad, long-time former NHLer Ted, and his girlfriend, Bradley. En route, he got the call that he was being shipped away.

He proceeded to Boston, ate dinner, then returned to Providence to pick up a few things before continuing his drive down the Atlantic coast to New York, where he rolled into Manhattan just after 2 a.m.
"It's been a hectic 24 hours," Donato said. "I'm super excited. The guys have been super welcoming. At the end of the day, I want to be an NHL player and what a great organization to be able to do it with."
Donato will slot right into the lineup and skate on a line with fellow youngsters Joel Eriksson Ek and Luke Kunin. Both Donato and Kunin are products of the U.S. National team, having represented Team USA at the World Junior Championships.

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who coached Ted Donato when he played for the Manchester Monarchs, indicated Ryan could also see time on the power play and have the ability to move up the lineup if he's playing well.
His versatility helps in that regard. Donato grew up playing center but has played mostly wing -- both sides -- at Harvard and in the pro ranks.
The Boston native burst onto the scene last season, scoring five goals and nine points in 12 games at the end of the regular season after signing with the Bruins following his sophomore season with the Crimson.
But he's been up and down between Boston and Providence this season, scoring just six goals and nine points in 34 games with the NHL club.
"He's going to bring new energy," Boudreau said. "He's young and he's got a history of being a skilled player. It's gonna be interesting to see him play. I'm sure he's going to come out and work his rear end off today and that's what we need."
Here's a look at morning skate from New York:

In case you missed it

• Here is today's
Wild Warmup
• Wild.com
chatted with Donato's Olympic teammate
, Jordan Greenway, on Wednesday night to find out what kind of player the Wild is getting
• The team
recalled forward J.T. Brown
from Iowa on Thursday afternoon. He is expected to play against the Rangers
• Check out t
his feature on the Wild's Head Athletic Trainer
, John Worley, who celebrated 1,500 games in the NHL last week
• In the latest Only in Minnesota, Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon hit the ice with country music artist Adam Hambrick:

• Paul Fenton has been busy over the past month or so and might not be done. Monday is the NHL Trade Deadline, and he spoke with the media before the game on Tuesday to provide some insight as to what he's thinking ahead of the deadline:

Here is the projected lineup for the Wild:
Jordan Greenway - Eric Staal - Jason Zucker
Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Pontus Aberg
Ryan Donato - Joel Eriksson Ek - Luke Kunin
Marcus Foligno - Eric Fehr - J.T. Brown
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Anthony Bitetto
Brad Hunt - Greg Pateryn
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
The Rangers have shuffled between wins and losses for the last two weeks, never winning or losing more than one game in a row. New York is coming off a 2-1 win in Carolina on Tuesday.
Forward Mika Zibanejad leads the Rangers with 26 goals, 32 assists and 58 points. Chris Kreider has 24 goals and 44 points while Kevin Hayes as 14 goals among 42 points.
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has started 41 games, posting a record of 17-15-8 with a 2.97 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.
The Rangers could line up like this:
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey - Kevin Hayes - Pavel Buchnevich
Vladislav Namestnikov - Ryan Strome - Jesper Fast
Connor Brickley - Boo Nieves - Filip Chytil
Marc Staal - Brady Skjei
Brendan Smith - Kevin Shattenkirk
Anthony DeAngelo - Neal Pionk
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev
Watching/listening to tonight's game:
- The game will be televised on FOX Sports North - It can also be streamed on the FOX Sports app - It can be heard on FM 100.3 KFAN or the Wild Radio Network - You can also stream the audio online in the Wild app