Seattle Kraken bring back Ryan Donato on one-year contract

The Seattle Kraken have signed forward Ryan Donato to a one-year contract, the club announced Wednesday.

Donato, 26, scored 16 goals and 31 points in 74 games — new career-high marks in all three categories — with the Kraken during the 2021–22 regular season. His new deal carries a $1.2 million cap hit.

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RETURN OF THE DON! We’ve re-signed @DonatoRyan to a one-year deal with a 1.2M AAV → bit.ly/DonatoReSign22

6:33 PM · Jul 27, 2022

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The Boston Bruins originally selected Donato in the second round (No. 56 overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft. The 6’0″, 192-pound forward scored 11 goals and 18 points over parts of two seasons with the Bruins before being moved to the Minnesota Wild in 2019 as part of the Charlie Coyle trade.

Donato was reasonably productive in Minnesota, scoring 18 goals and 39 points in 84 games over parts of two regular seasons. In October 2020, the Wild traded Donato to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick.

After one decent season in San Jose, Donato signed a one-year contract with the Kraken as an unrestricted free agent last summer. He finished fourth on the inaugural Seattle team in goals and sixth in points.

In 254 career games with Boston, Minnesota, San Jose, and Seattle, Donato has scored 51 goals and 108 points. He’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent again next summer.

The Kraken now have 13 forwards with significant NHL experience (not including top prospects Matty Beniers and Shane Wright) signed through 2022–23: Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz, Andre Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde, Jared McCann, Alex Wennberg, Brandon Tanev, Joonas Donskoi, Morgan Geekie, Donato, Karson Kuhlman, and John Hayden.