There was a time, not so long ago, when the Boston Bruins viewed Ryan Donato as a potential long-term piece. A local prospect drafted and developed by the team, he was once seen as part of the succession plan for Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci. Unfortunately, both the Bruins and Donato’s stories diverged when the Bruins opted to move the Massachusetts-born forward to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for another Massachusetts-born forward in Charlie Coyle. Donato had potential; that was never a doubt. What the Bruins needed more than anything at the time of that trade, however, was certainty. Coyle provided that and more during his time with the Bruins and you’d be hard-pressed to find a player who cared more about a team and city than Coyle did with the Bruins and Boston. In the end, the trade was a good one for the Bruins with Coyle becoming one of the team’s best forwards for a few seasons before eventually leading to a very good trade return at this year’s NHL Trade Deadline. On the other hand, Donato struggled to become the top-six scoring threat people expected him to be during his time at Harvard. Fast-forward to this season, however, and the narrative has changed surrounding the now 29-year-old Donato, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Donato’s Breakout 2024-25 Season After struggling to be an effective scorer in the NHL for a few seasons, averaging roughly 12 goals and 26 points per season since leaving the Bruins, Donato finally broke out this season with the Blackhawks. In 80 games, the Boston-native would score a career-high 31 goals and 62 points. He led the Blackhawks in goals, outpacing former-Bruins forward Tyler Bertuzzi and Connor Bedard, who each had 23 goals, and was just five points behind Bedard in two fewer games for the team lead in that category. Ryan Donato, a second-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2014, could be an interesting name to keep an eye on when free agency opens this year. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers) Given the fact that Donato has played the last two seasons for $2 million annually, he picked the best time to finally have such a dominant offensive season. Any team looking to bring Donato into the fold will have to pay for his production, but teams will also have to be content with the fact that this type of season is the outlier relative to his entire career. Whether this is the new norm or simply an anomaly is unclear, but Donato is undoubtedly in line for a big pay raise this offseason. Donato Fits Bruins Retool Timeline When the Bruins signed Elias Lindholm to a seven-year contract and Nikita Zadorov to a six-year deal, it was clear that they were committing big money to two positions of need. Though things didn’t work out for the Bruins this season and general manager Don Sweeney opted to have a fire-sale of sorts, moving on from captain Brad Marchand, as well as alternate captains Coyle, Brandon Carlo, and roster mainstays like Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau, the team made moves designed to ideally retool, rather than rebuild. This included the acquisitions of Casey Mittelstadt, Marat Khusnutdinov, Fraser Minten, Henri Jokiharju and even Will Zellers, who, while still only 19 years old, is theoretically closer to jumping to the NHL than a 2025 first-round pick would be. In short, the Bruins don’t seem content kicking the can down the road for very long. Related: 3 Things Bruins Fans Should Hope Are in Their Easter Baskets This Year With big money committed to Lindholm, Zadorov, as well as David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins are not in a position to simply tank in the long run. For this reason, bringing in a player like Donato, who only just turned 29 a few weeks ago, actually fits their timeline better than some might expect. At the same time, there are obvious risks associated with bringing Donato into the fold. On the one hand, he wasn’t a primary center this season with Chicago, often running shotgun alongside Bedard. Bringing in a talented winger who can play center isn’t an issue, but it should be noted that Donato has never been considered a particularly good faceoff player throughout his career. Another thing to consider here is that Donato’s success came while playing alongside a generational talent like Bedard; it’s impossible to ignore this when comparing his success this season to the past, especially when he couldn’t score more than 16 goals or 31 points in a single season. Still, the Blackhawks did shuffle their lines quite a bit and Donato did find himself playing with different linemates and even spending time at center this season. If the Bruins are comfortable fitting Donato into their plans and, as is always the case, can find common ground with him on a deal that properly compensates him but doesn’t handcuff the team, then it’s an avenue worth exploring. This is especially true given the expectations of the salary cap continuing to rise. If the Bruins don’t think that Donato brings them enough value for the dollars spent, then no harm done. At the very least, a dialogue should be started when Donato hits free agency and the team should explore bringing their 2014 second-round pick back home.