Bruins 2nd Round (#56) - Ryan Donato, C

[mabrowndog]

Ryan Donato
Center
2nd Round (#56 overall)
 

 

 
2013-14 Team: Dexter School (Brookline MA)
Hometown: Scituate MA  DOB: Apr. 9, 1996
Height: 6'0"  Weight: 176 lbs.
 
2013-14 Statistics: 30 Games, 37 G, 41 A, 78 Pts
 
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button: "A well balanced player who may not catch your eye but he will contribute to the team. Skates well, good puck skills, smart and aware and it is difficult to make him a non-factor in the game because his understanding is so good."
 
Rankings:
TSN: 50 | Craig Button: 94 | THN: 40 | ISS: 100 | hockeyprospect.com: 53 | McKeen's: 38 | NHL CS: 58 NAS

 

[PedroSpecialK]

Unreal that he dropped this far- great, great pick

 

[Toe Nash]

Unreal that he dropped this far- great, great pick

Can you expand? Looks like he was in the middle of where mocks had him.

 

[mabrowndog]

HockeysFuture.com
 

 
2010-11: Ryan Donato suffered a broken femur which kept him from playing sports for most of the year.
 
2011-12: Donato played for the U16 Cape Cod Whalers and was the third-leading scorer for the Dexter School in Massachusetts as a freshman. He scored 6 goals with 2 assists and had 4 penalty minutes in 12 games for the Whalers. Donato scored 14 goals with 22 assists in 26 games for Dexter. Coached by Donato's uncle, Dan Donato, Dexter reached the semifinals of the NEPSIHA small school tournament and finished 18-9-3. Donato was invited to USA Hockey's Select 16 Development Camp and was named to the U17 team for the 2012 Five Nations Tournament in August.
 
2012-13: Donato had 1 assist in four games for the gold medal-winning USA team at the Five Nations Tournament in Chomutov in August before returning to New England to skate for the Cape Cod Whalers and Dexter School. In 12 games with the Whalers he scored 18 goals with 14 assists and had 6 penalty minutes. Donato was Dexter's leading scorer and finished second amongst New England prep school players with 29 goals and 31 assists in 28 games. Dexter, participating in the Stuart/Corkery Tournament featuring mostly large schools, lost to Kent 7-1 in the quarterfinals. Donato participated in USA Hockey's Select 17 Development Camp.
 
2013-14: Donato played for the Cape Cod Whalers U18 team before returning to Dexter for his junior season. He scored 8 goals with 9 assists and had 33 penalty minutes in nine games for the Whalers. Donato was the leading scorer in New England prep school hockey; scoring 37 goals with 41 assists in 30 games. Dexter reached the finals of the NEPSIHA small school tournament. Donato scored the lone Dexter goal in a 5-1 loss to Kimball Union. In January he committed to playing college hockey at Harvard in 2015-16. Donato played in the 2013 USA Hockey/CCCM All-American Prospects game and was ranked 54th amongst North American skaters in Central Scouting's mid-term rankings prior to the 2014 NHL Draft.
 

 

[mabrowndog]

Jeff Cox, SB Nation College Hockey Blog
 

 
There might not be a single player eligible for the 2014 NHL Draft that has had more opportunity to learn the game of hockey growing up than Dexter School forward Ryan Donato.
 
His father, Ted, is the head coach of Harvard University and is retired from an NHL career that saw him play in 796 games. The younger Donato has taken advantage of every chance to pick up tidbits of information that will make him a better hockey player.
 
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Donato, who played split season midget hockey for Boston College alum Andrew Orpik with the Cape Cod Whalers, is committed to play hockey for his father at Harvard where he will play with several other high-profiled prospects such as Sean Malone, Jimmy Vesey and Alexander Kerfoot.
The family connections don't end there.

 

 
His uncle, Dan Donato, is his prep school head coach at Dexter.
 
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Like his uncle, Ryan knows how to separate the hockey rink from the rest of his life. "Nobody is a better kid. He's a special kid off the ice, but he's super competitive on the ice," said Dan.
 
That was evident in Pittsburgh back in September and during the prep season. Ryan Donato plays with an edge and has an extremely high compete level, but he is also very smart about it. His hockey IQ is off the charts.
 
"There were a lot of scouts here. It was my chance to show that I can compete with guys from the CHL and USHL," said Donato, who was a late addition. "I really started getting attention after my play at the Beantown Classic," said Donato, of the summer showcase.
 
"He always knows where his teammates are around him. He's a great player who makes everyone around him better. He gives the team a boost," said Dan.
Donato doesn't have the speed or hands of some of the high-end players in the draft, but he combines a lot of skills that make him a unique player to defend against.
"His hands and vision are what separates him from the rest. His hands are as good as anyone I've ever seen at the high school level," said Dan. "He has a good, quick release, but his passing is also very good."
 
Donato led all of prep school hockey in scoring this past winter, finding the back of the net 37 times and adding 41 assists for 78 points.
 
Some will scoff at the gaudy numbers, and as Donato admits, the competition at the prep school level isn't as good as juniors. However, he was a marked man and was targeted by his opponents. "He was always taking a beating," said Dan.

 

Donato concedes that his weakness is his skating ability, but said he is continuing to work on that part of his game. "I've been working on my skating and I will continue to work on my skating and trying to get off to a quicker stride."
 
There have been some rumors that Donato would accelerate and join Harvard a year earlier than expected, but his uncle said that is incorrect. "He'll finish at Dexter. Harvard isn't one of those schools that you can just show up. He'll play the prep school season and probably play some games in the USHL before and after."
 
Donato, likely to go somewhere towards the end of the second or in the third round, will probably be a four-year player at Harvard, but the right team that is willing to let him develop in college will have a player with a high compete level and a great mind for the game.

 

[mabrowndog]

Elite Hockey Prospects.com
 

 
Donato, son of former NHLer Ted, is an intelligent player who sees the ice well and has plenty of offensive skill. Possesses slick hands, solid vision and creative moves with the puck but has some issues with his mobility. Thinks the game at a high level. (November 2013)

 

[mabrowndog]

Mike Morreale, NHL.com (6/12/2014)
 

Donato, No. 58 on NHL Central Scouting's final list of the North American skaters eligible for the 2014 draft, is projected to be selected during the first three rounds of the draft. He's the No. 2-ranked U.S. high school player, after defenseman Luc Snuggerud of Eden Prairie (Minn.) High School, who is No. 42 on the list.
 
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"I think he's proven everything he can at the prep-school level, and when he's had a few opportunities to play against tougher competition he's done well," NHL Central Scouting's David Gregory told NHL.com. "I think it'll improve his game and he'll perform well. If there are deficiencies that people may perceive, he can answer that question. If there's something he needs to prove in a higher-paced game, better competition will make it that way for him."
 
Donato, born in Boston, could return to Dexter for his senior season or opt for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League in 2014-15. He also didn't rule out the British Columbia Hockey League, but high school or the USHL would appear to be his top two destinations.
 
"I don't think I could go wrong with either team [Dexter or Omaha]," Donato said. "A lot of [NHL] teams might want to see me go to Omaha, but I'm also going to do what's best for me. I feel I could still make an impact if I stayed at Dexter, but if the team [that drafts me] would like to see me go to Omaha, that's the decision. I'll do what the team wants."
 
Gregory acknowledged most NHL teams likely would have inquired about his decision for 2014-15 during the interviewing stage of the NHL Scouting Combine, held May 26-30. Donato interviewed with 19 teams at the Combine.
 
"My gut feeling is teams will ask him to take his game to the next level in the USHL," Gregory said. "If you're falling into the top 30 or 40 range in the draft, that team drafting him is going to want him playing against the highest competition possible because they want him challenging for a spot on their team in a couple of years. That doesn't happen if he's in high school for another year."

 
"I really try to take his work ethic more than anything," Ryan said of his father. "He was one of the hardest workers off the ice and I think that's one thing I try to take, his drive to compete and succeed. My dad knows my dream is to be a hockey player and not necessarily attend Harvard. Harvard is also a dream, but pro hockey is a bigger dream. The one thing he said was to do what I want to do with my life and live out my dreams."
 
Ryan said he would relish the opportunity to play in the Beanpot Tournament, a hockey tradition in the Boston area. The Crimson haven't won the Beanpot since 1993, so winning one while playing for his father is pretty high on Ryan's wish list.
 
"I cannot wait to play in the Beanpot," Donato said. "All my family and friends always watch the tournament; that'll be one of the biggest moments of my hockey career. Having an opportunity to play in front of my home city would be something special, for sure."

 

[mabrowndog]

More write-ups:
 
New England Hockey Journal (Kirk Luedeke, 2/18/2014)
 
ESPN (Scott Burnside, 6/27/2014)
 
Boston Globe (Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, 6/25/2014)

 

[mabrowndog]

Some great pics from that Globe piece...
 
With dad Ted:
 

 
 
With Paul Kariya:
 

 
 
Between Sergei Samsonov & Joe Thornton:
 

 

[TSC]

Holy shit that bowl cut. 

 

[cshea]

I'm pretty sure Bergy played with Ted. So he's got a chance to play with both Ted and Ryan.

 

[PedroSpecialK]

Can you expand? Looks like he was in the middle of where mocks had him.

There were rumors that he'd go late 1st/early 2nd if a team liked him enough, potentially to the B's. To get him and Pastrnak without having to trade assets is a very pleasant surprise.

 

[stp]

I love those pictures, although they make me feel very old.

 

[The Napkin]

I'm pretty sure Bergy played with Ted. So he's got a chance to play with both Ted and Ryan.

Yep. Ted's last/Bergy's first year

 

[BigMike]

There were rumors that he'd go late 1st/early 2nd if a team liked him enough, potentially to the B's. To get him and Pastrnak without having to trade assets is a very pleasant surprise.

 
Yeah, when Kirk had initially floated him on the hfboard, he thought he was a late first round pick. Mentioned at the time that others at Redline were not as sold.
 
I Hated him as a potential first round pick.  I love the pick at the end of the second round

 

[Mugsy's Jock]

Chiarelli ('87) and Ted Donato ('91) didn't quite overlap at Harvard, though I'm certain they know each other well.