3 reasons it was necessary for the Chicago Blackhawks to extend Ryan Donato

Time will tell if this season was the start of something great or just a career year for Chicago Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato. At least, the Blackhawks now have the time to see if they have a late-blooming star after agreeing to a four-year extension with Donato, thus keeping him from reaching unrestricted free agency next month.

It comes at team-friendly $4 million AAV in a season where Donato set a new career-high in goals with 31. He picked the perfect time to have a career year, with the league set to see a bump in the salary cap.

Then again, maybe Donato figured it was better to take the $4 million a year for the next four years rather than risk getting less if teams decided he might be a one-year wonder. Jason Dickinson had a career season in goals last year and got the same type of extension from the Hawks in 2024. Well, at least the money was the same.

Thankfully, the Blackhawks got this deal done rather than let him test the free-agent market.

There were three reasons the Blackhawks had to extend Donato, even if he never matches his scoring output over the life of the deal.

1. The Hawks retain his asset status.

While the Blackhawks have what seems like hundreds of draft picks, they likely could have gotten more had they traded Donato before the trade deadline.

Hopefully, he is a late bloomer and puts up 30 goals a year for the next four seasons.

However, if he does not, his trade value then would never be as high as it was before the trade deadline. That would have been organizational negligence had the team let him walk for nothing.

By extending Donato, the Hawks still retain the value he provides beyond scoring five-on-five goals. He does a lot of the little things well, too. Even if he regresses to the mean, he can still provide value in other areas.

Maybe he plays well and can still be leveraged in a trade down the road if the Hawks can never cross over into being competitive. The key is that he remains an asset to the Blackhawks.

2. The Blackhawks need some productive veterans on the ice while the kids develop.

The Blackhawks have a lot of exciting young forwards in their prospect pool, including Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene. Those two got a cup of coffee this season with the NHL club after turning pro once their college campaigns ended.

However, the front office probably prefers Moore and Greene to start next season in Rockford and refine their game in the AHL. It is what the club did with Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert last season.

By keeping Donato in the fold, it means not having to rush Moore and Greene's development.

3. The team's top six would have suffered a talent downgrade.

The goal for next season is to start climbing out of the Central Division cellar. To do that, the Hawks must upgrade the talent among their top six.

There would have been a downgrade had Donato gone to another team. Again, the possibility of regressing remains. In the here and now, Donato is a 30-goal scorer, who outside of Connor Bedard, proved he was worthy of skating on the top two lines every night.

He was a consistent performer throughout the season. Those types of guys are hard to replace, even if this is just a one-hit wonder.

If Donato proves he has an encore in him, then the Hawks can further bolster their top lines by adding another veteran free agent or two.

That is why keeping Donato in the mix is just as much of an upgrade as it is signing a marquee free agent.