11:20am: The deal has been officially announced. Donato will head to San Jose in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick.
10:09am: The Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks have been working on several trades over the last week and are closing in on at least one of them. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the two sides will soon announce a trade that will see Ryan Donato head to the Sharks in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick. Devan Dubnyk, who the two sides have also discussed, will be in a separate trade if they can complete it.
Donato, 24, will be heading to the third NHL organization of his young career after previously being traded from the Boston Bruins in 2019. The 2014 second-round pick made one of the most electrifying debuts of the last few years after starring at Harvard and on the Olympic stage, but hasn’t been able to reproduce that magic on a regular basis. In 130 NHL games he has just 57 points and found himself on the fourth line or in the press box on several occasions this season.
That certainly doesn’t mean he won’t take his game to another level in San Jose, but the Wild have clearly made a decision to change the makeup of their forward group. Minnesota GM Bill Guerin has already traded Eric Staal and let Mikko Koivu depart through free agency, acquiring Marcus Johansson and Nick Bjugstad in the process. Donato and his $1.9MM cap hit will head to San Jose for a draft pick, opening up another roster spot for one of the team’s other young forwards.
San Jose of course is looking for ways to rebound after a brutal 2019-20 campaign that saw them score just 180 goals in 70 games. Timo Meier led the club with 49 points and Evander Kane was the only player who could score consistently on the powerplay. Donato will likely have an opportunity to play up in the lineup for the Sharks, who have their own youth movement happening upfront after watching Joe Pavelski leave last offseason. Melker Karlsson and Joe Thornton—two of the team’s three remaining 30-plus forwards—are both unrestricted free agents that could be looking for new homes come Friday.
I don’t know about this trade … Can Dubynk outplay Jones
The pacific division is excited to see Dubynk and Jones tandem behind a more-than slightly porous defense
Nearly impossible not to outplay Jones
Check the numbers. Dubnyk was worse than Jones last year. Makes zero sense if they do it.
Wasn’t Dubnyk also leave the team for a long time this season because his wife was sick? I don’t know about anybody else but if something is wrong with my significant other my heads not gonna be in the right spot to play hockey
I wish the Sens would have been in on this. That’s not a large price to pay for a guy who has the ability to be a quality middle six forward.
Mr. Wilson, if by any chance you read this, as a Sharks fan I’m imploring you to not go the route of obtaining Dubynk. Darcy Kuemper is a much better option. As secondary options, one of the available young Blue Jackets netminders.
Personally, I think that you should shake some other things up in the lineup. How about trading Couture to the Rangers for the first pick? What about getting into the Patrik Laine bidding? Trade Brent Burns for an affordable lower-priced stay-at-home defender? Hertl is undoubtedly an amazing player, but his health is a major liability moving forward. We could use another strong left winger, if Hall is available as a free agent would you make a pitch? I appreciate that the cap is a major challenge. Historically, you’ve been a very creative GM, so perhaps you could move out some salary or urge ownership to use a buyout?
“How about trading Couture to the Rangers for the first pick”?
I stopped reading after this.
@mikeshaw801- While @Bobby5 “might” have seemed a bit punch-drunk on that one, he should have realized the destination GM is not named Chiarelli or Trader Bob.
Excuse me me Wilson can you get some players we can’t afford and give up pieces we don’t have to get them?
Not sure any of this works in the long run.I do see a loyal fan sticking up for his team; who also see the hand writing on the wall.Time to clean house for sure Mr. Wilson. Maybe Dennis Savard can help you do so.
Trade A perennial Norris candidate for a stay at home defenceman? I know cap space is hard to come by but there’s better options than that my guy.
Feel like the sharks are the wild from 2-3 seasons ago. Their done being competitive and need a full rebuild but refuse to admit it so only going to delay things for years and just stay in the 9th-14th spot in the west. Not draft anybody that great and let guys age out of being able to net a good return. Things are going to look very bad in San Jose for years and years if they don’t get rid of Wilson and accept where they’re at as a team
While I don’t completely disagree…hockey is not baseball, older guys still have value. The sharks COULD rebound (not saying it’s likely) but with a couple defensive defenseman like Vlasic and a goalie not named Jones, Dubnyk, or Dell added, I could see a short playoff push. Hell id take Anderson he’d be waaay better.
The Karlsson contract will kill us for years though no argument there! Albatross as soon as I saw the trade. Didn’t thing Wilson would double down though Jesus
Again, Wilson’s been creative in the past. Who are the untouchables currently on the Sharks? Punch drunk or not, I’m advocating for a shake-up. The team’s been trending in the wrong direction. We’ve got to get younger, stock the pipeline, desperately need better goaltending, have some bloated contracts with key aging players who are either at the edge of the drop-off or now over it. As for Couture, I think he’s a valuable trade chip who’s production is set to drop in the next few years. Blueshirts may want to go more win now mode and be willing to trade #1 pick (Alexis Lafreniere) for Couture. Watching the Lighting, I cannot imagine the Sharks seriously contending for the cup as currently comprised, even if everyone stayed healthy. Dallas was/is an older team, but without the stellar goaltending would they have made it to the final? Time for a short rebuild, ~3 years.
@Bobby5 – Shake-up needed in SJS? Agreed. Team trending in the wrong direction? Very much agree. Need better goaltending? Absolutely. Got bad contracts on players? Yep, just like many other teams (EK65 overpay comes to mind). Couture headed downhill already? I’m not so sure, yet. Untimely injuries could take a little while to either work themselves out, or show their permanency. Some (certainly not all) believe that Lafreniere will be or could be a franchise player. Trading away a number 1 pick in a strong draft is usually not seen as a sound strategy. As currently constructed, I do agree that they aren’t likely to be very competitive, but the rebuild might take longer than three years, no thanks to Mean Ol’ Mr. COVID. Doug Wilson needs to call in a *lot* of favors to expedite the rebuild, as his roster isn’t full of highly-desirables for other teams. He may end up trying to make trades with 50% retention just to try to get rid of some players. Even then, it might still be unusually difficult due to some teams’ self-imposed internal caps.