Donato rewarding Bruins’ faith
When the Bruins spent a second-round draft choice in 2014 on Dexter School center Ryan Donato, some online critics went off. The prep player was selected too high. Others called “nepotism,” since his dad, Ted, was a longtime Bruin.
The trolls fell quiet this past season, as the 21-year-old Harvard winger was one of the standouts on the finest Crimson squad in years — a team that won its first Beanpot since 1993 and reached the Frozen Four for the first time since 1994.
“I thought he had a great year,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato. “His first year, he did some good things, but I thought he took a big step forward this year. He played in all situations, when we were up a goal or down a goal.
“He has transitioned to be more versatile as a forward. He came in having played only center; that was probably where he was most comfortable. Now he’s has the chance to play pretty much all wing the last two years. He’s actually comfortable at all three forward positions, killing penalties and he’s even played some point on the power play.”
The Scituate native posted 21 goals and 40 points in 36 games, including a break-in score against BU in the Beanpot championship game that was one of the prettiest goals of the NCAA season.
“It was kind of crazy,” he said yesterday after the first day of Bruins development camp. “You grow up as a kid watching the Beanpot every year. After I scored that goal, I was thinking, ‘ Did that just happen?’
“Scoring any goal in the Beanpot is a great feeling. But we really, really wanted to win last year and to be able to put that goal in, it was just a whirlwind experience that I can’t really describe. It was unbelievable.”
With the Bruins in search of goal-scoring wingers, that goal and others made the Donato pick look mighty good. This week fans can check out a kid who’s grown to 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds, and has the look of a future NHLer.
“He’s a mid-round pick who is looking like a very good hockey player that keeps on progressing,” said Bruins development coach Jamie Langenbrunner, a trifle off in his specific draft knowledge but not in his assessment of the player as a fine NHL prospect.
That’s been Donato’s hockey goal since he was a child watching the final years of his dad’s 14-year pro career, the vast majority with the Bruins.
“I would love to play in the NHL, but it’s still just a dream,” said Ryan. “I don’t want to get too confident, but it’s what I’m going to work towards and I’m not going to stop until I do it.”
That probably means staying in school two more years, Donato making clear that “I definitely want to graduate from Harvard.”
That doesn’t completely rule out, assuming Donato becomes an even better player in 2017-18, that the Bruins could put the heat on for him to turn pro.
Though the B’s always claim they don’t do that.
“We continually evaluate as the year goes on,” said Langenbrunner. “(We will) kind of listen to (the player), kind of similar to (Notre Dame prospect) Anders (Bjork) this year. We don’t want to force a kid to do something. We’ll tell them where we think they are and they make a decision on what’s right for them.”
It’s very likely that Donato, like his dad, will make his NHL debut as a member of the Bruins, although he would have the option to shop himself around if he plays two more years at Harvard. The B’s owned Donato’s right for four years from the 2014 draft, but because he returned for his final season at Dexter, his four-year window ends next August.
He, like ex-teammate Jimmy Vesey, could opt to become a unrestricted free agent. It would be a major shocker, though, if Donato were thinking along those lines.
“I don’t really feel that way at all,” he said. “Being from Boston and with everybody here with the Bruins having been so great to me, I would have no reason to look for another team. Rookie contracts are just the same with every team, so there’d be no reason to jump somewhere else.”