Sharks Trade 3rd for Donato, Is Dubnyk Deal Next?

The San Jose Sharks have acquired winger Ryan Donato from the Minnesota Wild for a 2021 third-round pick.

This pick was originally Pittsburgh’s and sent to San Jose in exchange for Patrick Marleau at the Trade Deadline.

“Ryan is an offensively-gifted young player who loves to compete and use his terrific shot,” San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson said. “His game had shown steady improvement each season and we think his best hockey is ahead of him.”

Interestingly, Wilson’s press release statement directly contradicts a Donato report that I received from an NHL scout last week, when Donato and teammate Devan Dubnyk to the San Jose Sharks began gaining steam.

While lauding Donato’s skill, this scout went out of his way to say, “His lack of compete has turned me off.” See more of this scout’s report here:

What I’m Hearing About Dubnyk-Donato to San Jose…

We’ll see who’s right. The 24-year-winger has just one year and $1.9 million left on his current deal, so we should see the potential RFA’s best during a contract year. Donato did scored 14 goals in fourth-line ice-time this year, a testament to his scoring potential.

So we have the Marleau connection, we have to have a Joe Thornton connection. Donato is the son of ex-Boston Bruins winger Ted Donato…who was Thornton’s teammate during Jumbo’s first two seasons in the NHL.

Ryan Donato with his dad pic.twitter.com/j9YqoOtMWg

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 5, 2020

Donato also played with Thornton in 2003-04 in Boston.

Going back to Dubnyk, the goaltender has been the primary focus of San Jose Sharks trade rumors over the past week. Per Jessi Pierce, it looks like San Jose will be sending a fifth-round pick in 2022 for Dubnyk. We’ll see if there’s more to this deal shortly.

Official. Hearing the Dubnyk deal to San Jose is nearly done too (for a 5th round pick in 2022) https://t.co/KLIqhgjSMv

— 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶 𝗣𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 (@jessi_pierce) October 5, 2020

More on this story from San Jose Hockey Now as it develops, including detailed Donato and Dubnyk scouting reports, along with Wilson and Donato’s afternoon media availabilities.