Blackhawks' Ryan Donato will 'aim high' this season, but 31 goals will be difficult

It's going to be difficult for Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato to replicate his 31-goal breakout season.

Donato and the Hawks are both readily aware of that fact. For one thing, some good luck helped him get there: his 17.0% shooting percentage last season was significantly higher than his career average of 11.1%.

He also managed to attain and maintain his A-game for months and months, a feat even pro athletes don't achieve often. Realistically, he might not be able to do that again, no matter how hard he tries.

"The thing about scoring is, you’ve got to be able to get yourself in those spots, and there are a lot of factors that go into it — [like] how much the coach plays you and who your linemates are," new Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said Friday.

"Production can ebb and flow a little bit. That’s a huge number he put up last year, for sure. He could have a great year this year and score 20 [goals]. It’s just the way sometimes it goes."

In recent years, the Hawks have seen a handful of forwards erupt offensively before promptly falling like meteors back to earth. Andreas Athanasiou and Taylor Raddysh buried 20 goals each in 2022-23 and then combined for just seven goals in 2023-24. Jason Dickinson potted 22 in 2023-24 before tallying only seven in 2024-25.

But the Hawks committed long-term to Donato this summer — giving him a new four-year contract with a $4 million salary-cap hit — for good reason, even knowing his production last season was likely unsustainable.

For one thing, Donato's scrappiness and constant hustle allow him to contribute in many ways, even when pucks aren't going in. He can fit in a variety of roles, be it on the first line — where he's slotted to begin training camp alongside Connor Bedard and Andre Burakovsky — or in the bottom six, as well as on special teams.

Secondly, Donato's skating ability — which he transformed before last season — isn't going to revert back, even if his luck does. He is a markedly better player now than he was during the first seven years of his NHL career.

"Obviously, it was a great season last year in terms of points and that stuff, but I want to continue to show that I can do more," Donato said. "[I] know that there's other ways to help the team win if you don't have it one night. You could be grinding. You could be making the right plays at the right times."

Another Florida summer

The pivotal moment within Donato's revolutionary summer 2024 was a trip to Florida to work with trainers Brett Strot and Natalia  Zagorodnikova at Hockey International, a development center near Tampa.

They realized Donato's skating stride at the time over-relied on his knees and quads and underutilized his hips.

"A lot of hockey players are disconnected in their movements, so our bodies are working against us rather than for us," Strot said. "When you're disconnected, you're off-balance. You're towing your backside down the ice."

"Speed is all about your hips. It's not about your feet getting from the start line to the finish line; it's about getting your hips there. All these little mechanics help drive your hips a fraction farther. Add them up, and over two strides, you're going a whole eight to 10 inches farther."

Their tweaks made a huge impact. Suddenly, Donato could keep up with — or even pull away from — NHL opponents instead of losing ground. He recorded 522 speed bursts faster than 18 mph last season, up from 380 the season before.

It was therefore a no-brainer for him to return to Hockey International this summer, not once but twice. Zagorodnikova was just as excited about that as Donato, whom she described as "absolutely exceptional to work with."

This time, they focused more on upper-body movements — some of which work in tandem with lower-body movements to make his overall stride smoother, others of which aid his puck-handling or shooting while skating.

They also worked on so-called "perceptual cognitive skills," which help him perceive, process and react to information about what's happening around him on the ice at the same speed as his body moves through those surroundings.

"It helps you play through your imagination, to be more instinctive within a team structure," Strot said. "You've got to be able to look beyond defenders, but in order to do so, you have to be able to feel that defender."

Donato hopes all of this hard work will yield more dividends this season.

"I'm going to try my best to exceed last year," he said. "If you aim high, you usually miss high."