The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off couldn’t come up at a worse time for the Chicago Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato. When you’re playing as well as he has been lately, you want to keep playing, not step away.

On Saturday, he scored again in a shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues. On Friday, he had the first four-point game of his career. He has produced eight goals and seven assists in his last 15 games. For the season, he’s scored 19 goals, already surpassing his previous season-best 16 goals. In other words, Donato is playing arguably the best hockey of his career.

“You don’t want to lose it so quickly, right?” Donato said.

Yet the 28-year-old Donato knows all too well that you take whatever rest you can get during an NHL season. Over the next week, Donato plans to balance some time away with his family and return to the ice a little sooner than the Blackhawks are asking him to.

“But at the same time, your body, it’s at this time of year where things are starting to hurt and break down,” he said. “That’s for everybody, not just myself, around the league. I think you have to be smart, take the rest that you can. Whatever’s lingering during the season, let come to rest a little bit and get it back to where it was. But at the same time, you go to make sure you’re staying in shape, staying on top of it because you know two weeks is a long (time). You want to make sure that you’re not falling behind.”

Aside from taking a break from his hot play over the break, the other downside to not having games is Donato won’t have as much to distract him from what could happen to him over the month. There’s a chance he could be dealt to another team before the trade deadline. There’s a chance he could remain with the Blackhawks through the season. And if the latter happens, that could lead to Donato potentially re-signing with the Blackhawks or becoming an unrestricted free agent.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” Donato said. “To say (I’m prepared for anything), I guess in a way. I’m not paying attention to anything else other than … it’s not like I’m expecting anything. I’m just worried about myself and giving my teammates my all. That’s all I can really afford to focus on.”

Donato’s situation can play out in a number of ways. Let’s examine them.

Blackhawks could trade Donato

The Blackhawks were motivated to trade Taylor Hall. He was the player who would most likely draw interest at the deadline, and the Blackhawks wanted to capitalize on that so they could get a potential asset back and free a roster spot for one of their college prospects to likely take later in the season. The Blackhawks accomplished that.

The Blackhawks aren’t as hellbent on trading Donato, based on everything I’ve heard. They’ll certainly listen to any team interested in Donato, but they’re not looking to move him just to move him. It would have to really make sense for the Blackhawks.

What would make sense? It would probably have to be a first- or second-round draft pick. While it seems unlikely a team would offer a first-rounder for Donato, weirder things have happened. With plenty of teams’ scouts out these days leading up to the deadline, they’ve had the chance to see Donato up close and it’d be hard to ignore his play as of late. His overall production isn’t far off from the players near the top of trade boards either. A second-round pick could be a possibility depending on what the rest of the market looks like.

A third-round draft pick is probably a more realistic get for Donato, but the question becomes whether that’s enough for the Blackhawks to part ways with him. For one, they don’t really need another third-round pick; they have plenty of those. Plus, right now Donato is playing well individually, playing well with Connor Bedard and helping the Blackhawks play better as a team. He has potentially more value with the Blackhawks the rest of the way.

Blackhawks could at least keep Donato through the season

The Blackhawks have already played themselves out of any shot for the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean they’re not playing for anything. Unlike the past few seasons, the focus isn’t on how good of a draft pick they can get at the end of the year. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson would rather see progress from his team, especially the young players, than bottom out.

No player’s development is more important for the Blackhawks than Bedard’s. And as of late, no linemate has had a more positive impact on Bedard than Donato. Bedard set up Donato for his goal on Saturday. Donato set up Bedard for a goal on Friday. The give-and-go type of plays the two have been making lately have been noticeable. For the season, the Blackhawks have outscored teams 11-8 in five-on-five play with Bedard and Donato on the ice. Bedard’s 57.79 goals percentage with Donato is his highest with anyone he’s played 60 minutes or more with this season.

9⃣8⃣ on the power play‼️ pic.twitter.com/CnTwgtueKM

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 8, 2025

Even in a larger sample size, Donato and Bedard have been good together. Over the last two seasons, Bedard has a 23-19 goal differential in five-on-five when with Donato in 418 minutes. Jason Dickinson and Donato are the only forwards Bedard has a positive goal differential with over the last two seasons, minimum 60 minutes.

Donato has seen time with Bedard lately, but he’s played up and down the lineup and played center and wing. He’s been pretty consistent wherever he’s been. The Blackhawks have scored 29 goals and allowed 29 goals in five-on-five play with Donato on the ice.

“I think he does adapt,” Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “We’ve had him in the middle, we have him on the wing now. He’s very emotionally invested in every game and it’s very noticeable on the bench, on the ice. I don’t think anybody here is perfect, but he does care and he gets in there and he wants it and he’s the first guy to look at you like, ‘I’m ready.’ You like that as a coach. He’s been good and he’s very adaptable.”

Blackhawks could re-sign Donato or let him walk as a free agent

The Blackhawks and Donato haven’t ruled out that he could re-sign, but there are a number of factors both sides have to decide on before exploring that.

For Donato, who turns 29 in April, this may be his best shot at receiving some long-term security in years and money in free agency. He has signed five contracts throughout his NHL career, but none have been for more than two years. His current $2 million cap hit is also the highest of his career.

On the other hand, the Blackhawks aren’t looking to hand out much term to veterans in the coming years. They felt doing so was necessary to sign Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen last offseason, but outside of signing a top-tier player this coming offseason, they’re unlikely to pursue any free agents seeking contracts of three-plus years.

The Blackhawks realize they’re going to need more and more roster spots for their young forwards soon. Frank Nazar and Landon Slaggert already look like locks for roster spots next season. Colton Dach, Samuel Savoie, Nick Lardis, Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene could be in that forward discussion next season.

On a short-term deal, Donato could make sense for the Blackhawks. They were likely preparing to re-sign Philipp Kurashev again, but that seems less likely after Kurashev’s struggles this season. He’ll likely become an unrestricted free agent, and the Blackhawks could opt to give Donato that roster spot. He could be a good fit for their roster and finances for the next season. The Blackhawks may need to spend some money this offseason to get to the cap floor and giving Donato a pay bump for a couple years could be an easy way to address it.

What the Blackhawks may also weigh in their process over the next few weeks is whether they believe Donato will continue to be this caliber of player over the next few seasons. Donato is having a career season. His effort is part of the reason for that and he often brings it, but his overall game has fluctuated over previous seasons. The number that jumps out is his 15.3 shooting percentage this season, the highest of his career and nearly double what it was last season (8.1 percent). Can he keep that up? He did improve his skating in the offseason, and that seems to be a factor as to why he’s improved this season.

“The skating part this summer, I think it was definitely a lot of hard work I put in,” Donato said. “And even if that’s a split-second difference or being able to hold an edge longer or whatever it may be, you know, it gives me that chance, and I just keep praying that those chances keep going in because you could still create and get all those chances and have all that skating work and do all that extra stuff. But the fact that that’s happening now for me is definitely good and something that I’m going to keep on working on.”

Ultimately, what happens with Donato can go in a variety of ways, and there will be plenty for Donato and the Blackhawks to think about in the near future. Not everything may be answered when the Blackhawks return from the 4 Nations break and the trade deadline approaches, but some of it will be. Most importantly, Donato will know whether he’ll be finishing this season with the Blackhawks or another team. Right now, he’s trying not to think about it.

“I think I’ve learned to ignore it, Donato said. “With other positions that I’ve been put into throughout my career, there’s so much uncertainty, right? So for me, knowing that I’m trying my best, playing my best is all I can really do. And, you know, whatever happens, happens. I trust God’s plan.

“But for me, it doesn’t really change my mindset. I come in, give my teammates my all and all my attention. And obviously that stuff’s hard to see if it pops up in your Twitter somehow and you see it, but I try not to read into it and just focus on the guys here.”