Sipping hot coffee in the bowels of Xcel Energy Center before the Blackhawks-Wild game Sunday, Hawks forward Ryan Donato learned something new:
He, historically, has dominated the month of December.
“I didn’t know that, but that’s a good thing to hear right now,” Donato said, his expression reflecting equal amounts of confusion and genuine encouragement.
It’s true, though. The 27-year-old Massachusetts native, currently in the middle of his seventh NHL season, is something of a winter wunderkind, a Christmas chieftain.
Consider his career stats by month: six goals in October, eight goals in November and then — completely out of the blue — 19 goals in December, before regressing back to normal with 10 goals in January and seven goals in February. That strange trend doesn’t stem from any sample-size differences, either; he has played between 46 and 50 games in each of those five months.
To dig deeper into the rabbit hole, Donato’s goals-per-game rate in December (0.38) is just a hair below Patrick Kane’s career goals-per-game rate — and well above Jonathan Toews’.
“I just prepare the same way: [I] say a prayer before the game,” Donato added. “Sometimes [my shots] go in and sometimes they don’t. But for me, I just try to prepare the same way. I don’t know if I’m lucky in December or what, but hopefully I can continue that.”
He hasn’t yet continued it with the Hawks this season, getting held without a point in each of their first three games this month — struggling in step with the offense overall. But he was also pointless through his first four games of December last season with the Kraken before erupting for five goals in a six-game span, so there is still time.
And despite getting demoted from the first line with Connor Bedard — where he began the regular season — to the third and fourth lines more recently, the analytics indicate Donato has been a bright spot in the Hawks’ overall weak forward corps.
The Hawks’ scoring-chance ratio during his five-on-five ice time is 48.3%, best of any forward on the team, even though six other forwards have started a larger percentage of shifts in the offensive zone.
He has 42 individual scoring chances to his name during five-on-five play, second-most on the team (behind Bedard with 61). And he’s on pace to finish this season with a career-high 34 points (after tallying 31 and 27 points the last two years in Seattle).
“It’s a little disappointing to lose ice time for anybody, right?” Donato said. “But for me, the coaches know I’m willing to bear my head down and do the work to be in any position.
“Sometimes it calls to be on the first line. Sometimes it calls to be on the second, third or fourth. Whatever it may be, I usually prepare the same way, and I think that’s what the coaches expect of me.”
Hawks coach Luke Richardson and general manager Kyle Davidson signed Donato last summer with that versatility in mind. They had his shooting ability in mind, too, so Richardson wasn’t surprised to hear Wednesday that Donato ranks second on the team in scoring chances.
“You have to play to your strength, and that’s what his strength is: he’s a really good shooter,” Richardson said. “He shoots it hard and heavy...and he takes it to the net quite a bit. And he’s not afraid to take a bit of a beating going there.”
For that reason, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see the Hawks move Donato back into the top six at some point in an attempt to spark things, especially if his usual December bump repeats itself.
