The main piece coming back to the Minnesota Wild in the Charlie Coyle trade last season, Ryan Donato had a great start to his Wild career with 16 points (4 goals, 12 assists) in 22 games to end the 2018-19 season, earning himself a nice two-year, $1.8 million contract extension to continue his career in Minnesota.
Unfortunately, the 2019-20 season was very up-and-down for Donato, as he struggled to find consistent playing time under both head coaches Bruce Boudreau and Dean Evason. And despite putting up 14 goals in 62 regular season games, he just could never consistently put it together — something that continued into Minnesota’s pay-in series against the Vancouver Canucks.