Welcome to this emergency edition of the CHGO Blackhawks podcast.

Ryan Donato has been extended by the Chicago Blackhawks four years.

$16 million.

Number eight is going nowhere this summer.

So the first domino to fall in the Blackhawks offseason has fallen.

Ryan Donato is back.

Mario, your immediate reactions.

My immediate reaction is this is a perfect deal.

This is the security that Donato wanted at four years.

It's a number that makes sense for the Blackhawks.

It's a raise for Donato as well.

I think this is perfect.

This is exactly what we were

hoping for for Ryan Donato. We were talking as the season ended and you know, there were conversations

about, you know, what he could get in a free agency. And even just today on on the show where we

were joined by Adam Hogue, you know, you were saying like six million would be the ceiling that you

would go to. I had it at about five and a half that I would be comfortable with. And we get it

at four years, four million, like right on the dot of like what sounded the most reasonable. And,

you know, Donato doesn't go to free agency. Blackhawks keep them around. And it's a great number,

a good term for a guy that had a career year and, you know, was an example to the young guys in the room of what they organization wants guys to play like, the kind of dedication they have.

So this is a perfect deal.

Yeah, it's really great.

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