This is one week Ryan Donald will never forget.
The former Yale University defenseman was married last Friday, and while still on his honeymoon, he agreed in principle on an American Hockey League contract with the Bruins' affiliate in Providence on Thursday. The paperwork still needs to be completed when Donald returns from his honeymoon, but the agreement in place calls for a one-year, one-way (AHL only) deal for the St. Albert, Alberta, native.
Donald, who will turn 24 on Sept. 10, was one of three players not part of the Bruins organization invited to attend the club's development camp earlier this summer. Bruins assistant general manager Don Sweeney had followed him closely at Yale and during Donald's professional debut in Springfield (AHL) after the conclusion of his college season last spring. Donald's strong showing in the camp was the final confirmation that the Bruins needed to add the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder to their system.
"We had ongoing talks with Don Sweeney during the season and he watched Ryan play in Springfield," said Scott Norton, Donald's agent. "We wanted to make sure it was a fit.
"I think he impressed them there," added Norton of Donald's performance at the camp. "It was a combination of his performance on the ice and how he backed up their impression of him with how he conducted himself off the ice. He was a captain at Yale and is an impressive guy when you meet him."
Donald will join a deep defense corps at Providence that includes Jeff Penner and Andrew Bodnarchuk, who each saw time in Boston last year, as well as late-season trade acquisitions Steven Kampfer, Matt Bartkowski and Cody Wild, free-agent addition Nathan McIver and skilled Russian Yuri Alexandrov, who will be coming over to North America this year. That's a deep crop, and it gets deeper when you factor in the likes of David Warsofsky (Boston University) and Tommy Cross (Boston College), who are still in the college ranks, and Ryan Button, who will be back with his junior club in the WHL this season.
Still, outside of veteran journeyman McIver and barring a demotion of Adam McQuaid from Boston, Providence doesn't possess a lot of size or toughness in that blue-line crew. Donald, who had 5-19-24 totals and 231 penalty minutes in 123 games at Yale and added an assist and 20 penalty minutes in three games with Springfield, provides more of that needed element. Those PIMs in Springfield included a pair of fighting majors, as he took on Hartford's Dane Byers, the nephew of former Bruin Lyndon Byers, and Manchester heavyweight Kevin Westgarth. The latter bout may have been for the Ivy League championship belt, as Westgarth is a Princeton product.
"From our end, we know they have lots of young defensemen coming in their system," said Norton. "But I don't think they have anyone of his ilk, with his size and physical presence."
Donald also showed off some surprising skill at the development camp, including a nifty move to score on Matt Dalton in the shootout that ended the final session of the camp.
