Coyotes Player Spotlight: RW Shane Doan
He is not just the face of a franchise, he represents a whole state. He is the heart and soul of a beaten and battered team. He is Captain Coyote.
Shane Doan has been a Coyote before the Coyotes were even a team. Drafted in the 1st round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets, he played 74 games for the Jets in 1995-1996 season. In the offseason of 1996 the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes and Doan came to the desert. He was an original Coyote, a player that has seen everything the Coyotes have ever done.
Think about it Shane Doan has seen the team arrive and then leave America West Arena, arrive at a newly built Jobing.com Arena, have that arena renamed just last season to Gila River Arena. He has been a Winnipeg Jet, a Phoenix Coyote, and an Arizona Coyote. He has been coached by 7 different coaches, played with hundreds of different players and is now the longest-serving captain in the league.
Shane Doan has hung around when the going got tough, sticking with the team through almost five years of uncertain ownership. He attended city council meetings, talked on the radio defending his team. You don’t have to look any further than his most recent interview with the Burns and Gambo Show on Arizona Sports 98.7. He talked of Glendale and this team’s future, going off on how Glendale let the team down. Typical Shane Doan!
Shane Doan is a player you cannot rout against; he plays hard and shows sportsmanship on and off the ice.
Mar 16, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona Coyotes right wing Shane Doan (19) handles the puck against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The 2015-2016 season will be Doan’s 20th season. He has played 1,394 games, having 368 goals and 530 assists. He is the epitome of a workhorse, being the first one on the ice and the last one off. In the 2014-2015 season Doan had 14 goals and 22 assists. He may never return to his near 30 goal seasons, but Doan can still be a huge part of this team.
Even if Doan is not scoring goals, he is leading this team. He can light a fire under a team like no one can. Being a leader does not always mean on ice success, Shane Doan’s worst seasons came when his team made the playoffs. The team struggled when Shane Doan missed time in 2013 due to Rocky Mountain fever; he is a key part of this team and will continue to be that this season.
Dec 27, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes right wing Shane Doan (19) reacts after scoring the game winning goal against the Anaheim Ducks at Gila River Arena. The Coyotes defeated the Ducks 2-1 in an overtime shootout. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
If you watched the Coyotes game on January 7th, 2012, you saw how hard Shane Doan works and how much he means to this team and organization. Doan had never had a hat trick; they had talked about it several times throughout the week on the radio. The Phoenix Coyotes played host to the New York Islanders and Doan got a goal in the 1st and another in the 2nd. It was late in the 3rd period and every time Doan had the puck he was shooting it towards the net. With less than 10 seconds left Ray Whitney took the puck up the ice, passed it to Doan just over the offensive blue line. Doan took the shot with under a second left and it went in, if you had only caught that last goal you would have thought the Coyotes had won the Stanley Cup. The Coyotes had already secured the game but every member of the team stayed out on the ice to make sure Doan’s 3rd goal counted, it was confirmed and Doan got his first, and so far only, hat trick in the NHL.
You can look up example after example of Shane Doan being Shane Doan; being the heart of the team, the leader on and off the ice, and taking this team further than ever thought possible. No matter who Doan is paired with in the 2015-2016 season he will make an impact. If it is not scoring goals and getting assists, it will be leading this young team possibly back to the playoffs.