Arizona Coyotes: Shane Doan Open To Potential Trade To Contender
Shane Doan has confirmed that he would be open to a potential trade from the Arizona Coyotes to a contender.
The Arizona Coyotes have not known a season without Shane Doan.
He was with the Winnipeg Jets when they moved to the desert, and thus far he has remained rooted firmly in the Valley.
Now, however, that situation has real potential to change.
Doan is open to being traded to a contender, but cautioned that the fit would “have to be exactly perfect, and that just doesn’t happen in our sport too often.”
Initially, the news came as a shock to fans.
After being heavily courted as a free agent prior to the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Doan ultimately decided to sign a three-year contract and stay in Arizona.
He’s continued to be loyal to the only team he’s ever known.
As his career was appearing to wind down after a subpar 2014-15 season, the conversation surrounding the start of the 2015-16 campaign took on the hint of a farewell tour for the longest tenured NHL captain.
Doan would have none of that, however, as he led the team with 28 goals in a heck of a comeback performance.
The issue, though, was that in getting to those 28 goals the captain shot a career high 16.5% and is now suffering the other side of that phenomenon this season.
His production has dropped dramatically, as has the team’s, and the writing appears to truly be on the wall for the storied career of #19.
That’s why the news that he’d consider waiving his No Movement Clause was a shock.
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After all, Doan has stuck with the team through leaner seasons than this. Certainly there have been plenty of seasons with far less light at the end of the tunnel. To top it off, with his own numbers being particularly soft by his standards, it seems like a strange time for this talk to be rekindled.
Doan has more than paid back whatever loyalty he owes to the Arizona Coyotes.
There is no doubt about that.
However, his legacy is largely centered around that loyalty and being one of very few players who spent their entire career with one franchise. Why give that up now?
Over the years, plenty of players have left their long term home to chase a Cup. Ultimately very few succeed.
For every Ray Bourque, there’s a Jarome Iginla or Daniel Alfredsson who see their careers end quietly in a different city without even a sniff of Stanley Cup glory.
The reason is simple.
As Doan himself said when confirming the reports, it’s very hard to predict who the actual contenders are from the pretenders. Some teams get hot. Some goalies get hot. Anything can happen in a seven game series.
Shane Doan could leave the Arizona Coyotes for Chicago or Los Angeles or Montreal or any number of places and get bounced in the second round. In fact, it’s more likely to happen that it is to not.
For myself, I hope when the time comes he decides to pass and only wear one sweater for his entire career.
Doan said in his The Player’s Tribune piece that, “I respect those Coyotes fans who have stuck with us all these years most because they’ve been given plenty of reasons not to.”
I would say the same to him. He has been given a myriad of reasons to walk away from this organization time and again.
He didn’t, though, and I don’t think he should now.
I don’t blame him for wanting a Stanley Cup. He deserves it. I can’t think of any player I’d love to see raise that Cup and take a lap more.
But the odds of getting one as a rental are slim, and going down as a one franchise player who never left an organization that was always rumored to leave it’s own fans is quite an accomplishment in it’s own right.
I’d rather not see Shane Doan in another jersey come spring.
If he wants to go, though, I hope he chooses wisely and wins it all.
Otherwise it’d be a strange two-month footnote tacked on to the end of a wonderful career in the desert.
