Shane Doan, Coyotes agree on 1-year deal
Jul 11, 2016, 9:58 PM | Updated: Jul 13, 2016, 6:37 am
Arizona Coyotes right wing Shane Doan scores a goal in the first period during an NHL hockey game against Winnipeg Jets, Thiursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. Doan becomes the all time franchise scoring leader with his 380th goal. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The face of the franchise is back in the fold.
NHL sources confirmed to Arizona Sports on Monday that captain Shane Doan and the Coyotes have agreed on a one-year deal to bring Doan back for a 21st NHL season.
No dollar figures have been released, but a source said Doan’s base salary is $2.5 million with a deferred signing bonus and deferred incentives that will bring the deal’s worth to about $5 million with a full no-movement clause.
Doan’s four-year, $21.2 million contract expired July 1 following one of the most productive seasons of his career. He led the Coyotes with 28 goals, the third-best total of his career, and he recorded his second career hat trick.
Most outsiders expected a new Doan contract to be a mere formality, and general manager John Chayka confirmed as much earlier this summer, but the two sides were in a dispute over Doan’s worth.
Doan, 39, felt the Coyotes discounted his off-ice value and put too little stock in the 28 goals he scored last season because of his age.
“I feel the market that is set for me is different from what they think the market is, and that’s really the extent of it,” Doan said on July 2. “Nobody’s mad at each other. We just have a different view. They’re saying ‘you’re a 40-year old player. There’s not really a market for you.’ I’m saying. ‘I led the team in goal scoring. There is a market for that.'”
Doan, who will turn 40 on Oct. 10, has played his entire 20-season career with the Jets/Coyotes franchise after Winnipeg selected him with the seventh overall pick in 1995.
In a franchise record 1,466 career games, he has a franchise record 396 goals and a franchise record 945 points, with a franchise record 125 power-play goals.
His worth to the franchise goes well beyond that, however. He has been the team’s captain since it moved to Glendale in 2003, serving as an ambassador for the franchise and the game in the Valley and North America.
While his contract was still being negotiated, Doan played a major role in landing free-agent defenseman Alex Goligoski by selling him on the virtues of the team. He is also widely credited with helping end the 2004-05 lockout by bringing a voice of reason and conciliation to the table.
Doan has had opportunities to leave the franchise for better money and a better opportunity to chase a Stanley Cup, including while the Coyotes were still searching for an ownership group and went four straight seasons without a playoff berth, but he stayed and shut down talk of other options, telling Arizona Sports late last season: “I made my bed as far as that decision. If that were going to happen, it would have already happened.”
With Doan in the fold, the Coyotes have three right wings under contract — Doan, Anthony Duclair and Ryan White — unless they move someone from the left side, or one of their prospects makes the roster.
Doan is currently with his family in British Columbia.
