All week leading up to July 1, we’ll be profiling unrestricted free agents and speculating where they might end up.
Shane Doan (RW)
Age: 35
2011-12 cap hit: $4.55 million
The skinny:
If the Coyotes were guaranteed to be staying in Phoenix, Doan would’ve already re-signed with the franchise that drafted him back in 1995 when it was still in Winnipeg.
“I’ve been here for 16 years this August,” Doan said in May. “It’s been great to my family and I.
“I have a 13-year-old daughter that this is home to. She has never lived anywhere else. All her friends, their families are all here. This is home for us. We enjoy it. It’s something that we hope gets settled.”
However, with the Coyotes’ future still up in the air, Doan hasn’t been willing to commit to anything.
“They have been unbelievably open and honest and great with me and I can’t say enough about how good they’ve been,” he told Arizona Sports 620 last week. “And yet their hands are so tied with the whole stumbling block that keeps popping up with the team, and that is frustrating.”
It’s not clear how long Doan is willing to wait for the ownership situation to play out. At 35, he’ll want to sign for multiple years. But getting that sort of security may force him to look elsewhere, as we certainly won’t know by Sunday if the Coyotes will be staying or going.
Doan had 22 goals and 28 assists in 79 regular-season games last season, then added five goals in 16 playoff contests.
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