On the Arizona Coyotes and Shane Doan …
Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: Coyotes forward Shane Doan was asked about Elliotte Friedman’s report that he would consider at trade to a top Stanley Cup contender.
“I never said that I wouldn’t go anywhere,” he said. “(But) that’s never been the plan. I’ve always kind of wanted to stay here. If there was ever an opportunity or whatever, the Coyotes have always been incredible to me and respectful to me in every way to be honest with me. I’ve talked about it with my family to make a decision on it if it was going to come up, but it’d have to be so perfect and so right. That’s pretty hard for it all to line up perfectly. It’d have to be exactly perfect, and that just doesn’t happen in our sport too often.”
Doan adds that there are many different teams that could make a Cup run, and he’d be okay with a trade to an Eastern Conference team.
Doan will likely speak with GM John Chayka before making a decision.
“I’ve had that talk with (former GM) Don (Maloney),” Doan said. “Don, before (Chayka), was always so protective of me and did such an incredible job of going out of his way to protect me. John, they’ve been great. The Coyotes have been respectful to me. If it comes to that point, then we’ll sit down and talk about it. It’s happened in the past; it’s just nobody really heard about. We’ve had the discussion and said, ‘Yes or no.’ For the most part, it’s been, ‘No.’ ”
Tim Campbell of NHL.com: Doan said that the trade speculation didn’t start from.
“It wasn’t me saying it,” he said. “I’ve been frustrated with the year, with us not winning and stuff, that’s always tough. I haven’t said it to them, to management, or said anything to them, but I’ve also never said I wouldn’t .
“If it comes to that point, we’ll sit down and talk about it. It’s happened in the past, it’s just that no one’s ever heard about it. We’ve had the discussion and said yes or no and for the most part it’s been no.”
Doan also hasn’t decided if this will be his last season in the NHL.
“I’ll decide at the end of the year,” Doan said. “As long as I’m enjoying playing the game, I want to play. It’s the best sport in the world.”
