Coyotes made a big mistake by firing Doan
Turns out there is something besides a Stanley Cup that the Arizona Coyotes don’t have. A clue, that is. Team owners have once again demonstrated that they can’t buy one of those any more than they can buy themselves a golden ticket to the playoffs.
How else could Andrew Barroway possibly fire his most valuable star — a guy revered both for his decency off the ice and his loyalty on it?
Shane Doan could have skated off in search of greater hockey glory any number of times. Yet he stayed through the trials and tribulations that have been a hallmark of this team since it arrived from Winnipeg in 1996.
He stayed even though he could have made millions more by signing with better teams. He stayed because loyalty meant something to the guy.
At a time when professional sports is filled with prima donnas and poor role models, the Coyotes had Doan.
Maybe Mr. Barroway never heard what happened in 2004-05, when the NHL had a work stoppage and the team cut health-insurance benefits for its training and equipment staff. Doan quietly picked up the tab. I’m thinking 21. As in 21 seasons he stayed with this franchise, one of just nine players in NHL history to exhibit that level of loyalty.
I’m thinking 14. As in the number of seasons he’s been captain and the face and the heart of this team.
I’m thinking 9. As in the number of minutes it took to fire him on Saturday.
“The time has come for us to move on and to focus on our young, talented group of players and our very bright future,” Barroway said in a statement.
Like most of Arizona, I’m not a big hockey fan. But I could become one. I caught my son’s love of the Nashville Predators during their run for the Stanley Cup this year. I don’t know a deke from a dangle. But I know who Shane Doan is, and I know that you don’t build a relationship with a city by so callously dumping a guy who deserved better.
The Coyotes owners have spent the past few years trying to coax us into building them yet another hockey arena. They felt cheated by Glendale’s leaders and had no qualms about skating out of town, leaving that city’s taxpayers still on the hook for $145 million on a 13-year-old hockey arena.
Earlier this year, desperate for another swipe into the public’s pocket, the team and the NHL issued the state of Arizona an ultimatum. Pony up or we’re out. There is talk the team could wind up in a new joint-use arena with the Phoenix Suns. There is talk the Salt River Pima-Maricopa community might supply new digs. And yes, there is talk that the team will leave.
Me? I'm thinking our leaders should think long and hard before investing a dime in this team, given its owner.
Barroway bailed on the team’s most loyal, most high-profile and probably most decent player, refusing to give him one more year and the goodbyetour he surely deserved. What makes you think he won’t bail on the rest of us?