Doan likes the taste of playoff success
Shane Doan has gone through plenty of hardships in his 16 seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes.
He was there when the team moved from Winnipeg to the desert, the only player still around from those days. He endured numerous playoff disappointments, including that sweep by Detroit last season. He played through the team’s ownership saga.
Though it all, the Halkirk, Alta., product never wavered in his commitment to the team. His reward: The most fulfilling season of his career.
With his first career hat trick during the regular season, the franchise’s first division title and a trip to the second round of the playoffs for the first time, there might not be a happier person in the NHL right now than the Coyotes captain.
“When you get to the league and get to the playoffs, you always assume you’re going to get to the next round,” Doan said. “You start to realize that you don’t always get to do it, so when you do, it’s pretty special.”
Phoenix capped the first-round series by beating the Blackhawks 4-0 in Game 6 Monday in Chicago, earning a matchup with the Nashville Predators that starts Friday in the desert. And now that Doan has tasted playoff success, he wants more.
“Everyone always talks about if you get out of the first round, anything can happen,” Doan said. “Now we’ve got to find a way to win that next round and that’s really our next goal.” The joy spread across the team. “For a guy like Shane Doan to not get past the first round, that tells you how hard it is,” Coyotes goalie Mike Smith said after Game 6.
After Game 6, Doan was already looking ahead to the next opponent.
“We’re going to need guys to go beyond what you expect of guys, that’s what the playoffs are all about,” he said after a team meeting Wednesday.