Doan was an exception. He was a good tough player who would drop the gloves. How in the world do you think Garland and Kuemper our the toughest players on the team? I was a fan of Wilson, but he is starting to go overboard. I want toughness not stupidity.
Here's the thing about Doan. He's a unicorn. Plain and simple. He's a guy who is personable as hell and one of the nicest guys on the planet, but who also has a fiery, competitive side matched with the brute strength of a guy raised on farms. The combination resulted in a player who wouldn't let himself play dirty or cheap, but who would nonetheless intimidate the hell out of you on the ice. Because you knew he was always watching for a weakness, and he'd make you pay for it in an extremely painful - yet completely legal - way. And you couldn't go after his teammates because the Doaner who would be grinning and chatting you up pregame or in a faceoff circle would
CRAWL YOU if you took liberties, and he would make it look distressingly easy (because really, you're nowhere near the mass and weight of a fricking
horse, man).
I think in a way I've been spoiled by Shane Doan. I started watching hockey when Gretzky was playing with the Indianapolis Racers, but I became a hockey
fan when I got my first Coyotes tickets and watched Doan play. I remember the first Coyotes game I ever saw. I was entertained by Tyson Nash because he would just hit everything that moved and would skate across the whole ice just to jump into a scrum. But I was
captivated by Doan. His presence on the ice was magnetic, every shift he played, and not just because he was scoring goals or driving the play - the game
coalesced around him, if that makes any sense. For me, therefore, Doan represents the archetype, the definition of an NHL leader.
Since he's been gone, I haven't seen a single Coyotes player with that sort of presence, who your eyes immediately look to when the chips are down, or when someone has to answer the bell, etc. The current Coyotes team has the appearance and feel of a high school group research project. Nobody wants to take the lead, and when something does get done, it's because someone ends up having to do it by default because nobody else is helping. And they all look like they'd rather be doing something else, like playing Nintendo.
The Coyotes need a new Doan. They don't have one in the pipeline or on the roster. And even if the unlikely miracle occurs and we sign Auston Matthews as a UFA in a few years, he won't be the guy we need to lead this team. I don't know who New Doan might be - I just know that without him, this team isn't going to rise beyond their own mediocrity.
