On Wednesday morning, Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan announced his retirement from professional hockey after a 21-year NHL career. The 1,540 games he played with the Jets/Coyotes organization is the fourth-most ever by an NHLer who spent a career with one franchise.
And Doan was more than a hockey player to the people of Arizona. He was an involved member in the community and a respected leader.
“Shane embodies everything that’s good about sports in general,” said Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald in a 2015 Sportsnet feature. “I think if Shane was running for Governor or if Shane was playing basketball or if Shane was playing golf people would naturally gravitate to whatever he was doing. He’s got that kind of infectious personality.
“My son wears his jersey and it makes me proud because I know what he represents.”
In honour of Doan’s lengthy and influential career, we are resurfacing that video feature which you can see above. In it, Elliotte Friedman explores Doan and his impact on the local community, a non-hockey market that became a big fan of their Canadian-born captain.
Members of the sporting community including ex-MLB player Luis Gonzalez and current Arizona Diamondback Paul Goldschmidt spoke about their experiences with Doan and why he is a great leader to them. State senator John McCain also spoke about Doan, and why he invited the Coyote to speak to the McCain Institute for National Leadership.
“We are able to get some of the brightest and most important people in the world to come to this forum and the principles of leadership he has applied to hockey and his team has motivated so many people throughout Arizona, and in some cases the world, are also transferable to other walks of life. And that’s why I think he made such a significant impact,” McCain told Friedman.
You can watch the video in its entirety at the top of this post.
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