Doan's base contract is $2.5 million. Includes signing bonus (deferred) and incentives. Deal essentially amounts to $5 million, source said.
— Sarah McLellan (@azc_mclellan) July 12, 2016
What's not to like?
The Coyotes are a young team and Doan will function as a kind of mentor/assistant coach/ player. He's the most popular player in franchise history and he scored 28 goals last year.
Sure, he's old, and sure, his 28 goal season is highly unlikely to be repeatable, but he's valuable enough based on what he means symbolically to the team and city that anything he does that's good hockey-wise is a bonus.
My only complaint: With Hanzal, Doan, Smith, Vermette, Murphy, Stone and Michalek still on the roster (as of now) the team doesn't look all that different from the crappy one we've been watching for four years.
Those six players represent about 35% of the roster and the team continues with a continuity that is wholly unnecessary and actually somewhat frightening.
I like Doan, I'm glad they're keeping him around. But something else has to give, because as of right now, the Coyotes still have the worst roster in the NHL - assuming that they their rookies don't enter the NHL and totally dominate it.
But can the Coyotes afford another season in the basement? It's a fair question and while signing Doan maintains the status quo, a few things remain apparent:
1. You could get a better player than Doan for the money they are paying him.
2. The signing of Doan does not in anyway improve the team.
3. Considering that they are not playing with same salary cap as other teams, by a percentage of the cap, they just basically gave Doan $8 million.
4. Sentimental moves are often not the same thing as the best moves.
Moving on from Doan would have signaled a bold new direction for the club, and in a league that talks about leadership ad nauseam, it seems to me that sticking with Doan, Smith, Vermette et al. has the potential to prevent the team's future stars like Domi, Duclair and OEL from making this their team.
Who knows? I'm not in the room. I don't know the atmosphere or anything; it's just a thought. Probably a smart move, I guess. Certainly no other else in the world is going to criticize this.
So Doan's back. Whoo Hoo.