What’s in store for Shane Doan in 2016-17? The 39-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the current season and his future appears to be undecided. Doan did shed some insight on his plans, but he doesn’t even sound too certain on what he’s going to do.
Doan was asked about whether he’s planning on playing next season:
“Yeah, I probably would be,” the Arizona Coyotes captain told “Burns & Gambo” on local radio station Arizona Sports 98.7 on Wednesday.
Doan said he’s already talked to his family about his future and a collective decision will come at season’s end.
“It’s going to be a decision that I make personally, but at the same time, I’m very aware that my kids are getting older and my wife’s been supporting me for a long time … I’m cognizant of all that and I don’t want to take that lightly.”
In other words, it sounds like Doan is leaning towards skating when he turns 40, but he’s going to take time to see what his family thinks about the decision.
As far as Doan’s ability to still compete, his 43 points through 64 games should be enough proof that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. He has actually improved his numbers compared to 2014-15 and already has 25 goals compared to his 14-goal total from last season.
Doan is making $4.55 million this season (a cap hit of $5.3 million) which appears to be a fair price given his offensive production. Plenty of teams would be willing to pay that price in exchange for 20+ goals over the course of the year. Along that line of thinking, will 2016-17 be the year in which Doan suits up with a new franchise?
The Coyotes haven’t offered Doan a new deal at this time, but it sounds like the club is more than open to him returning. The organization has previously said that he can stay with the team as long as he’d like, but that was this past winter and a lot can change before next season.
