The turmoil surrounding the Arizona Coyotes has been well documented. The future of the franchise continues to appear unsettled and the 2014-15 season attendance figures supported that fact as the club ranked 28th in average attendance. With all of this in mind, it seemed pretty unlikely that any Coyotes skater would register when AZ Central held a poll to determine who was the most popular athlete in Arizona.
If you read the title of this article, you already know how the voting went. A total of 6,787 votes were cast (not bad, all things considered) and Shane Doan emerged as the victor. In fact, it wasn’t even close.
Here’s how the top-5 looked:
1. Shane Doan: 4,728 (69.66%)
2. Larry Fitzgerald: 985 (14.51%)
3. Paul Goldschmidt: 521 (7.68%)
4. Todd Graham: 193 (2.84%)
5. Mike Bercovici: 92 (1.36%)
As the numbers show, Doan won and he won by an enormous margin. This comes as a bit of a surprise considering the enormous hype associated with the NFL and the immense popularity of Fitzgerald. Still, Doan won with ease and though it may just be because the NFL voters weren’t activated or engaged in this poll, it also is a testament to the fact Doan has been with the Coyotes ever since the team moved from Winnipeg back in 1996.
