Fans of the Utah Hockey Club may not know much about Shane Doan, who was the lifeblood of the Arizona Coyotes. Doan was the last player of the original Winnipeg Jets to retire from the NHL, playing one season in Manitoba before the franchise relocated to Phoenix. Josh Doan is in a similar situation.
Last season, Doan debuted and played in 11 games for the Coyotes during the team’s last year in the desert, putting up a promising nine points and five goals in those contests. Then, the Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City, meaning the younger Doan is going through the same scenario his dad did back in 1996.
So, that means history will further repeat itself, and Doan will become the face of Utah’s franchise just like Shane was to the Coyotes, right? Maybe, since talents like Logan Cooley could take that mantle, but Doan is on the right track if he keeps putting up those numbers this season, assuming he makes the big club.
But Josh already did something Shane never did: He scored not one but two goals in his NHL debut, which should give hope that he will be more than a playmaker in Utah once he’s on the ice full-time.
Utah Hockey Club’s Josh Doan is following a familiar path in pro hockey
Shane Doan didn’t retire until 2017, so the 2024-25 season could be the start of two decades worth of Josh Doan suiting up and playing for one franchise before retiring as its most prominent member. At this point, the odds of that happening are beyond slim with player movement and such, but I also wouldn’t put it past Josh to at least be an excellent player in Salt Lake City.
So yeah, the Doans give the Utah Hockey Club a unique connection to the original Jets, even if they don’t, at this point, anyway, share a history since while you could technically trace the team’s roots to 1972, the original Jets history is still in Arizona.
But nevertheless, Shane and Josh Doan have eerily similar careers finding themselves drafted by one franchise, only for that franchise (or its assets) to relocate a short time later after they made their respective NHL debuts.
And it, in a manner of speaking, creates a bridge between the original Winnipeg Jets, the Arizona Coyotes, and the Utah Hockey Club. So, now, Josh has a chance to mimic the success his dad enjoyed in Arizona, but in Salt Lake City and in front of a new generation of NHL fans.