The Doan family’s legacy continues to leave a mark on the Arizona Coyotes franchise. Son of long-time Coyotes captain Shane Doan, Josh Doan, scored two goals in his NHL debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 6-2 win at Mullett Arena. Doan scored five goals and recorded four assists, equaling nine points in the Coyotes’ last 11 games this season. With the team officially relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah, Doan became the first Arizona-born, raised, and trained to play for the Coyotes. However, his historic accomplishments do not end there…
Doan became the third player from Arizona State University's ice hockey team to play in the NHL. Doan joins current Seattle Kraken netminder Joey Daccord and former San Jose Shark Brinson Pasichnuk as the only Sun Devils to skate in the NHL. Daccord experienced his breakout year this season – becoming the first goalie to record a shutout in an NHL Winter Classic game. After short stints in the NHL from the previous four seasons, he has proven his worth. Daccord finished the season with a 19-18–11 record with a 2.46 GAA and a .916 SV%. The seventh-round selection of the Ottawa Senators in 2015 also put up three shutouts in net this season. Pasichnuk’s journey to the NHL started with the San Jose Barracuda (the Shark’s AHL affiliate team) in the 2020-21 season. Pasichnuk was called up later that season and played in four games. Pasichnuk and Daccord both played for ASU for three seasons where the Sun Devils made the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19 during their time in the desert.
The Scottsdale, Arizona native played for the Jr. Coyotes youth hockey club growing up. Doan played with current Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies for the Jr. Coyotes. Both Doan and Knies were second-round selections in the 2021 NHL Draft.
Doan spent his freshman and sophomore years of college at ASU. The 6-foot-2 195-pound center was named captain of the team as a sophomore. The Sun Devils made the move from the long-standing Oceanside Ice Arena to Mullett Arena at the start of Doan’s final year. The captain scored the first collegiate goal at the Mullett in a 2-0 win over Colgate. In his two seasons with head coach Greg Powers’ squad, Doan totaled 75 points in 74 games.
The Coyotes signed Doan to his rookie contract after his sophomore season with the Sun Devils. Doan suited up for a combined 76 games with the Tucson Roadrunners (the Coyotes AHL affiliate team) in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. After scoring 46 points this year with Tucson, being an AHL All-Star, and recently being named to the 2023-24 AHL All-Rookie Team, Doan finally got his chance in the NHL.
Mullett Arena went into a frenzy when Doan not only scored one but two goals in his NHL debut. If that was not good enough, Doan followed that up with a two-assist performance against the Nashville Predators two nights later.
Now that all the Coyotes players are a part of Utah’s franchise, they have many upcoming star players to complement Doan. These include Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, Conor Geekie, Maveric Lamoreux, and Dmitri Simashev. Doan and Guenther rejoined the Tucson Roadrunners in their playoff run for a chance of winning the Calder Cup but ultmaelty fell short in the first round. Nevertheless, Josh Doan’s development in the desert is an inspiring story to all within the Arizona ice hockey community.