Shane Doan is willing to give the Phoenix Coyotes until next Monday before he starts considering other options available to him in free agency.
Doan originally set a July 9 deadline to get a new multi-year contract done with the Coyotes. His initial deadline coincided with when he was hoping to get more clarity on Greg Jamison's bid to purchase the Coyotes.
However, the deadline came and went without any more clarity on the ownership situation. Doan, though, isn't ready to give up on the Coyotes, so, according to Fox Sports Arizona, the longtime Phoenix captain has set a new deadline for July 16.
Just like his first deadline, Doan's new deadline coincides with when he is hoping to learn if Jamison's deal to buy the Coyotes will proceed or if the matter won't be resolved for several more months.
"I would say if we don't have an answer by the 16th it may be time to get serious about listening to other teams' offers," Doan's agent, Terry Bross, told Fox Sports Arizona.
Doan's future -- either in Phoenix or elsewhere -- is being clouded by issues that are far from the ice.
Jamison's bid to buy the Coyotes includes an approved 20-year, $324 million lease agreement with the City of Glendale. That lease agreement passed in the city council by a 4-2 vote and was subsequently held up in court early last month.
However, two Glendale residents that oppose the lease agreement, Ken Jones and Joe Cobb, have been trying to gather enough signatures in order to get a referendum on the November ballot regarding the lease agreement between the city and Jamison.
Jones and Cobb initially had 30 days from the date the lease agreement passed in court to gather the signatures and submit the petition for the referendum to the city. Their deadline was July 9, but they argue that they didn't receive the paperwork necessary to move forward with their referendum campaign until a week after the lease agreement passed, so they should have 30 days from that point, which takes them until July 16.
Even if Jones and Cobb get enough signatures and submit the petition on July 16, it's unclear if they will have to clear legal hurdles in order to get a referendum on the November ballot. That could take more time to sort itself out, and time is not exactly on the Coyotes' side when it comes to potentially re-signing Doan, who has played his entire career with the franchise, moving with it from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996.
"Unlike the majority of athletes, he takes responsibility for this organization," Bross said. "Don't think it's lost on him that it's going to have an impact in more ways than on the ice if he leaves. That's why we're dragging our feet on this."
Bross has said Doan has interest from 11 teams. The Los Angeles Kings reportedly made a contract offer to him earlier this week.
Doan wants to sign a multi-year contract and his hope has always been to remain a Coyote, but if the ownership issues aren't resolved or at least proceeding as planned by next Monday he might have to start considering his other options.
"We thought (Monday) we would have closure," Bross said. "Now it's hurry-up-and-wait again."
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