SCOTTSDALE, Airz. - He's the front man of an organization, a father of four and a leader in the community, but Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan also carries a much simpler title.
"I am a kid that loves to play hockey," Doan said before correcting himself. "I'm not a kid anymore, but I love to play hockey. I enjoy it so much, and just to play is what you always think about as a player."
Yet Doan's offseason and ensuing lockout layoff were dominated by everything but actually playing the game. He had to renegotiate a contract for himself and then chose to participate in the players' effort to end the labor battle with the league — all this before he could return to the ice with the Coyotes as they attempt to build off their Western Conference finals appearance last year.
"You learn the game is a business," he said.
But when handling these off-ice challenges, Doan didn't operate like a man in a suit. He acted like a family man, doing what he thought was best for his wife and kids, his teammates and the other players around the NHL.
"He's just a guy that cares for everybody," winger Mikkel Boedker said.
It wasn't too long after Doan re-signed a four-year deal with the Coyotes, ensuring that he didn't have to uproot his family, that he extended the same thoughtful approach to a larger group.
Doan was a regular in negotiations between the league and players' association during the 113-day lockout, shuffling between the Valley and New York for meetings. He didn't have to do this — he's not even the team's player representative — but he did so to be able to better communicate the status of talks to his teammates.
And once a deal was tentatively reached in the early-morning hours last Sunday, Doan's role in that 16-hour bargaining marathon was hailed as the push that paved the way for a resolution.
The league wanted a salary cap of $62.5 million per team for next season while the players wanted $64.3 million.
But what's become lockout folklore is Doan's message to league brass that even though a higher cap would put more of the players' salaries in escrow, it also meant more money would be doled out to players, and fewer players would likely be affected by buyouts.
"There was a group of guys that didn't have contracts and a group of guys that will be coming up for contracts in that year that will need to have the ability to sign," Doan explained. "As much as it may hurt the guys that do have contracts, they were kind of falling back on the hockey mentality of you do what's best for the team in that situation."
Ultimately, the league agreed to a $64.3 million cap, and a new collective-bargaining agreement was reached.
And that enabled Doan to look after yet another one of his families — the Coyotes.
The potential he saw after last year's run to the conference finals, coupled with a possible sale of the team to buyer Greg Jamison, painted a future Doan liked.
"What I really wanted to do was be here," he said. "I think everybody knew that, and I'm really excited and hopeful that Mr. Jamison gets the team here in the next two weeks."
And now, he can go back to being a kid playing hockey.
"The ability of our group as a whole — I'm really excited," Doan said. "All of that feeds together to be able to make us truly believe that we can take the next step."
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