Shane Doan And The Jets 2.0

The Arizona Coyotes released an official statement today saying that the team is going to be moving on from captain Shane Doan, who’s set to his unrestricted free agency this summer.

Doan was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets with the seventh overall pick in the 1995 Entry Draft. He played just one season in a Jets sweater, scoring seven goals and 10 assists in 74 games, before being shipped with the team to Phoenix following the 1995-96 season. With the newly-minted Coyotes, Doan evolved into a star player in the NHL, reaching the 20 goal plateau 13 times in 15 seasons, and captaining the team from 2003 to 2017.

He’s the last player left in the NHL to have played for the original rendition of the Jets, and has played his entire 1540-game NHL career with the Jets/Coyotes franchise. In 1995, his selection at the draft was met with a tremendous amount of excitement, as Doan had just led the Kamloops Blazers to back-to-back Memorial Cup Championships.

But what about now? Doan hasn’t decided whether or not he’s going to continue playing, but it would be kind of cool to see him dawn a Jets uniform again, even if it is with a different franchise. What do you think, Jets Nation?

Is Doan, a guy who’s turning 41 in October and is coming off a 27-point season, worth the bother? Would his experience and veteran presence be welcomed on this young Winnipeg squad? Or is he just another relic of the Jets 1.0’s past that isn’t relevant to the Jets 2.0’s future?