TEMPE, Ariz. — Shane Doan is moving north.
Doan was hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs as a special adviser to general manager Brad Treliving on Friday.
It's a reunion of sorts for Doan and Treliving, as Doan was still playing for the Arizona Coyotes from 2007-14 when Treliving served as an assistant GM for that franchise.
Doan has been amassing front office experience since hanging up his skates in 2017. He was chief hockey development officer for the Coyotes for the past three seasons. He also was assistant GM for Hockey Canada for the men's national team, which won gold at the 2023 IIHF World Championship.
Doan was also the GM for Canada at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship and the Spengler Cup in 2021 and 2022.
And as far as what it means for the Coyotes, Matthew Jacobson of Locked on Coyotes argues Doan was still considered the face of the franchise despite having retired several years ago, and all attempts should have been made to keep him in the desert.
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But, if anyone was going to talk Doan into moving on from the only NHL franchise he's ever known, it was Treliving.
"I love the Coyotes and I've been there a long time," Doan said, per NHL.com. "Realistically, it's through the opportunity for relationships that I had with Brad Treliving and the people that I kind of got to know over the years here in Arizona, one of the guys was Brad and we stayed in contact.
"He allows people to have a voice and yet at the same time, everybody knows who is in charge. He cares about people and he cares about the relationships with them and that's really management in general, just understanding people and understanding human nature and he gets that."
Not lost on many is the relationship Doan has with Arizona native Auston ' Matthews. They've skated together since the Leafs' franchise center was 16, and Doan will no doubt be instrumental in signing Matthews to a contract extension lest he be tempted to play for his home state Coyotes or entertain offers elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent next summer.
"He has that right as a player to go through that," Doan said of Matthews, "and I think every single organization does that when they have an elite player. It's no different with him. I'll be involved in helping Brad and helping the organization in any way possible, and if I can help in that area, I'll help. But at the same time, that will be his decision and I'm excited to work with him for the next little bit."
Obviously there's been a lot of talk about the stability of the Coyotes in Arizona without a long term arena solution in place, but a huge building block for hockey in the area is now in Toronto, and it's a big loss for the organization and its fans.