Clemente’s Corner: Josh Doan Takes Father-Son Legacy to Utah

If the name Josh Doan sounds familiar it’s because you may remember his father, Shane.

The elder Doan spent his entire 21-year NHL career with the Arizona Coyotes franchise, beginning with the original Winnipeg Jets in 1995 before playing in Phoenix for two decades. He was the last remaining player active in the NHL from the original Jets before he announced his retirement in 2017.

Last season, his son Josh made his debut for Arizona. But his Coyotes career only lasted 11 games. The franchise relocated to Salt Lake City over the summer, where they will be known as the Utah Hockey Club this coming season.

Doan got the chance to put on the new Utah jersey for the very first time this Wednesday when he attended the NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Arlington, Va. The annual event – held in cooperation with Upper Deck – allows the card company to take photos and collect autographs of the 35 rookies in attendance to be used in future releases.

Doan, sporting the new Utah jersey for the very first time, talked about the coming season, what it’s like to be on a new team and what cards he liked to collect as a child. 

What was it like to wear the Arizona Coyotes jersey last season just like your dad had during his career?

It was awesome. I got a chance to play my first game in the same jersey that my dad wore. It was super special – but now there’s an exciting opportunity in Utah and we’re all pretty excited. We’ve all made our way out there the last couple of weeks and you can feel the energy in the city and we’re all really excited of what it’s going to be like as a hockey market.

Is Utah ready for a hockey team?

A lot of people are really excited for hockey, and you can get that kind of sense and vibe that it’s going to be a hockey city and a market that’s going to do really well.

Is it fun to be part of a new franchise and seeing all this being born?

It’s really cool to see this grow and to see what it can turn into. Obviously, with the new practice facility going up already and getting an opportunity to see the Delta Center and the modifications they made, that is really cool. It’s a once-in-a-life opportunity to play with a new organization.

Are you a good skier?

No, I’m not. I’m going to have to get used to that, maybe take some lessons.

Your dad played his rookie season in Winnipeg and the franchise moved to Arizona. You play part of your debut season in Arizona and the team moves to Salt Lake City. There’s kind of a weird symmetry there. Have you and your dad spoken about that?

We’ve laughed about it. I think we’ve seen a couple of things out there about our family being cursed and if I ever have a kid then no one should draft them and stuff like that. I think it’s pretty funny.

As a fan, are you still sad about how it ended for the Coyotes?

As a player, you got to focus on the year ahead and the excitement towards Utah. It’s a beautiful city and the people are awesome there. It’s definitely something we’re all looking forward to right now.

Is this your first time wearing the new Utah jersey?

This is the first time I’ve seen the Utah jerseys. They’re pretty clean. We’re pretty excited about how they look and I think they’ve taken some heat on the internet about having the Utah hockey club as a name. The jerseys are pretty slick and they’re doing the right thing with how they’re kind of going about it.

Is it weird to not have a team name?

I think it happened so quick that a lot of people have put a little heat on our organization for not having the name ready. I mean, as players, we don’t mind it. The jerseys are nice. It’s got Utah on it. There are a lot of teams that have diagonal names going down it. So, I don’t know why we’re taking heat. Everyone says the best jerseys in the NHL have a diagonal name, so it’s fine. We like it and we’ll have fun with it.

Which name do you think is going to win?

Yeti is pretty good. I’ve heard Yeti, Outlaws and Mammoth was in there. I think whatever one of those comes out we’ll have fun with it. I think Yeti would be pretty cool. That’s something where you could have a cool theme in Utah too with the mountains and everything.

Did you vote?

I voted. I voted for Yeti. So that’s my vote.

Were you a hockey card collector when you were growing up?

I was. I got them for Christmas, my birthday, and usually Easter was the main thing.

Did you collect any particular players?

I thought it was cool getting my dad’s teammates. Any time I got one of them, I’d be pretty excited. It didn’t matter who it was. It meant more to me to have those guys than anyone else.

And you will have a rookie card this year and the first ones featuring Utah. What do you think about that?

That will be really exciting. That’s an opportunity like we’ve been saying, where you get a chance to be the first at certain things and there’s a lot of guys that are going to be the first – first goal, first assist, stuff like that. There’s a lot of milestones that people are looking forward to.

Clemente Lisi is a lifelong Rangers fan who first started collecting cards in 1986. He collects both vintage and modern with a focus on rookie cards. Follow him on X/Twitter @ClementeLisi.

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