Working to bring hockey back to the desert, Craig Morgan of the Arizona Insider reports that Andrea Doan, wife of Shane Doan, will lead the new exploratory committee, hoping to bring professional hockey back to Maricopa County. In early January, Board of Supervisors Chair Tom Galvin shared his desire to create the committee to bring hockey back to Phoenix.
Saying it best, Morgan wrote, “If there were a royal family of Arizona hockey, the Doans would hold that title.” While many anticipated Shane’s involvement, he is likely unable to participate in a formal capacity due to his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a special assistant to the General Manager. Instead, Andrea will be the formal head of the family’s interests in bringing another team to Arizona.
In the report, Andrea acknowledged as much, saying, “Whatever Shane and I do we are always doing together anyway, but his commitment right now is to Toronto. So is mine, but this is sort of a separate entity; just working with the NHL and trying to bring the organization back to Phoenix where it belongs and where it can thrive and succeed.”
The exploratory committee faces a challenging task ahead. The group is burdened with finding a committed ownership group and finding suitable land to build upon in Phoenix. Over the past year, Mat Ishbia, the majority owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, has been the sole candidate to express interest in returning hockey to the desert.
If the exploratory finds a suitable candidate, they won’t have any hurdles to clear with the most recent franchise owner in Phoenix. In mid-July of last year, Alex Meruelo dissolved the Coyotes’ intellectual property, which is now owned and operated by the NHL.
Commissioner Gary Bettman has said in the past that the league won’t play favorites when it comes to potential future expansion, although it may have been a bit tongue-in-cheek. Ownership groups have emerged in Houston, TX, and Atlanta, GA, but the NHL, particularly under Bettman’s leadership, has consistently aimed to sustain hockey in Phoenix.
Regardless, the group has a long way to go to return an NHL franchise to Arizona. Still, given the Doan’s deep roots in the community, they should have no issue growing sentiment and excitement in the public to sway the NHL’s leadership to give hockey in Phoenix another opportunity.
