Shane Doan Autograph Card

One of the many never-ending sagas this off-season has been ''the Shane Doan situation''. I touched briefly on the status of the Phoenix Coyotes yesterday, and the fact that their captain is taking his merry time before signing a new contract wouldn't be so annoying if every hockey blogger didn't write about it every day.

I understand sticking with the team through thick and thin - that's what makes Doan captain material. But the fact that he's contemplating signing 4-year deals elsewhere is puzzling, although not as much as teams offering him $7.5M per season when, at age 35, he has never made that much money - and is on a clear down slope, points-wise, going from 78 points in 2007-08 (28 goals) to 73 in 2008-09 (31 goals) to 55 in 2009-10 (18 goals) to a slight increase to 60 points in 2010-11 (20 goals) to another drop in 2011-12 with 50 points (22 goals).

Sure, with better players, he could produce a little bit more; on the other hand, on a stronger team, he probably wouldn't be on the first line anymore, meaning a drop in ice time may lead to a slip in production as well... and giving more than 10% of your payroll on a has-been isn't exactly the best use of cap space I've heard of.

Doan is a distant cousin to Carey Price, which may or may not matter, in the end. He shares another highlight with the Montréal Canadiens, as he was involved in a discussion with a teammate that degenerated quickly when the Habs took a 4-0 lead, and Doan looked at referee Michel Cormier and said to a teammate ''What do you expect? Four French refs in Montréal...'' implying that Quebecers, as a sub-race, couldn't remain impartial despite their jobs depending on it, while four English-Canadians in Toronto or Ottawa could. His teammate replied ''Fucking Frenchmen'', igniting a controversy that would span both of Doan's next Team Canada appearances (2006 Olympics and 2007 Worlds, where he captained the team).

In any event, Doan's a decent hockey player, and this is the ''signed insert version'' of his rookie card, from Upper Deck's 1995-96 Be A Player set (card #S172, the Rookie Quotebook sub-set). It's one of those sets that BAP had an NHLPA license for, but not one from the NHL, so the Jets aren't mentioned anywhere. Other cards had the team logos airbrushed out or hidden by a player's pose...