Shane Doan's wife to chair committee focused on bringing NHL back to Arizona

If there's one family that could have a major impact on bringing hockey back to the desert, it's the Doans.

Andrea Doan, the wife of Shane Doan and mother of Sabres forward Josh Doan, is hoping to do just that as she gets set to chair a committee focused on bringing an NHL team back to Arizona, according to Craig Morgan on the Arizona Insider substack on Monday.

The committee was originally founded by Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chair Tom Galvin in early 2025, with the intention of partnering with local political, business, community and sports leaders to have a team in the Phoenix metro area again.

"Andrea Doan is a longstanding supporter of Arizona hockey and is married to Shane Doan, who was instrumental in building Arizona’s hockey legacy," Galvin said to Morgan. "She is as much a part of the Arizona hockey story over the last 20-plus years as Shane. Andrea has dedicated much of her personal life to our community and building support for Arizona hockey. Andrea’s knowledge of the industry and her connections to Arizona and the NHL are instrumental to our mission."

Doan's role with the committee, according to her and Galvin, will be behind-the-scenes as she "leads conversations with Arizona leaders and the NHL about developing a strategy to attract an expansion team to Arizona."

Arizona lost the Coyotes in April 2024 when the team was sold by previous owner Alex Meruelo to the Smith Entertainment Group, which relocated the team to Salt Lake City.

Meruelo retained the rights to the Coyotes' name, logo and trademark and he was granted a five-year window to build an arena and reactivate the Arizona franchise. However, Meruelo relinquished his rights to the franchise in July 2024 after failed bids for new arena locations.

This new group, led by Doan, is hoping to pick up the pieces with a more suitable ownership group and an arena in a new location, either in downtown Phoenix or east of downtown, according to Morgan.

They're also hoping to have a stronger connection to the community of Phoenix, which is why bringing in Andrea Doan became a priority for Galvin and the committee.

While it was expected by many that Shane Doan would take part, the 21-year NHLer and former long-time captain of the Coyotes remains under contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a special advisor to the general manager.

"Understanding what it takes to build and sustain the grassroots side of the game is so important, and Andrea understands that so much more than I even understand it because of how involved she was with Josh when he played minor hockey," Shane said to Morgan. "She not only saw the game from the professional level, she sees it as a parent and for people that played or got to experience hockey with all the good that it can provide for a family and teaching kids and helping kids and giving them a community outside of just their family or their school. She has the ability to connect all of that."