Shane Doan's reaction said it all. In an off-season of twists and torments, this may have been the most wrenching news yet for the Phoenix Coyotes.
Reporter's question: "Are you aware the NHL, in its bid to buy the Coyotes, has said it is open to relocating the team in a year's time?"
Doan's response after a crestfallen look: "I hadn't heard that. It's interesting. It's one of those things as a player where you have to do your best not to focus on it."
As the heart, soul and face of the Coyotes franchise, Doan has done everything he can to cope in what has been a summer of perpetual angst. He's spoken to team officials, spoken to his teammates, many of whom live elsewhere and have had to interpret the legal loop-de-loops that have left their NHL team wobbled and ill.
On top of that, Doan has had to deal with the relentless questioning from outsiders and media. Even his time at the Canadian Olympic team's orientation camp has been spent talking as much about the Coyotes as the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It's a responsibility he accepts, if only to insist he's in the dark. "Nobody knows what's going on. It changes daily before anyone can try to guess," Doan said. "It's difficult."
The Coyotes situation changed drastically over the past two days when Chicago sports owner Jerry Reinsdorf withdrew his offer for the team thereby forcing the NHL to step up with a $140-million (all figures U.S.) bid of its own. The NHL's intent is to own then sell the team to a buyer of its choice.
However, the league's bid stated if it couldn't find a potential purchaser willing to keep the team in Glendale, it would begin "conducting an organized process to relocate the franchise in another territory."
The NHL's offer, submitted to an Arizona bankruptcy court, is significantly less than the $212.5-million tabled by Canadian Jim Balsillie, the co-chief executive officer of Research In Motion who wants to relocate the Coyotes to Hamilton.
On Sept. 2, Judge Redfield T. Baum will decide if Balsille can proceed with his bid despite the NHL's overwhelming objection. Eight days later, the team will be put up for auction. For Doan, who has been with the franchise since its relocation from Winnipeg in 1996, all the manoeuvrings have left him in an untenable position, and that can only be taking a toll.
"Doaner is a good friend. I feel for him," said Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla, who played junior hockey with Doan and is partnered with him as owners of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers. "I know it's hard, moving here, there, and he's had to answer a lot of questions. He doesn't know. We ask him the same questions you do and he doesn't know."
Doan endured the final days of the Jets and saw the best and worst that brought out. The best was the fans' enthusiasm and support when the team made the playoffs in its final year; the worst was dealing with the same day-to-day uncertainty that is now dogging the Coyotes.
"I've gotten to know a lot of people personally in the (Phoenix) organization that are on a lot of pins and needles - from the training staff to the security staff to our PR guys, our media guys, guys you don't think about as much," explained Doan. "Those guys are waiting to see if they have jobs - and that's a lot of pressure."
Doan said last year's ownership and financial woes didn't affect the players and yet something went profoundly wrong. Prior to the late January all-star break, the Coyotes were in fifth place in the overall Western Conference standings. After the break, they rolled over and played dead, missing the playoffs and finishing 13th.
"The one good thing about our team is that we are young. It's not like guys have been in the city 14 years," Doan said. "Most of them have only been there for a couple. That's a big difference. At the same time, it's a place that everybody likes and wants to play."
It's also a place where the clock is ticking on a hockey team that still has to generate interest and sell tickets this season with the weight of doom hanging over its head. Trying out for Canada's Olympic hockey team has given Doan, ever the patriot, a brief respite. But the concerns continue, and now the NHL has acknowledged the whole thing may have to be moved elsewhere and soon.
To that, there is little Doan can predict.
"For me, it's a year we have to play where we're at and do our best. I've given up trying to say, 'This is what's going to happen.' "