Doan talked about the Coyotes in the playoff race and much more as a guest of co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke on the latest edition of the "NHL @TheRink" podcast, which was recorded Thursday.
"I think that us and St. Louis, it's going to come right down to the end," said Doan, who is the Coyotes chief hockey development officer. "I know that it's going to be probably a point or two here or there. It would have been really nice to get a point last night, even if you don't get two, just to at least get one with that type of effort, so that was disappointing. Our guys are doing what they can right now, they're fighting and battling through."
The Coyotes lost 4-1 at home to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday despite a 40-23 advantage in shots on goal. They are 1-7-0 in their past eight games but fourth in the eight-team Honda West Division, one point ahead of the Blues, who have four games in hand.
The top four teams in the division will qualify for the playoffs.
"It's going to be a battle," Doan said. "This is playoffs. That's the part, you're watching your guys and you're seeing, 'OK, this is playoffs.' … Let's see how we play, how our guys respond and keep going from there. It's going to be a lot of fun to see what the final (result) is."
Doan also spent time discussing his new job with Hockey Canada as assistant general manager of the national men's team for the 2021 IIHF World Championship. He was named to the position Tuesday. The tournament is scheduled to be played May 21-June 6 in Riga, Latvia.
He also told stories about playing summer hockey with Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Rosen and Roarke went around the NHL too, touching on each division, including a discussion on the Toronto Maple Leafs struggling despite being first in the Scotia North Division and a debate about which is the best team in the MassMutual East Division.
The "NHL @TheRink" podcast is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on
NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts
and the NHL app.
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Listen: New episode of NHL @TheRink
