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Getting to know U-tah: Forward Josh Doan
Through training camp, ALLCITY Network will publish profiles of players and staff on the Utah Hockey Club’s hockey operations side to help Utah fans get to know their new team before the first puck drop on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center.
Josh Doan
Position: Forward
Height/weight: 6-1, 203
Shoots: Right
Age: 22
2023-24 stats: 11 games, 5 goals, 9 points
Career stats: 11 games, 5 goals, 9 points
Contract status: Signed through 2025-26 season on ELC (AAV $925,000)
Agent: Allain Roy
Roommate: Michael Kesselring
Dog: Hank
The hockey community has always viewed Josh Doan as a late bloomer. That perspective tracks when you remember that he entered the USHL with the Chicago Steel at about 5-feet-9, 160 pounds. But as longtime family trainer Greg Kozoris noted, “he was never a late bloomer neurologically; intelligence wise. His hockey IQ is unbelievable and now he has the body to add to it.”
Add to that the maturity that comes from good parenting and Doan feels like he’s right where he’s supposed to be these days. He’ll be battling for a permanent NHL role when Utah Hockey Club training camp begins later this month. He bought himself a dog — a St. Bernard-Poodle mix named Hank — and he took it upon himself to prepare teammate Michael Kesselring’s new home south of Salt Lake City for habitation.
“I came in a little bit earlier than him and it was unfurnished so I had to do a lot of the furnishing for us, pick up packages and build things,” said Doan, who played with Kesselring in Tucson and will be his roommate at least during training camp. “So far, nothing has broken so fingers crossed. I don’t know how well I did everything, but it’s been a blast so far. We’re obviously super close so it’s been nice getting a chance to be with him again.”
Where Doan sets up permanent residence is mostly up to him. While everybody expected him to get a cameo in the NHL last season after GM Bill Armstrong hinted at it early in the season, nobody expected Doan to light it up the way he did. He scored two goals in his NHL debut before his family and an adoring crowd at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona. He finished with five goals and nine points in 11 games.
“The end of last year was magical; something special and an opportunity I’ll always be thankful for,” he said. “When something happens like that, it can surprise you when you score and you have success, but at the end of the day, this is a new year and it’s the best league in the world. Nothing’s given. You’ve got to be at your best every night.
“My game plan is still to go in like I did last year, work hard, and prove that I can play 82 games and try to earn as much trust that I can from the management and coaching staff. I want them to know that I can be trusted in all three zones of the ice. One of the things that I’ve always focused on is letting the offense take care of itself. If you play the game the right way, it usually does for you so my mindset is pretty simple: Go hard and do all the little things right.”
(Photo courtesy of Tucson Roadrunners)
As he has every summer for a while, Doan spent the summer training with Kozoris in British Columbia. Strength and speed will be focal points for as long as he plays, but Doan has his weight hovering between 203 and 204 pounds so he’s no longer concerned with getting bigger. Instead, he’s using the off-ice work to refine some on-ice skill sets.
“A lot of it was [focused on] adding a little bit of corner weight and being a little bit stronger down low and around the net; kind of making myself a presence in that area where the goals are scored,” he said. “If you can find a way to be really good there, then you’re going to find a way to play for a long time.
“I want to get more comfortable coming up the ice with the puck in the NHL. When you play with really good players you want to move the puck and get open for them, but there’s a sense of just having a little bit more composure when you exit the D-zone and come up through the neutral zone. It’s hard to focus on that in training. You do need a little bit of experience, in my opinion, to kind of get that sense and feeling in your game.”
Doan has set, or will set a litany of goals for himself, some of which he shared.
“I think it’s really important to set goals for a season and to write them out right before the year,” he said. “When you’re in a tough spot on whether you’re going to be up [in the NHL] or down [in the AHL], there’s always gonna be questions. Whether I have a good camp or a bad camp answers a lot of that for you.
“My first goal is obviously to make the team, and then from there I pick smaller goals. It gets pretty specific for me, whether that’s a certain amount of goals or assists or hits or blocked shots, but my goal is to be an all-around good player this year and I’m sure I’ll have some numbers set to the side that I want to reach.”
(Photo by Danielle Cortez, ALLCITY Network)
Doan has been in this spot before. Most analysts doubted that he would have much success as a junior in the USHL. They doubted his ability to keep pace in the NCAA when he enrolled for two years at Arizona State University instead of choosing the WHL path like his dad, or another school. They questioned the Coyotes’ use of a second-round pick on him (No. 37 overall in 2021), and they questioned whether he would be anything more than a serviceable fourth-line player.
Between that experience and his physical growth, Doan admits that he felt more comfortable in his NHL debut than he did in his USHL debut.
“Even having known him for so long, I can’t say that I didn’t doubt him when he went to junior, and I can’t say I didn’t doubt him when he went to college, and again, when he got here,” said Tucson Roadrunners coach Steve Potvin, who first coached Doan as a youth with the Jr. Coyotes in Scottsdale.
“I think everybody had a slight doubt and I think that’s the underlying motivational aspect that he uses for himself to get to the next level. He knows that there’s doubt and he has a lot to prove. It always seems like he’s prepared for it, but he enjoys the game so much that I don’t even think it feels like a challenge to him.”
Potvin has offered the same advice that Doan has heard from other corners.
“Expect nothing and go out and earn everything,” Potvin said. “I think you keep that mentality for as long as you possibly can. He’s probably heard this from his dad, but until you’ve played 300 games in the NHL, expect nothing.
“You don’t know how it’s all going to turn and so you have to make sure that you treat it almost like a heavyweight champion. You went out there, you earned yourself the belt, but now you’ve got a contender coming up so you’ve gotta do it again. He’s just got to come to camp with zero expectations and just really put himself in the best position to earn another spot.”
Working to Doan’s advantage is the wisdom he has gleaned from his dad, the maturity to keep everything in perspective, and the ability to enjoy all aspects of his life, including Hank, his super-sized, gray puppy.
“He had a bad haircut this summer so he doesn’t have the fluff that he usually does, but that’s because he was in the lake all summer and he was a mess so we had to shave him down,” Doan said. “He’s liking it here in Utah. There’s a lot of hikes he can go on because it’s not too hot right now.”
Hank is trying to make friends, but the options are limited and sometimes uncooperative.
“Kess has two cats so keeping them apart is mission number one,” Doan said. “Hank likes the cats but he’s a puppy — he just turned one — so he wants to play with them and he gets excited when he sees them.
“They just run away. They aren’t the best of friends yet.”
(Photo courtesy of Arizona Coyotes)
Related Doan links
Fathers and sons: Utah’s Iginla-Doan connection is a heart-warming hockey story
Josh Doan’s stunning Coyotes debut was a fairy tale built on character, determination
A Shuswap summer radically altered Coyotes forward prospect Josh Doan
Out of the shadow: Coyotes prospect Josh Doan begins NHL quest in earnest
Josh Doan charting his own course despite familial waters
Top photo via Getty Images
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