Dan Bickley

azcentral sports

Shane Doan and Larry Fitzgerald are pillars of our sporting community.

They’ve played a combined 31 seasons in Arizona. They connect with fans because they are fans. They share their triumphs and never left during the hard times. Their loyalty is unquestioned, to their sport and to the Valley.

For those reasons and more, the last seven months have been poetic justice for two of Arizona’s finest and a blast of nostalgia for their adoring fans.

“As you get older, there are times you get let off the hook, and times when you let yourself off the hook,” Doan said. “But you learn so much of sports is mental. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but you can see it with Fitz.

“Look at that playoff game against Green Bay. He made a play. And then he made another play. And all of a sudden, he’s 25 again, outrunning people, stiff-arming people. We all know Father Time eventually wins. But as an older guy, you see that, and you realize it’s all mental.”

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Two years after appearing to be phased out of the Cardinals offense, Fitzgerald set a personal-best with 109 receptions, leading the Cardinals to the NFC Championship Game. At age 39, Doan is having his finest season in years and should reach the 30-goal plateau for the first time since 2008.

He is playing 10 years younger, just like Fitzgerald did for the Cardinals in 2015.

Doan’s performance is even more unexpected. He has 21 goals through 47 games, only 10 behind his personal best. He became the franchise’s all-time points leader on a two-goal night against Calgary last Friday. While only a fool would doubt Doan’s credentials as team captain, his level of play has strengthened his voice in the room.

That's the way it works in professional sports. Nothing speaks louder than production.

“The 2014-15 season wasn’t a lot of fun,” Doan said. “I had a lot of questions. Do I still have it? Can I still do this?”

BICKLEY: Fitzgerald better than ever

MORE: Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald set for final season?

Doan has seen some dark places, but last season was brutal. His output was embarrassing (36 points in 79 games). His plus/minus was -29, second-worst on the team and reflective of a player in sharp decline. Things were so bad that General Manager Don Maloney recently admitted tanking the last two months of the season.

“Last year, we plunged,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I did not do much to help our team the last two months. If we were going to be bad, my attitude was, let’s be real bad. There was a pretty big (draft) prize for being real bad … ”

I don’t blame Maloney one bit. To the contrary, I encouraged the strategy. But imagine how that must have felt for Doan, a player who seemed to be on the way out with a floundering hockey team.

Thankfully, the narrative has changed. His skills have returned. Retirement is now a choice, and not a death sentence. He says he might hang up the skates after this season to be a stay-at-home dad for his daughter’s senior year of high school. Or he might – and probably will – play another few years, making his own case for the Hall of Fame, like Fitzgerald just did.

Best of all, he’s on a winning team competing for the playoffs, befitting a captain of his stature.

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“As a leader, it’s so hard to stand in the room and say something when you feel like you’re not contributing the way you should be,” Doan said. “That’s difficult. And this is the hardest part of the year for the younger guys, some who have played bigger minutes than anticipated. This is when the enthusiasm starts to wane, when you have to get yourself up for games. It’s going to be a battle for them. That’s why our veteran guys need to be good. Our guys with experience have to step up.”

That’s what Fitzgerald did for the Cardinals. That’s what Doan is doing for the Coyotes, guiding a franchise that might finally see daybreak at the end of a long nightmare.

“This year, you haven’t heard much about our ownership, so at least it’s been stable,” Doan said. “Then you look around the room, and you see what’s coming down the tunnel: Max (Domi) and Duke (Antony Duclair) and Martin (Hanzal) and Oliver (Ekman-Larsson), who is already one of the best players in the NHL. You look at the top 50 prospects, and five are in our organization. When it finally turns, it might turn for 10 years.

“I recognize I’m 39 and it might be too late for me. But at the same time, there’s hope that what’s coming is good instead of the dread that was always hanging out in front of us.”

To the contrary, Doan has proven he has some time and some game left. The twinkle in his eye tells you he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. He might even outlast Fitzgerald, thanking the Cardinals star for a little motivation along the way.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta,” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.