Living at Shane Doan's house helped New York Islanders prospect Daylan Kuefler make a name for himself in the hockey world
Former Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan is always in the news for the right reasons.
During the second intermission of the Memorial Cup round-robin game between the Quebec Remparts and Peterborough Petes on Tuesday night, Doan talked on TSN about his relationship with New York Islanders 2022 seventh round pick and the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers left winger Daylan Kuefler.
Doan played with Kuefler’s father Mike back in their junior hockey days with the Killam Wheat Kings and the two maintained a strong bond well past their days as teammates.
Doan gave Kuefler an opportunity of a lifetime when he was just 14-year-old by extending an invitation to live at his home in Arizona and play with the Junior Coyotes. He also allowed Kuefler to spend some time observing the Coyotes locker room during Doan’s time in the NHL.
“That’s a pretty hard experience to say no to,” said Kuefler in a phone call with Kamloops This Week back in 2019. “Even learning what it takes to be a pro, the commitment and the dedication that he put in, was huge for me. And coming to camp now and realizing, OK, I have to do all this stuff if I want to succeed as well as he did.”
Not only did Doan want to help Kuefler thrive and reach the next level as a hockey player but knew his presence would affect his family in a positive way.
“Daylan is an amazing kid, like a truly gentle, intense, competitive, caring, do-anything-to-win type of kid that you want your kids to be around,” Doan said to Kamloops This Week in 2019.
When Kuefler was eligible to be drafted in the 2017 WHL Prospect Draft , Doan used his leverage as a part-owner of the Blazers to pitch the idea of drafting Kuefler who was ultimately selected by the team in the tenth round.
“Shane said there is one guy I’d really like you to draft if you’ve got an opportunity,” Blazers GM Stu MacGregor said in 2019. “He says, ‘I know the family, and he’s lived with us in Phoenix, playing hockey this past year, but I know he can play in the Western league,’ so we took Shane at his word and drafted him. We hadn’t seen him previous to that.”
As an alternate captain for the Blazers this past season, Kuefler had an outstanding year tallying 61 points, 31 goals and 30 assists in 54 games.
Throughout Doan's illustrious 21 seasons in the NHL, he proved to be a phenomenal player but it's stories like these that shows what kind of person he truly is.
“He was so good in hockey. We knew he was special. You could tell he was special,” Mike Kuefler said.
“But the one thing everybody needs to know about Shane Doan is he is just a great human being. There are no words to describe what kind of a guy he is. He’s an incredible human being.”