Josh Doan wants to be in Buffalo ‘a long time,’ Jason Zucker returns, more Sabres notes
Doan, who has 27 points in 40 games, is in the final year of his contract before becoming a restricted free agent.
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Josh Doan is in the final year of his contract before becoming a restricted free agent. Joe Hrycych / Getty Images
When the Buffalo Sabres traded JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth for Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring, the talk was that the Sabres had given up the best scorer, if not the best player, in the trade by dealing Peterka.
But at the midpoint of the NHL season, Doan has been every bit as productive as Peterka. In 42 games for the Mammoth, Peterka has 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points. Doan has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 40 games. Pigeon-holed as a bottom-six player in Utah, Doan has recently climbed to Buffalo’s top line playing alongside Tage Thompson. He’s also on the Sabres’ top power-play unit and has four goals and five assists on the power play.
Doan’s impact goes beyond points, too. The Sabres have 58 percent of the expected goals during Doan’s five-on-five minutes, the best mark on the team. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff describes him as a “puck hound,” and Thompson said he has one of the best sticks he’s ever played with. He credits Doan’s ability to cause turnovers for why that line has been able to generate so much offense.
“He’s just a workhorse,” Thompson said. “He has a motor, and he’s always going.
“I’ve been in his shoes early in my career where you’re on the third or fourth line and in and out of the lineup. Then you work and get rewarded for it. That’s what he’s done. He’s a strong kid. He has a heavy stick and goes to the net hard. And he’s got some good touch around the net.”
Thompson played with Doan on Team USA at the World Championship in the summer. He also knew him from spending his summers in Arizona. Their fathers played together, and Thompson has skated with Doan during the summer. It makes sense why Ruff said he’s seen a special chemistry between them as linemates. In 228 five-on-five minutes with Doan, Thompson has a 55 percent on-ice expected goal share this season. In 334 five-on-five minutes away from Doan, Thompson’s on-ice expected goal share drops to 48 percent, according to Natural Stat Trick.
This has been the pattern of Doan’s career. In junior and college, it took him some time to figure out the game, but when he did, the production quickly followed. The same is happening in the NHL. He acknowledged he’s not one who’s always winning with speed and skill. He tries to win with his brain and habits. That’s helped him adjust quickly to playing with Thompson by winning puck battles and having the hockey sense to make plays.
Doan said this opportunity is what has helped him settle into Buffalo quickly. He’s always been the type of person that teammates gravitate toward, and it’s been easier for him to be that guy in the Sabres’ dressing room because of how big a role he’s playing.
“It’s one of those things when you get an opportunity to play, you feel a little bit more comfortable in a room, and you feel like you’re needed and helpful,” Doan said. “When you feel helpful and feel like you’re helping your team win, it’s easier to play a little bit harder and produce a little bit more because you feel that urgency that you need to help produce and help those big guys out. It’s one of those things I didn’t really have last year in Utah. It’s not that you’re a passenger, but you’re someone who is just getting in and doing your role. You’re not expected to produce a ton. And you get lost in that at times, which is really hard.”
Doan is hoping he’s not going to be packing up his house again any time soon. He turns 24 in February and is in the final year of his contract before becoming a restricted free agent. And after just a few months in Buffalo, he’s confident this is where he wants to be for a while.
“That’s something that gets brought up a little bit in your group,” Doan said. “I want to be here. That’s something me and my agency and my family have made clear. I want to be in Buffalo, and I want to play here. The support I’ve gotten since I got here has been amazing. I laugh with my family, where my old man didn’t leave where he was once, and I’ve been on my way three times now. It’s something at the end of the day, though, I do want to be in one place and grow with a group. I think this is the group to do it with. We have a lot of fun and young guys here.”
The obvious question is what a long-term deal would look like for Doan. Matthew Coronato’s seven-year deal with a $6.5 million average annual value seems like a fair jumping-off point. But Doan has a chance to best Coronato’s production this season. Peterka inked a five-year deal worth $7.7 million per year immediately after getting traded to Utah, but was fresh off a 68-point season after 50 points the season before. After his rookie season in Carolina, Jackson Blake got an eight-year deal worth $5.1 million per year after a 34-point season as a 21-year old rookie. If Doan keeps this up, $5 million per year should be the floor on an eight-year deal.
The important piece for the Sabres is that Doan is open to that type of commitment. New general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen will have some work to do when it comes to figuring out how the pieces fit together under the salary cap. The Sabres are projected to have $21 million in cap space next season, according to PuckPedia. Doan, Alex Tuch, Zach Benson, Kesselring, Peyton Krebs and Beck Malenstyn all need new contracts. So committing big money to Doan on a long-term deal requires some planning on what the rest of those contracts look like. But Doan should be high on the list of priorities for this team.
“I want to be part of the solution moving forward and be part of something that can grow here in Buffalo,” Doan said. “It’s easy to look at the Bills as an example with how much the fans love them and how much success they’ve had recently. We want to be part of that. This city has been so welcoming, and it’s a place I want to be for a long time.”
Quick hits
• Jason Zucker is going to be back in the lineup against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. He was skating on a line with Josh Norris and Tuch in practice, with Noah Östlund bumped down to the fourth line and Josh Dunne skating as an extra. Zucker was also working with the first power-play unit. He leads the team in power-play goals despite only playing in 21 of a possible 40 games this season. Ruff said Zucker was frustrated not getting back in the lineup sooner, but the added time let him get closer to 100 percent.• Kesselring tweaked the ankle injury that kept him out for about a month earlier this season. He was getting close to 100 percent when he took another hit against the Stars that aggravated the injury. He’s been off the ice, and the Sabres are hoping he can resume skating at the end of the week.
• Ruff said goalie Alex Lyon is “day to day.” He did not practice with the team on Monday and has been out since getting a lower-body injury against the Blues on Dec. 29. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was in the starter’s net at practice on Monday and looks like he’s in line to make his third consecutive start.
• Justin Danforth resumed skating on his own. He’s still a ways off from returning to the lineup after breaking his kneecap in the first week of the season. But this was a step in the right direction for the veteran forward.