Doan’s camp becoming somewhat skeptical about Jamison being able to close deal with Coyotes & more rumblings

DOAN’S CAMP BECOMING SOMEWHAT SKEPTICAL ABOUT JAMISON BEING ABLE TO CLOSE DEAL

At the end of the day, the Shane Doan situation may become more annoying to Pens fans than the pursuit of Jaromir Jagr last year and Zach Parise earlier this month.

Once again, there’s a lot of different information coming out with Coyotes GM Don Maloney telling the Arizona Republic today that it “may be weeks” before Doan makes a decision, while word out of Doan’s camp today is that Doan is very likely to begin serious talks with teams on his shortlist by next week. While “serious negotiations” have yet to happen between Penguins and Doan, the Penguins are among the short-list of teams under strong consideration and could emerge as a favorite for Doan, if he leaves Phoenix, despite offering much less money than other interested teams.

There is very strong interest from Doan in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, with Doan willing to wait it out for the Coyotes, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he didn’t make a decision until August, but the latest development today is that Doan’s camp, according to a source, is becoming skeptical of Greg Jamison’s bid to own the team, more so than last week when things being relayed to Doan’s camp from NHL and Jamison were positive.

“We are still waiting to see what happens here with the Coyotes, ” agent Terry Bross said told Inside Pittsburgh Sports.com last Friday. “Bill Daly indicated to me they {NHL} are moving forward with sale to Jamison……We shall see, ” Bross said at the time.

Despite the NHL informing Bross last week that they are moving forward with the sale, nothing has changed this week as Jamison is not close yet to a deal and Doan’s camp are still under the belief that Jamison might not have enough money to close a deal.

Things are slowly moving in the direction where Doan might be forced to actually pull the plug on returning to Phoenix, but until he does, I would still consider Phoenix the favorite to sign him as this situation is still fluid and at least a week and likely longer away from a resolution. For now, things are status quo in Doan still waiting to see what happens with Coyotes as they remain his first choice.

CANADIENS EMERGING AS SURPRISING SLEEPER FOR DOAN?

One interesting dynamic in the past couple weeks is that Shane Doan has become much more open to going to the Eastern Conference than many around the league imagined prior to free agency. In the East, Pittsburgh has emerged as a team that Doan has “significant” interest” in, in addition to the New York Rangers. There are whispers that a sleeper team to emerge in recent days is the Montreal Canadiens whose rich tradition intrigues Doan. The Canadiens have made an aggressive pitch for Doan, expressing a willingness to maybe go as long as four years as Doan is seeking deals of at least three to four years, and not considering one or two year deals. If the Canadiens can sell Doan on Montreal becoming an instant playoff team, they could emerge as a serious contender for his services and join Pittsburgh and New York as teams he would strongly considering in the Eastern Conference, an NHL source tells Inside Pittsburgh Sports. However, at this point I’m not buying all the buzz in the last 24 hours surrounding Doan and Montreal.

Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres have made a massive four year offer to Doan but continue to be regarded as a big longshot as Doan is not believed to be too keen on going to Buffalo. In the West, Vancouver, Detroit, San Jose and possibly LA Kings have been teams that Doan is or was considering as of this past weekend.

WHY PENS ARE WILLING TO GO THREE YEARS FOR DOAN & TIDBITS ON PENS, SEMIN

Offering a deal of over two years for any soon to be 36 year old is always risky. Penguins GM Ray Shero has rarely been known to offer a player in his mid 30’s a deal of three years or more but the Penguins are comfortable enough to go three years for Doan I’m told.

The Penguins feel they have been playing small on the wings in the top-9 and while there’s always that concern that a player at Doan’s age is going to lose it offensively and see a sudden drop off, I’m told the Penguins scouting staff, management is confident enough that a significant drop off for Doan in lets say year two or three is unlikely due to his style of play and what has also drawn the Penguins to Doan is the way the NHL is evolving and that you can peg Doan in any kind of role and he’s going to be a factor. While the Penguins would obviously prefer to go two years for Doan, they know it’s going to take at least three years to stay in the game.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH SEMIN?

August is just around the corner and Alex Semin remains unsigned with little to no chatter surrounding Pittsburgh and Semin in weeks. Semin is in the position where if he wants to come to Pittsburgh, it’s only going to be on their terms and by their terms, I’m told in the one year – $3 to $4 million range, if they were to miss out on Doan. The Penguins though appear to be looking more and more likely to pass on Semin, although there’s been no confirmation at this point.

In fact, Semin might have to wait for Shane Doan as teams like the Red Wings who haven’t ruled out Semin, don’t feel any urgency to move away from Doan and onto Semin.

Pittsburgh, Carolina, New Jersey, and Detroit have been among five to six teams who have expressed varying degrees of interest.

Word on Tuesday I got was that Semin had yet to come around to the idea of accepting a one year deal. He’s been seeking at least two to three years in excess of $5 million per season. If Semin becomes open to a one year deal, the New York Rangers have not ruled out looking into him, in addition to the Florida Panthers, NHL sources said this week.