Doan played for the Coyotes franchise from 1995-2017 and is the franchise leader in games played, points, goals, assists and many other stats. Raanta joined the Coyotes in 2017-18, the season after Doan retired. They were never teammates, but Raanta got to know Doan at off-season skates in Scottssale the past few years and clearly understands what Doan means to the franchise.
"I just wanted to pay tribute to 'Doaner' and to thank him for the remarkable things he's done here for this franchise and give something back to him," Raanta said.
Once the mask arrived, Raanta called Doan, showed him the mask via FaceTime and asked Doan for his permission to wear it for the Saturday home games.
"He was really excited and I was pretty pumped that he loved it so much," Raanta said. "Obviously he had no idea that I was going to do it, but his reaction on FaceTime was perfect. He loved it. We'll see. Hopefully the mask with 'Doaner' on it will bring us a lot of wins."
The Coyotes will retire Doan's number 19 in a pre-game ceremony on Feb. 24, 2019.
"What an honor," Doan said of Raanta's mask. "Over the years, I was always interested in what the goalies I played with put on their masks. I never dreamed of this. It's so generous of Raanta, and it's so cool."
Raanta's new mask will nicely complement the pads, blocker and glove he also had designed for the Saturday home games.
