Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan played in his 1000th career NHL game on December 17th, 2009 against the Columbus Blue Jackets and he wore this White Set 1 game worn jersey while doing it.
2009-2010 was the first time in 9 seasons that Doan did not score at least 20 goals.
At age 33, the captain was beginning to slow down after having 5 straight seasons where he scored in the neighborhood of 30 or more goals. On the other hand, it was the first time in several seasons the Yotes made the playoffs.
Doan still finished with 55 points (18 goals and 37 assists) but it was another milestone that was the highlight of the season.
Shane Doan became the 42nd NHL player to reach 1000 games played and the 24th player to do so while playing all of those games with the franchise that originally drafted them.
His jersey has equipment manager Stan Wilson’s writing on the back of crest noting the jersey as “1000th game.”
The Coyotes won Doan’s milestone game 2-1 in a shootout against Columbus with the captain himself scoring the game-winner.
He was feted at (then) Jobing.com Arena on December 26th, 2009 by the franchise for reaching the milestone and becoming the 2nd player in franchise history to reach the mark.
A detailed accounting of the photomatches between this jersey and Shane Doan on the night of his 1000th NHL game.
There are a ton of interesting details to be found with this unique piece of Coyotes history.
This jersey has no set tag because it never made it to Detroit Hockey Company as part of the 2009-2010 set of jerseys.
In fact, after a game against the Anaheim Ducks on December 19th, 2009, it disappeared from the face of the Earth until just a few months ago. DHC has a different Shane Doan 2009-2010 White Set 1 game worn jersey listed on its website. That one has less wear and is marked “Dec. 28th - Jan. 7th” on the back of the crest and is a replacement for this milestone jersey which was given away or kept out of rotation after the 19th.
This jersey was found framed in a setup commemorating a different Shane Doan milestone; the captain playing in 1099 games for the Coyotes, which set a new franchise record. It’s unclear why it was framed for a different milestone than the huge one it was actually part of.
Equipment manager Stan Wilson’s handwriting noting this jersey was worn in Shane Doan’s 1000th game.
The Phoenix Coyotes wore their White Set 1 jerseys in 22 road games from October 3rd, 2009 to January 7th, 2010. They were also worn in a “whiteout” home game on October 10th, 2009 for a total of 23 games.
Thanks to the milestone Doan only wore this jersey in 20 of those 23 games (the aforementioned backup jersey was used on December 28th, January 5th, and January 7th). The jersey is photomatched as early as the first game of the set on October 3rd, 2009.
Doan’s original White Set 1 gamer has the most wear I’ve seen on an Edge era Doan jersey.
The front has an incredibly large and thick stick mark beginning in the bottom right and moving down from the howling Coyote crest towards the hem. There are other stick marks below and around the crest, as well. These marks show up in quite a few photos from throughout the set.
There is another large stick mark near the bottom left hem that is also in a few photomatches. The right breast has a repair hole/cluster, and the left breast features the captain’s “C”.
The right sleeve has a 3” repair, board burns, and faint stick/puck marks. There is also a large board burn/repair that extends out from the #9 on the sleeve. The left sleeve has board burns, repairs, and stick/puck marks. The red yoke of the shoulder area features burn marks, unrepaired holes, and what appears to be glue repairs on both the front and back of the shoulders — particularly on the righthand side.
This jersey is also matched to a bunch of games thanks to wear on the back, particularly a large stick mark that runs from the #1 and in between the #1 and #9 on the back of the sweater.
There are a few light stick and/or puck marks near the hem and a red paint transfer mark in the back left armpit area.
Shane Doan would go on to set virtually every relevant record for the Coyotes in his career.
Games played. Goals. Assists. Points. He even has the records for game-winning goals, even strength goals, power play goals, and shots.
On a winter night in December 2009 in Columbus, Doaner hit the first of many major milestones.
540 games later he retired and became the first member in franchise history to have his number retired and placed in the rafters.