UPDATE: As called, Bickley strokes "man who stands for values rarely seen in sports."

The Phoenix Coyotes announced today that captain Shane Doan signed a four-year deal with the team.

Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney says in a statement that the priority was to keep Doan -- the last original Coyote on the team -- in Phoenix until his retirement.

Doan was reportedly targeted by about half of the NHL teams this summer, as he became a free agent after the Coyotes were knocked out in the conference finals by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings.

It was never really clear what the chances were of re-signing one of Phoenix's very few sports superstars, especially since the deal to sell the team still hasn't been set in stone.

We do know a couple things now, though -- Doan's staying here, and the Arizona Republic's sports columnist, Dan Bickley, may now eat crow.

Usually, Bickley's just a minor annoyance, like when he complains about how awful Phoenix sports fans are.

Then there was this.

It's not really clear what the point of that was -- most of the column is about baseball and basketball -- but it seemed to be that Phoenix was just too shitty for a guy like Shane Doan, and Bickley just begged him to leave.

"This is your last contract, and greener pastures beckon," Bickley wrote, presumably copy-and-pasted from his secret diary. "Go if you must, even if it means returning in a Red Wings sweater. We'll understand. Of all people, you deserve better."

Hah. Good one, Bickley.

Expect Bickley's thorough stroking of Doan in Saturday's Republic (although he did that last week, literally the day after Doan told him he'd already worked out the deal with the team).

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