JOSH DOAN AND KAILER YAMAMOTO ASSIGNED TO THE TUCSON ROADRUNNERS

/in , /by

Tucson, Arizona – The Utah Hockey Club announced Monday that forward Josh Doan has been assigned to the Tucson Roadrunners, along with forward Kailer Yamamoto, which was announced by Utah on Saturday.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – OCTOBER 22: Josh Doan #91 of the Utah Hockey Club shoots the puck during the first period of a game against the Ottawa Senators on October 22, 2024 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

This will be Doan’s first game back with the Roadrunners since the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs. The 2024 AHL All-Star and All-Rookie Team member finished his 2023-24 regular season in Tucson with 26 goals and 20 assists for 46 points. Doan led the Roadrunners in goals, power-play goals (10) and points. He also led all AHL rookies in goals and power-play goals.

His strong play led to his first NHL call-up, as the Arizona Coyotes recalled Josh Doan on Mar. 25, 2024. The son of former Coyotes captain Shane Doan scored two goals in his NHL debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He became the first Arizona Coyote rookie to score a point in their first three games. In his first 10 NHL games, Doan scored five goals and four assists for nine points.

After playing in the Coyotes final 11 regular season games, Doan returned to the Roadrunners for the playoffs. The 6-foot-2, 198-pound forward opened the 2024-25 campaign with Utah and had one goal and one assist for two points in nine games before Monday’s assignment to Tucson.

Doan was drafted in the second round (37th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft by the Arizona Coyotes and signed a three-year entry-level contract on Mar. 16 2023.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – OCTOBER 19: Kailer Yamamoto #56 of the Utah Hockey Club skates the puck out of his own zone in a game against the Boston Bruins on October 19, 2024 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

Joining Doan is teammate Kailer Yamamoto. The eight-year pro started the season with Utah and has zero points in three NHL games this season. The Hockey Club signed Yamamoto to a PTO on Sept. 11 one week before training camp. He made the team and signed a one-year, two-way contract with Utah on Oct. 6.

Last season Yamamoto had eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 59 games with the Seattle Kraken after spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Edmonton Oilers. Over his career, the 26-year-old Spokane, Washington native has 134 points from 58 goals and 76 assists in 306 career NHL games. Yamamoto was drafted in the first round (22nd overall) by Edmonton in the 2017 NHL Draft. In 2021-22, he tallied a career-high 20 goals and 40 points in 81 games and helped the Oilers eliminate the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Yamamoto scored the winning goal with 3:03 remaining in Edmonton’s 5-4, series-clinching victory in Game 6.

The 5-foot-9, 178-pound forward last played in the AHL in the 2019-20 season for the Bakersfield Condors. Yamamoto split time between the AHL and NHL, playing 23 games with Bakersfield and 27 with Edmonton. He played 27 games for the Condors in his first AHL season in 2018-19. He has 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points in 50 AHL games.

The Roadrunners (3-3-0-0) swept the Bakersfield Condors (2-1-2-1) over the weekend and head north of the border looking to extend its winning streak against the Abbotsford Canucks (3-2-0-1) on Tuesday at Abbotsford Centre. The teams will also play the following night on Wednesday. Puck drop will be at 7 p.m. MST for both games.