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John Davidson
John Davidson
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Height
Weight
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
205 lb (93 kg)
Teams New York Rangers (NHL)
Springfield Indians (AHL)
New Haven Nighthawks (AHL)
St. Louis Blues (NHL)
Denver Spurs (CHL)
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born (1953-02-27)February 27, 1953,
Ottawa, ON, CAN
NHL Draft 5th overall, 1973
St. Louis Blues
Pro Career 1973 – 1983

John Arthur Davidson (born February 27, 1953) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He is the current president of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). As a player, he played for the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers in the NHL. He is also well known as a long-time hockey broadcaster. On June 4, 2009, it was announced that Davidson would be honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame with the 2009 Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for his contributions to broadcasting.[1]

Playing career[]

Growing up in western Canada, he played his junior hockey in Calgary, Alberta. He was drafted fifth overall in 1973, and became the first goalie in NHL history to jump directly from major junior to the NHL.

St. Louis Blues[]

Davidson stepped right into the NHL and split duties with veteran Wayne Stephenson during his rookie year and posted slightly better numbers. Just before the start of Davidson's second season in the league, the Blues dealt Stephenson to the Philadelphia Flyers making Davidson the Blues starting goaltender. Davidson played forty games for the Blues but his goals against average rose from an impressive 3.08 as a rookie all the way up to 3.66 in his second year. That summer, the Blues packaged up Davidson with Bill Collins and shipped him to the New York Rangers for Jerry Butler, Ted Irvine and Bert Wilson

New York Rangers[]

In New York, Davidson would share the crease with Hall of Fame Ed Giacomin who had tended goal for the Rangers for the ten previous seasons. However, early in the year, the Rangers shocked their fans by placing Giacomin on waivers where he was claimed by the Detroit Red Wings and making Davidson the undisputed starting goaltender for the team. JD - as he was known - played a career-high 56 games for New York that year, a number that would never really be challenged due to a string of injury issues over the years to come. He is perhaps best remembered as a player for leading the Rangers to the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals on an injured left knee. His jersey numbers were 35, 00 and 30.[2] Davidson was the first, and one of only two, NHL players to wear the number 00; after Martin Biron briefly wore the number in 1995, the league banned the use of the number.[3]

Davidson was the inspiration for the song "Double Vision" from 1978's album Double Vision by Foreigner. Members of the band who were Rangers fans were watching a Stanley Cup Playoff game between Davidson's New York Rangers and the Buffalo Sabres. Davidson was shaken up when a shot hit his goalie mask. As he was recovering, announcers Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick said Davidson was suffering from "Double Vision."[4][5]

Broadcasting career[]

After retiring due to injury, he joined MSG's hockey coverage staff in 1983, and was the color commentator for Rangers games from 1986–87 to 2005–06. Davidson, often known by the nickname "J.D.", became one of the most prominent color commentators in the sport, and his hockey insight is so well respected that he currently sits on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. Long-time network TV partner Mike Emrick also sits on that committee, and the two shared the 2004 Lester Patrick Trophy for service to hockey in the U.S.[6]

Davidson (like his former MSG Network booth-mates Sam Rosen and Al Trautwig) has also contributed to NHL coverage on various national television networks (including CBC, Fox, ABC, ESPN, NBC, SportsChannel America, and Global). Davidson served as the lead color commentator, partnering with play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick, for the NHL on Fox from 1994–1999 and again for the NHL on NBC from 2005–2006. Eddie Olczyk, a studio analyst, would take over the color commentator position in the 2006–2007 season after Davidson left broadcasting to take over as President of the St. Louis Blues.

The following timeline is a list of all season-long hockey coverage he has done, such as in-game commentary and post-game analysis shows. It does not include special events such as the Winter Olympics or Canada Cup. Davidson was known as a broadcaster for his signature phrase of "Oh, baby!" He was also featured in full motion videos shot for the EA Sports video game NHL 97.

Davidson co-authored the book Hockey for Dummies with sportswriter John Steinbreder.

Executive career[]

Davidson was named president of the St. Louis Blues on June 30, 2006. He left the Blues after agreeing to a buyout of his contract on October 9, 2012.[7] He was then named president of the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 24, 2012,[8] and held this position until his resignation on May 17, 2019.[9]

On May 17, 2019, Davidson was named as president of the New York Rangers.[10]

Achievements[]

Playing[]

Broadcasting[]

  • CableACE – "Outstanding Live Event Coverage" (1994)
  • New York Emmy – "Outstanding On-Camera Achievement" (1995, 2001)
  • Lester Patrick Trophy – "Contribution to American hockey" (2004)
  • Foster Hewitt Memorial Award; Hockey Hall Of Fame (2009)

Career statistics[]

Source:[12]

Regular season and playoffs[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1969–70 Lethbridge Sugar Kings AJHL
1969–70 Calgary Centennials WCHL 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0.00
1970–71 Lethbridge Sugar Kings AJHL 46 2,760 142 3 3.09 9 540 23 1 2.56
1970–71 Calgary Centennials WCHL 1 0 0 0 19 1 0 3.16
1971–72 Calgary Centennials WCHL 66 3,970 157 8 2.37 13 6 6 1 780 39 0 3.00
1971–72 Calgary Centennials MC 2 0 2 118 9 0 4.58
1972–73 Calgary Centennials WCHL 63 3,735 201 2 3.30
1973–74 St. Louis Blues NHL 39 13 19 7 2,300 118 0 3.08 .902
1974–75 St. Louis Blues NHL 40 17 15 7 2,360 144 0 3.66 .887 1 0 1 60 4 0 4.00 .846
1974–75 Denver Spurs CHL 7 4 2 1 420 27 0 3.86
1975–76 New York Rangers NHL 56 22 28 5 3,207 212 3 3.97 .880
1976–77 New York Rangers NHL 39 14 14 6 2,116 125 1 3.54 .896
1976–77 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 2 119 5 0 2.52
1977–78 New York Rangers NHL 34 14 13 4 1,848 98 1 3.18 .899 2 1 1 122 7 0 3.44 .901
1978–79 New York Rangers NHL 39 20 12 5 2,232 131 0 3.52 .873 18 11 7 1,106 42 1 2.28 .922
1979–80 New York Rangers NHL 41 20 15 4 2,306 122 2 3.17 .885 9 4 5 541 21 0 2.33 .927
1979–80 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 4 1 3 0 238 16 0 4.02
1980–81 New York Rangers NHL 10 1 7 1 560 48 0 5.14 .832
1981–82 New York Rangers NHL 1 1 0 0 60 1 0 1.00 .966 1 0 0 33 3 0 5.45 .769
1981–82 Springfield Indians AHL 8 3 4 0 437 24 0 3.30
1982–83 New York Rangers NHL 2 1 1 0 120 5 0 2.50 .909
NHL totals 301 123 124 39 17,109 1004 7 3.52 .887 31 16 14 1,862 77 1 2.48 .918

References[]

External links[]

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