New York Rangers: The latest on John Davidson
The hunt for a new president for the New York Rangers can focus on one man now that the Columbus Blue Jackets have been eliminated from the playoffs. John Davidson is the top candidate for the Rangers job and now it is up to him to make the decision.
The New York Rangers need a new team president to replace the outgoing Glen Sather. There has been little messaging coming from Madison Square Garden, but all reports are that John Davidson is the team’s only choice. The problem is that he is under contract to Columbus.
Throughout the playoffs, Davidson has remained mum on the Rangers opportunity. Following the the Blue Jackets’ elimination by Boston in six games, here’s what he told the Columbus Dispatch:
“I don’t know,” Davidson said. “I haven’t heard a word about anything. I haven’t thought about it. It’s the last thing on my mind, to be honest with you. I haven’t spent 16 seconds on it. I’m just disappointed because (this spring) was an opportunity. “I know these guys (the Bruins) would be tough and they’d battle as the series (went) along — and we were right there in Game 5 and we let it slip toward the end. Tonight, we were right there, right there, right there…”
Okay, it’s all well and good that Davidson is maintaining his stance about the Rangers job, but history tells us otherwise.
A history lesson
John Davidson’s first job after leaving the Rangers’ broadcast booth was as President of Hockey Operations for the St. Louis Blues. In 2006, he had been hired by Dave Checketts, former Madison Square Garden President who was part of a group that bought the Blues. He held the job for six years, building a last place team into a Stanley Cup contender.
Despite the success, the Blues had financial issues and the Checketts ownership group that hired Davidson in 2006, sold the team to a new group led by Tom Stillman in the summer of 2012. It was reported that the new ownership was looking to cut costs and on October 5, 2012, the team agreed to a buyout of Davidson’s contract. He still had three years and $6 million remaining on the deal.
After the buyout, he told the Associated Press “I leave all doors open,” he said. “I sit back and wait for the phone to ring.”
Well, that phone rang pretty quickly. Less than three weeks later, on October 23, he took the job as President of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Why it looks like a done deal
There are a few reasons why it looks John Davidson will be the next president of the Rangers.
- The silence from MSG is telling. If the team was actively interviewing candidates, that would get out. After Steve Yzerman signed up to be the Detroit General Manager, there hasn’t been a peep out of Penn Plaza.
- Davidson likes Glen Sather a lot. They play golf in the off-season and were teammates on the St.Louis Blues in the 1970’s.
- Davidson considers New York home. He spent 30 years with the Rangers as a player and broadcaster.
- The media loves John Davidson. Ranger beat writers like Larry Brooks and Rick Carpiniello have been vocal in their “support” for the hiring of Davidson. That counts for Jim Dolan who has been raked over coals for his management of the New York Knicks.
- For Davidson, it’s a good time to get out of Columbus. Despite their unprecedented success in the playoffs, they stand to lose Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel and Adam McQuaid as unrestricted free agents. The team went all-in for the playoffs this season and as much as general manager Jarmo Kekalainen maintains that he would do it again, if the team loses all of these players, they will be gutted.
- The Rangers are on the upswing. Davidson is well known for giving his general managers independence to make hockey decisions. Although he has never worked with Jeff Gorton, Davidson has to know that Gorton has been making savvy moves and with the second overall draft pick and a raft of solid young prospects, Davidson can be the man who brings the Stanley Cup back to the world’s most famous arena.
- There’s no good reason for Columbus to try to stop him from leaving. Davidson has done a good job in building the franchise and his handpicked general manager is one of the most respected in the business (Davidson brought Kekalainen with him from St. Louis). Although the Blueshirts are a Metropolitan Division rival, the Jackets would be hard pressed to try to kibosh a deal.
In the meantime, the Rangers’ brain trust is meeting this week in La Quinta, California. As usual, it is Glen Sather’s meeting and they will be discussing personnel and the upcoming draft. I’m sure that they would have preferred to have John Davidson in the fold in time for the meetings, but the Blue Jackets had other ideas. But now that the Blue Jackets’ season is over, look for the process to accelerate dramatically.
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