John Davidson (ice hockey)

John Davidson (born February 27, 1953 in Ottawa, Ontario),Canada, is the president of hockey operations of the St. Louis Blues and a former goaltender for the St. Louis Blues (1973-75) and New York Rangers (1975-83) of the National Hockey League. He is also well-known as a long-time hockey broadcaster. Growing up in western Canada, he played left wing until age 16, when he was moved to goaltender. Drafted fifth overall in 1973, he became the first goalie in NHL history to jump directly from major junior to the NHL. While his hockey career was fraught with many significant injuries, 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[1]. 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.", has become one of the most prominent color analysts in sports, 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. [2] Davidson (like his former MSG booth-mates Sam Rosen and Al Trautwig) has also contributed to NHL coverage on various national television networks (including CBC, FOX, ABC, ESPN, NBC and OLN). 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 videogame NHL 97. Davidson was named President of Hockey Operations for the Blues on June 30, 2006. He has committed to building a strong American base for the once-proud franchise. <timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:130 PlotArea = left:15 right:15 bottom:20 top:5 AlignBars = early Period = from:1980 till:2007 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1980 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1983 BarData=

 bar:main
 bar:sec
 bar:tri
 bar:quad
 bar:quin
 bar:sext

PlotData=

bar:main align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:20 shift:(0,-5)
 from:1983 till:1984  color: green text:MSG
 from:1986 till:2006  color: green   text:MSG
bar:sec align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:20 shift:(0,-5) 
 from:1984 till:1986  color: yellow   text:CBC
 from:1996 till:2006 color:yellow text:CBC 
bar:tri  align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:20 shift:(0,-5) 
 from:1992 till:1994  color:red  text:ABC
 from:1994 till:1999  color:blue text:FOX
 from:1999 till:2005  color:red text:ABC
bar:quad  align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:20 shift:(0,-5)
 from:1990 till:1994 color:pink text:NBC
 from:2005 till:2006 color:pink text:NBC 
bar:quin  align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:20 shift:(0,-5) 
 from:1997 till:2006  color:purple text:NHL.com
bar:sext  align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:20 shift:(0,-5)
 from:2005 till:2006 color:orange text:OLN
 

</timeline>

Achievements - playing

• Alberta Junior Hockey League - MVP (1970-71)
• Alberta Junior Hockey League - Best goalie (1970-71)
• Alberta Junior Hockey League - Second team All-Star (1970-71)
• Western Hockey League - MVP (1971-72)
• Western Hockey League - Del Wilson Trophy as best goalie (1971-72)
• Western Hockey League - First team All-Star (1971-73)

Achievements - broadcasting

• CableACE - "Outstanding Live Event Coverage" (1994)
• New York Emmy - "Outstanding On-Camera Achievement" (1995, 2001)
• Lester Patrick Trophy - "Contribution to American hockey" (2004)

Statistics - Regular season

External links

• JD's official bio
• John Davidson's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database