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Entries with the tag: John+Davidson

John Davidson’s Input Improved Our Watching Experience

by Paul on 11/02/09 at 10:59 AM ET
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from John Shannon of Sportsnet,

Being inducted is a group of players who were certainly some of the game’s greatest. Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Brian Leetch will be honoured next Monday night, as will New Jersey architect Lou Lamoriello. Between the five, their names are inscribed on the Stanley Cup 11 times. For the past two decades, these greats have left their mark.

Also being honoured will be Pittsburgh writer Dave Molinari, who will be the recipient of the Elmer Ferguson Award. Dave’s talent as one of America’s finest hockey writers, and driest senses of humour, is well documented within the game. And winning the Foster Hewitt Award is John Davidson.

With apologies to the five inductees and Molinari, I will admit my bias on JD’s award....

Proof of his knowledge and leadership is the success that has followed him in St. Louis with the Blues. The true impact, however, he has had on the game (and therefore deserving of the Hewitt award) can be measured by all the fans in both countries that have grown to enjoy the game because of his work.

And while the others will deservedly receive most of the attention next weekend, I wanted all to know how important John Davidson has been to the growth of the game and the NHL.

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 Tags: John+Davidson,

2009 Foster Hewitt Memorial Award and Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award Recipients

by Paul on 06/02/09 at 11:51 AM ET
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TORONTO (June 2, 2009) — Bill Hay, Chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame, announced today that DAVE MOLINARI, the newspaper voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for print journalism. Hay also announced that JOHN DAVIDSON, a long-time broadcaster who is currently the President of Hockey Operations with the St. Louis Blues, will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster.

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Filed in: NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Dave+Molinari, John+Davidson,

All John Davidson

by Paul on 04/06/09 at 10:22 AM ET
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from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Will the Blues make the playoffs?

“We’ll make it. We’ll play well (in Phoenix), then have Columbus at home and then we go into Colorado. Obviously now we need help. But we’ll get there. Our guys actually play better from behind.”

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 Tags: John+Davidson,

Evening Line

by Paul on 10/31/08 at 07:34 PM ET
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“The economy is tough, and if anyone says it isn’t they’re just not being accurate”.

“We may not see the effects for a while, either. A lot of people had their spending budget in place prior to our season. We sell our seats, we sell our corporate business, and we sell our season tickets starting in July. But from July through now, the world’s been tougher on the United States. We have to really work at playing an entertaining game on the ice, having people coming to our arena and understanding that it’s an event and having fun in the building.”

-Blues President John Davidson.  More from Davidson at TSN.

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: John+Davidson,

Morning Line

by Paul on 09/24/08 at 07:31 AM ET
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“I know there’s a lot of people this is going to bother, obviously. But you can’t let it stop you in your tracks. This is a good organization that’s going to work hard to overcome something like this.

“We’re not going to sit there and feel sorry for ourselves ... it doesn’t make any sense. If you feel sorry for yourselves, where do you get yourselves? We’re not going to do that. We’re going to go forward.”

-Blues President John Davidson on the year-ending injury to Erik Johnson.  More on the Blues at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch....

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Erik+Johnson, John+Davidson,

Blues Re-Sign McClement, 1 Year

by Alanah McGinley on 07/14/08 at 04:04 PM ET
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St. Louis Blues’ President John Davidson announced today the club has re-signed center Jay McClement to a one-year deal. 

“We are excited to have Jay in our core group of young players,” said Davidson.  “He will provide some stability and experience on the penalty kill and we are expecting his offensive numbers to improve with the more ice-time he gets.”

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Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: jay+mcclement, john+davidson,

Blues Trade Jamal Mayers to the Leafs

by Alanah McGinley on 06/20/08 at 12:04 AM ET
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From the St. Louis Blues,

St. Louis Blues President John Davidson announced today the club has acquired a 2008 3rd round draft pick, 70th overall, from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward Jamal Mayers.

“I want to thank Jamal for everything he has done for the Blues and the city of St. Louis,” said Davidson. “We wish Jamal and his family nothing but the best in his hometown of Toronto.”

added 7:18am (Paul), from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Blues President John Davidson said the trade of Jamal Mayers late Thursday night is a precursor of something else that could happen today.

“It’s all part of us trying to put stuff together and we’re not done yet,” Davidson said. “This is the start of something ... that’s the best way of saying it. We’ve got other stuff going on, but can’t say anything because it’s not finalized. We’ll try and get that done (today).’’

Davidson added: “I don’t want people to think we just traded Jamal Mayers for a draft pick and that’s the end of us. The more we work toward putting something else together, the more the draft pick position could become a part of (tonight’s) action. We’re working it here and we feel we’re getting close.”

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Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: jamal+mayers, john+davidson, trades,

St. Louis Extends Larry Pleau to 2010

by Alanah McGinley on 05/29/08 at 06:55 PM ET
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From the St. Louis Blues,

St. Louis Blues President John Davidson announced today the club has extended the contract of Sr. Vice President and General Manager, Larry Pleau through the 2009-10 season. Davidson also announced the club has named Doug Armstrong as Blues Vice President of Player Personnel. He will assume the General Manager duties beginning in 2010.

“Larry has been very valuable to this organization for many years,” said Davidson. “Under his watch we have locked up our young players with long term deals and continue to stockpile many up and coming prospects. Doug’s accomplishments in Dallas are quite impressive, with two Western Conference titles, two President’s Trophies and a Stanley Cup.

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: doug+armstrong, john+davidson, larry+pleau,

Juggling Executives in St. Louis

by Alanah McGinley on 05/15/08 at 11:07 AM ET
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From Jeremy Rutherford at Morning Skate at STLtoday.com,

On Wednesday, John Davidson acknowledged that the Blues are talking to Dave Nonis about joining the team’s management staff. This seemed a bit odd since Nonis, recently fired as the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, is looking to resurface as a GM and has been linked to the vacancy in Toronto.Is Larry Pleau going somewhere? The answer is “No” and “Yes.”

Pleau, who’s been in the Blues’ GM chair for 10 years, will enter the final month of his contract in June. While it might seem that the Blues are about to relinquish Pleau of his duties or re-assign him within the organization to make room for a guy like Nonis, that is not the case. At least not yet.

Davidson says the Blues need another set of eyes in the sky.

continued...

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: dave+nonis, john+davidson, larry+pleau,

Blues Futures

by Alanah McGinley on 05/14/08 at 10:53 AM ET
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From Jeremy Rutherford at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

[T.J.] Oshie, 21, is expected to make the opening-day roster and infuse some offensive skill on a team that finished tied for 27th in the NHL in goals last season with 205.

The Blues also announced Tuesday the signing of forward Lars Eller, the 13th overall pick in last summer’s draft. Eller will be in camp but is likely to begin next season in Peoria or in Sweden.

“This is the whole program here ... this is our future,” Blues President John Davidson said. “We need our veterans really bad next year. But the kids are going to move forward as the season goes along. It’s going to be fascinating.”

more...

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: john+davidson, lars+eller, t.j.+oshie,

Blues Talk

by Paul on 01/11/08 at 11:02 AM ET
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Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch did a live Q & A with John Davidson and Blues fans....

Do the blues have any interest in acquring a more experienced Goalie like Curtis Joseph to backup goaltender Manny Legace if he would go down with an injury? Thanks for your time.

Jeremy Rutherford (typing for J.D.): No. We feel stronogly about Manny finishing the season the way he’s played all season. We feel that Hannu Toivonen has earned the opportunity. He’s a great teammate. He’s above .500.

much, much more…

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: John+Davidson,

Toivonen: Past & Future

by Alanah McGinley on 12/07/07 at 01:43 PM ET
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From Jeremy Rutherford at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

“He’s a young guy, and he’s big,” Blues President John Davidson said. “He has good work habits, and he’s a good person. We expect him to be a really good goalkeeper, and he is. He’s a pup, but there’s a future there.”

It was less than eight years ago that Toivonen chose hockey over soccer, a difficult decision that changed his life for good.

“I was like 15 or 16, and there were two camps at the same time,” Toivonen said. “There was a soccer camp, the top select camp in my area, and there was a (Finnish) national team camp for hockey.

“The hockey guys basically laid it out to me. They said, ‘If you go to soccer, catch you later.’ I just decided to go to hockey. I thought I had a better chance making it as a hockey player where I was from ... because of the money and support that was being put into hockey. I don’t think I ever played a soccer game after that.”

more...

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: hannu+toivonen, john+davidson, st.+louis+blues,

Hot Blues

by Paul on 12/03/07 at 08:00 PM ET
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from the CP,

The Blues, who play the Flames on Tuesday and the Oilers on Friday, are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and playing some of the best hockey in the league right now.

“We, as a team, feel we can play with anybody,” Blues president John Davidson told The Canadian Press on Monday. “And we should feel that way. Last year we were just hoping to survive and stay in the hunt as long as we could. This year it’s different.”

The 15-8-1 Blues sit fourth in the tightly contested Western Conference, making a major statement two months into the season after missing the playoffs two straight years.

“And we’re going to be around for a long time,” said Davidson. “We’ve got eight players 24 and younger. So we’re going in the right direction. We feel good about the way we play the game, we feel good about the way we’re committed. Our team is well prepared.”

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: john+davidson, st.+louis+blues,