Sabres hire John Davidson as senior advisor
The Buffalo Sabres have added John Davidson to their front office as a senior advisor, the club announced Monday afternoon.
Davidson, 73, has spent the past two decades working in NHL front offices, including 18 seasons serving as president of hockey operations for the St. Louis Blues (2006-2012), Columbus Blue Jackets (2012-2019, 2021-2024), and New York Rangers (2019-2021).
The move reunites Davidson with Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, with whom he worked during his previous tenures in St. Louis and Columbus. Davidson hired Kekalainen as GM of the Blue Jackets in 2014, bringing him over from his previous role as AGM with the Blues.
“I am thrilled to welcome John Davidson to the Sabres as a senior advisor,” Kekalainen said in a statement on Monday. “John and I have a strong working relationship that we have developed over many years. His experience leading multiple organizations, combined with his player evaluation skills and relationships around the NHL, make him a great fit for this role. He will lend his expertise and guidance to all areas within the hockey department as we aim to continue to improve our club.”
A goaltender during his playing career, Davidson appeared in 301 NHL games over parts of 10 seasons with the Blues and Rangers between 1973-74 and 1982-83. He is one of only two players in NHL history to wear jersey No. 00.
Upon his retirement due to injury in 1983, Davidson immediately became a broadcaster for the MSG Network. He served as Sam Rosen’s primary color commentator for Rangers games from 1986 to 2006, ultimately becoming highly popular with fans around the league. He was on the mic when the Rangers broke their 54-year Stanley Cup drought in 1994; years later, he remarked he’d “seen it all” after Marek Malik scored one of the most iconic shootout goals in NHL history at Madison Square Garden. In 2009, Davidson was named the winner of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award.
Davidson left the broadcast booth in 2006 to rejoin the Blues organization, this time as team president. He oversaw the beginning of the Blues’ rise to prominence, where they would remain for much of the 2010s. After parting ways with the Blues in 2012, Davidson began his first stint with the Blue Jackets that same year; he briefly left for the Rangers in 2019, but returned to Columbus in 2021.
The Sabres have been one of the NHL’s most active teams this offseason after ending their 15-year playoff drought in the spring. Davidson is now the third executive with NHL GM experience in Buffalo’s front office, joining Kekalainen and Marc Bergevin.
