John Davidson Inks Multi-Year Extension

In an age in sports where your job last as long as you’re successful, it’s rare to see long terms pieces in an organization. Be it players like Niklas Lidstrom in Detroit or Daniel Alfredsson in Ottawa, many different players will play for more than just one organization over the span of their careers.

Same goes with coaches and general managers. Barry Trotz for instance is the only coach that the Nashville Predators have ever seen. On the other hand, the Tampa Bay Lightning have gone through their handful of coaches in recent years. From Barry Melrose to Rick Tochett, to now Guy Boucher.

For the front office staff, you see more long term commitments, though sometimes, again with Tampa’s front office staff and the same with Dallas, it takes time to find the right people for the job.

St. Louis signed John Davidson five years ago when Dave Checketts first purchased the Blues. He was the first brought in and many questioned if a t.v. broadcaster would be the man for the job.

Starting by signing Manny Legace, Jay McKee, Bill Guerin, Radek Dvorak and Martin Rucinsky in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Finishing well below average, in the 2007-08 season, he made a lung, signing one of the biggest free agents on the market, Paul Kariya.

While it was succesful in season one with St. Louis as Kariya notched 65 points (16 goals, 49 assists) in 82 games that season, the rest of his career with St. Louis was poor. He played only 11 games in the 2008-09 season and while playing 75 games in 2009-10, he recorded a minimal 43 points and due to post concussion symptoms hasn’t played since.

While it the Kariya signing put butt in the seats, it didn’t put the Blues in the post-season which has only happened once since Davidson took over.

The key for Davidson and this franchise has been it’s drafting and trades.

Dealing Dennis Wideman for Brad Boyes proved spectacular at first when Boyes tallied 43 goals playing with Paul Kariya. Eventually, Boyes was dealt to Buffalo after back-to-back disappointing seasons. The front office somehow got value for Boyes, which was surprising giving his play on the ice the last two seasons.

Dealing Bill Guerin, Doug Weight, and Keith Tkachuk, picking up extra picks that would result in some of the top talent on the Blues today. With the picks acquired in the deals sending Guerin to San Jose, Weight to Carolina, and Tkachuk to Atlanta landed the Blues picks to get T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund, and Ian Cole.

A few trades at the draft and the Blues grabbed Lars Eller, David Perron, and more recently, Vladimir Tarasenko.

Davidson brought in Doug Armstrong to replace the retiring Larry Pleau and early on it’s looked successful as ‘Army’ has traded for Matt D’Agostini, Vladimir Sobotka, and Jaroslav Halak. Davidson’s decisions has looked amazing trade wise.

Extending his contract is a very smart move for the Blues as it not only ensure he stays with the club but it is also attractive to potential buyers. With the Blues ownerships issues up in the air, having a guy who is genuinely well liked all around the league can only help your cause.

Overall, I really like this move by Checketts to extend Davidson and I think it’s going to do a lot more good than it will bad for the St. Louis Blues.