Columbus Blue Jackets President John Davidson leaves the leagues legal offices following the NHL Board of Governors meeting on Dec. 5, 2012 in New York City.(Photo: Bruce Bennett, Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — While the Columbus Blue Jackets still have to sort out who they are on the ice in the post-Rick Nash era, they are not a team that lacks identity.
They are team President John Davidson’s Blue Jackets, a distinction that might mean as much to the franchise as a 35-goal scorer.
Davidson’s hiring last fall brought a layer of credibility and confidence to a franchise that was lacking in both. Davidson previously had been with the St. Louis Blues, where he was commander-in-chief during a complete overhaul of the franchise.
When Davidson went to the Blues in 2005, they ranked last in the NHL in points and 27th in attendance. When Davidson was let go by new ownership last summer, the Blues ranked second in the NHL in points and ninth in attendance.
“It’s one brick at a time, and there are a lot of bricks in this joint,” Davidson said of his new challenge.
Davidson’s arrival is like hiring a big-name architect to head up a company that has had trouble building a lasting foundation. With Davidson in charge, the hope is that Columbus staff and players will have the confidence to start hitting the nail on the head with greater regularity.
The Blue Jackets have made the playoffs once in their 12 seasons. During that span, they have never finished higher than seventh in the Western Conference. They ranked 27th in attendance last season, down about 3,000 fans a game from their early years as a franchise.
But Davidson’s message from the day he took office as president was that he was focusing on tomorrow, not yesterday. Fans seem to be buying what Davidson is selling because there appears to be considerable enthusiasm about the team this season in Columbus. An overflow crowd attended the team’s first day of training camp, a noteworthy occurrence considering that the general perception was fans were more discouraged last season than at anytime in Blue Jackets history.
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“This club is better than it showed last year, but how good we are I don’t know,” Davidson said. “I go in open-minded.”
The strength of Davidson’s managerial style is his personality and positive approach. He has seen the NHL through a variety of different perspectives, starting as a player, then as a broadcaster and finally in management.
When he was a broadcaster, he had a knack for being able to provide insightful, critical analysis without ever making anyone angry. It’s a skill that he also uses in management, always setting a positive tone.
He says the building project in Columbus is similar to what he faced in St. Louis, except “the defense is stronger than what we started with in St. Louis.”
The Blue Jackets have a respected top four defensive corps that includes Jack Johnson, James Wisniewski, Fedor Tyutin and Nikita Nikitin.
“Defense gives you a chance,” Davidson said. “If our goaltending holds up, which I think it will, I think we will have a chance because we will be able to keep the puck out of our net.”
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in the offseason, has a .917 save percentage in his first two seasons.
Davidson considered retirement or returning to broadcasting last summer when he was out of work. But when he looked at the Columbus situation, it looked like a winning proposition despite its history of losing.
“Everything here is good except we haven’t won enough on the ice,” Davidson said. “It reminded me of St. Louis. It’s a great city. The facility is excellent. It’s a destination city with great restaurants. Ownership is very solid. There was nothing not to like except we have to be better on the ice.”
He says the plan in Columbus will be similar to that of St. Louis, meaning he will insist on stockpiling young assets.
“There is no easy fix, no quick fix,” Davidson said.
He understands the fans’ impatience because of the long history of losing. He expects they will regain their patience provided the team shows progress. He points out that the city already has established how much it appreciates the NHL being there.
“It’s a (Ohio State) Buckeye town, no question about that,” Davidson said. “But they are starving for hockey to do well. … They want credibility for the city of Columbus.”
This is a franchise with a history of compounding its mistakes by dwelling on them and making short-term fixes. That’s not how Davidson operates. When he’s driving to the top, he doesn’t use his rearview mirror very often.
“I can study the south side of things and learn from history,” Davidson said. “But it’s my job to keep pushing north.”
