John Davidson, A Class Act
Posted 10:22 AM ET | Comments 4
With the playoffs in full swing and some excellent hockey on Versus, the St. Louis Blues have rarely been on my mind. Don't get me wrong. The team put in a solid Blue's collar effort this season and finished one position better in the standings than I had expected. More importantly, they played entertaining hockey and eliminated the ability of couch-coaches to easily predict Blue's losses. Imagine my surprise when I opened my email this week to find a message from John Davidson thanking the best fans in hockey for supporting the Blues this season. Davidson specificly praised the fan support. These are the same fans that rarely sold out the arena and showed dismal attendance figures for much of the season. Davidson's ability to remain positive, and more importantly his recognition of the importance of an effictive public relations campaign, is as important as any prospects or picks to the future of the St. Louis franchise. The fact that 9 of the 20 games in which attendance was over 18,000 came in the months of March and April, when it was increasingly apparent that the team would not make the playoffs, speaks volumes for the change in atmospher, attitude, and hope for the future that Davidson has brought to the club. The Blues may not pose a threat to any playoff teams this season, but with Davidson at the helm of the franchise I have a feeling that their absence presents more of a threat to the rest of the NHL than other teams realise. With the organization out of the playoffs Davidson is not "playing golf", he is motivating fans and making plans now that could turn the Blues from a doormat team last year into a true contender next year.
He is a class act, but he's going to have to be a magician to build two respectable scoring lines this summer with the money that he'll have to work with.
Geez deg -- what a buzz-kill.... ;)
Haha.... sorry. You know how I feel about this team.. I'm less optimistic about 2007-08 right now that I was about 2006-07 a year ago today.
As a Rangers fan, I am a John Davidson fan. You are definitely lucky to have him, and I think he will definitely do well with the franchise.