Buffalo Sabres hire Columbus Blue Jackets' John Davidson as adviser

John Davidson is keeping his toe in the NHL pool, but the longtime executive and former TV analyst is no longer with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets’ senior adviser since May 2024 and president of hockey operations in two stints before that is now senior adviser for the Buffalo Sabres, who announced the hiring July 13. The move reunites Davidson, 73, with former Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, the Sabres’ GM whom Davidson hired for that role in Columbus in 2013.

Davidson also fired Kekalainen on Feb. 15, 2024, after the two signed off on the hiring of Mike Babcock as head coach, a stint that lasted just 78 days after the controversial coach was hired July 1, 2023, to succeed Brad Larsen.

Babcock resigned amid allegations that he violated players’ privacy by pressuring them to show him photos on their cellphones. It ultimately led to an investigation by the NHL Players’ Association followed by Kekalainen and Davidson taking the fall, with the former’s eventual firing and the latter moving to a senior advisory spot in May 2024 after assisting a GM search that led to the Blue Jackets hiring Don Waddell as president/GM.

Davidson’s contract ran out June 30.

“He did a great thing for this organization for a lot of years, and we thank him, obviously, for all his work and dedication because he was here, on and off, twice,” Waddell said. “So, when we decided we weren’t going to renew his contract, he got a new opportunity and that’s great for him.”

Along with his role as senior adviser, Davidson returned to the broadcast booth the past two seasons, filling the in-game analyst role during TV broadcasts that Blue Jackets analyst and former player Jody Shelley missed while working national games in Canada.

Davidson originally joined the Blue Jackets on Oct. 24, 2012, as the franchise’s first president of hockey operations and stayed in that role until May 17, 2019, when he returned to his roots with the New York Rangers in the same role as team president. Davidson, a former NHL goalie who played for the Rangers, also began his famed TV broadcasting career in New York.

After deciding to leave the TV booth, Davidson joined the St. Louis Blues on June 30, 2006, as president of hockey operations and held that role until his contract was bought out Oct. 9, 2012, just 12 days before agreeing to run the Blue Jackets’ hockey side.

Following the Rangers’ somewhat shocking decision to fire Davidson and former GM Jeff Gorten on May 5, 2021, in the middle of a successful rebuild, the Blue Jackets brought Davidson back to Columbus on May 20, 2021, with a five-year deal to reclaim his role as president of hockey operations.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Buffalo Sabres hire Columbus Blue Jackets’ John Davidson as adviser