Hockey Operations

Davidson, 59, is one of hockey's most respected figures and has enjoyed a long and distinguished career that spans four decades. Prior to his successful stint with the Blues, he was the longtime analyst for New York Rangers games on Madison Square Garden Network (MSG), as well as various NHL national broadcast partners in the United States and Canada. His outstanding work during a 20-plus year broadcasting career earned him numerous honors.

In 2009, he received the prestigious Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster by The Hockey Hall of Fame and was inducted on Nov. 9, 2009. The NHL and USA Hockey honored Davidson with the Lester Patrick Award for his contributions to ice hockey in the United States in March 2004. He also won two New York Emmy Awards for "Outstanding On-Camera Achievement" in 2001 and 1995 and was part of MSG's Rangers broadcast team that won the CableACE Award for "Outstanding Live Event Coverage" in 1994.

Davidson began his broadcast career with MSG in 1983 and then spent two years on the popular "Hockey Night in Canada" from 1984-86. He rejoined MSG prior to the 1986-87 season, beginning a partnership with Rangers play-by-play announcer Sam Rosen that concluded following the 2005-06 season.

During that time, Davidson also served as NBC's analyst for the NHL All-Star Game from 1990-93 and was lead analyst for the network's hockey coverage at the 1992 (Albertville, France), 1994 (Lillehammer, Norway), 1998 (Nagano, Japan), 2002 (Salt Lake City) and 2006 (Torino, Italy) Winter Olympic Games. He worked for TBS at the 1990 Goodwill Games, contributed to ABC's coverage of the NHL in 1994 and served on the number-one broadcast team with Mike Emrick for FOX's coverage of the NHL regular season, All-Star Games and Stanley Cup Playoffs and Finals from 1995-1999.

In addition, his work included several All-Star Games and Stanley Cup Finals for OLN, ESPN and SportsChannel, the 1991 Canada Cup for "Hockey Night in Canada" and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey for FX. He served as ESPN's studio analyst for the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 2005-06 season marked his final season in the broadcast booth on OLN (now NBC Sports Network) and NBC.

Davidson enjoyed a successful junior career as a goaltender with the Calgary Centennials prior to being selected by the Blues with their first pick, fifth overall, in the 1973 Entry Draft. That year, he became the first goaltender to go directly from junior hockey to the NHL as he appeared in 39 games with St. Louis during the 1973-74 season. After two years with the Blues, he joined the Rangers in June 1975 and went on to play eight seasons in New York. In 1978-79, he went 20-15-4 with a 3.52 goals-against average in 39 games and then went 11-7 with a 2.28 goals-against average in 18 playoff games to lead the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals. He was forced to retire due to injuries during the 1982-83 season.

Davidson was born on Feb. 27, 1953 in Ottawa, Ontario and raised in Calgary, Alberta. He and his wife, Diana, are the parents of two daughters, Lindsay and Ashley.

Jarmo Kekalainen was named the third general manager in Columbus Blue Jackets history on February 13, 2013. He joined the club after serving as the president and general manager of Jokerit in the Finnish Elite League since 2010. He works closely with Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations John Davidson on all hockey-related matters involving the club.

Prior to his stint with Jokerit, Kekalainen spent eight seasons with the St. Louis Blues from 2002-10. He joined the Blues as director of amateur scouting and was named assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting in 2005. In that role, he was involved in all facets of hockey operations, including professional scouting efforts and overseeing the club’s amateur scouting and draft preparations. During his eight years in St. Louis, the Blues drafted players such as David Backes, Roman Polak, David Perron, T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo.

Kekalainen was a member of the Ottawa Senators hockey operations department from 1995 to 2002 and served in a variety of roles with the club. He served as Ottawa’s director of player personnel for three years and also oversaw the amateur draft and the club’s scouting efforts in Europe. Among the players selected by Ottawa during this time were Jason Spezza, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Antoine Vermette and Ray Emery. While working with the Senators, he also served as general manager of IFK Helsinki in the Finnish Elite League from 1995 to 1999 and led the club to the league championship in 1998.

As a player, Kekalainen appeared in 55 career NHL games with the Senators and Boston Bruins during a six-year career. A left wing, he scored five goals and added eight assists for 13 points with 28 penalty minutes, including a career-high 1-5-6 and 14 penalty minutes in 28 games with the Senators during the 1993-94 season. He also played in the American Hockey League and his native Finland before wrapping up his playing career with Vasteras IK in the Swedish Elite League in 1994-95.

Before signing with the Bruins, Kekalainen played two seasons at Clarkson University from 1987-89. He was named to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference First All-Star Team after tallying 19-25-44 and 47 penalty minutes in 31 games during the 1988-89 season. He also represented Finland at the 1986 World Junior Championships and the 1991 Canada Cup Tournament.

Kekalainen was born on July 3, 1966 in Tampere, Finland. He owns a bachelor's degree in management from Clarkson University and earned a master's in business marketing from the University of Tampere. He and his wife, Tiina, are the parents of two daughters, Emilia and Sofia.

Chris MacFarland has been a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey operations department since prior to the 1999-00 NHL season and was named assistant general manager of the club in July 2008.

MacFarland assists the club in all hockey-related matters including scouting at the professional and amateur level, player contract research and negotiations, salary cap management and arbitration, collective bargaining agreement administration, budgeting and team scheduling issues.

He is also the organization’s liaison to the National Hockey League regarding matters pertaining to the collective bargaining agreement and oversees the hockey operations efforts of the club’s minor league affiliates, the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League and Evansville IceMen of the ECHL.

He originally joined the Blue Jackets in 1999, served as the club’s manager of hockey operations from 2001-07 and was promoted to the position of assistant to the general manager in July 2007. He began his career as an intern in the National Hockey League’s New York office from 1993-94 and continued to work in the league’s NHL Productions office while attending law school.

MacFarland was born on March 28, 1970, in the Bronx, New York. He played college hockey at Pace University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in business in 1992 and graduated from the university’s law school in 1998.

MacFarland and his wife, Chandra, are the parents of sons, Jake, Gavin and Sawyer, and daughter, Cara. The family resides in Powell.

His extensive international experience began as a player with the U.S. National Team (1969-71) and included the 1976 Canada Cup and numerous other tournaments. He then served as assistant general manager and assistant coach under Herb Brooks for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, which upset the heavily-favored Soviet Union squad en route to winning the gold medal in what has become known as the “Miracle on Ice.” He also served as general manager of the 2002 U.S. Olympic team, which claimed the silver medal, and the 1991 U.S. team at the Canada Cup.

Patrick began his NHL management career in 1980 when he became the director of operations for the New York Rangers. In 1981, he became the youngest general manager in Rangers history and served in that role until 1986. He led the Rangers to playoff berths in each of his five seasons and served as head coach for parts of two seasons (1980-81 and 1984-85). He was named the Penguins general manager on December 5, 1989.

Patrick played college hockey at University of Denver and helped the Pioneers to the NCAA championship in 1968 and 1969, serving as captain the latter year. He played eight NHL seasons and registered 72 goals and 91 assists for 163 points in 401 games with the California Golden Seals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals. He retired following the 1978-79 season. Patrick was born May 20, 1946 in Detroit, Michigan and is married to wife, Jamie. He has four children, daughters Erin and Taylor and sons C.J. and Ryan, and six grandchildren, Ryan, Reed, Anna, Cavan, Tatum and Declan.