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NHL Lockout Updates: Bad News, Good News?

John Shannon reported on Twitter that today that the NHL will announce the cancelation of the remainder of the pre-season. Jackets fans can remove all games from their calendar through the road opener on October 13th in Chicago.

As the lockout rolls on with no news of any progress, things could start getting ugly soon as we’re approaching the territory of losing regular season games. Even if hockey is saved before any regular season games are lost, losing valuable pre-season time will surely hurt clubs. The Blue Jackets aren’t even sure who is going to start in goal, and now there is officially no time left to figure that out.

Meanwhile, in the not-so-bad news for Blue Jackets fans, Aaron Portzline confirms reports that St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations is stepping down.

The silver lining is that Davidson previously interviewed with Columbus, presumably to take on a similar role to that of his in St. Louis. He helped turn around an abysmal Blues team into one of the young up-and-coming powers in the West. He engaged fans and established credibility in a town that had lost it.

As Portzline points out:

…the Blue Jackets have long had a crying need for experience and cache at the top of their organization. Davidson met with majority owner John P. McConnell and president Mike Priest in May, but none involved would discuss the meeting publicly.

Whether or not this will come to fruition remains to be seen. And whether or not it matters for this NHL season is the bigger lingering question.

Update: Full pre-season cancelation is now official.

Would John Davidson be a good hire for the Blue Jackets?

Of course! 80
I’d rather not. 4