Rosen, Davidson ready to reunite for one last call of Rangers game 

John Davidson has been doing his homework.

The Hall of Fame broadcaster and longtime NHL executive has been watching the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. He's been talking to people who know each team well, including former Flyers coach John Tortorella.

Basically, Davidson has been doing what he did for 20 years, from 1986-2006, preparing to call a Rangers game on television with Sam Rosen, which is exactly what he will be doing for one final time Wednesday.

Rosen and Davidson, best known to Rangers fans as "Sam and J.D." during their two decades together on MSG Networks, will be back in the broadcast booth together at Madison Square Garden to call the game between the Rangers and Flyers for TNT (7:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, TVAS).

Rosen is retiring at the end of this season after 40 years of being the television voice of the Rangers. Davidson, who shifted into an executive role in 2006, is living in Florida and is a senior advisor in the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey operations department.

"Sam has had such a great career and a great season," Davidson said. "We're very good friends because our working relationship grew into a friendship, family wise and everything. This is going to be like going to see a hockey game at the NHL level with one of your best friends. It doesn't get any better than that."

The idea to call the game together was first floated to Rosen and Davidson by the NHL and TNT as a way for the League and its national broadcast partner to join in on the celebration of Rosen's last season as the full-time television voice of the Rangers.

It's a run that started in the 1984-85 season. He announced his retirement effective the end of this season on Aug. 13, 2024.

"John and I are still very close, we stay in touch all the time and our wives are in touch," Rosen said. "We've remained very close friends so when the idea was floated out there it was something that excited both of us and it's come to fruition. We're really looking forward to it. I talked to John (Saturday) and he's preparing like we're doing any other game. He says, 'I've talked to 'Torts' and I've got some ideas.' John, he goes to something like this at 120 percent, so he'll be ready to go and I'm looking forward to it."

All season it's been a whirlwind final tour through the League for Rosen. He's been getting gifts and acknowledgments for his Hall of Fame hockey broadcasting career wherever he's gone with the Rangers.

Jon Cooper gave him a bottle of wine he hopes to share with the Tampa Bay Lightning coach after the Rangers play at Amalie Arena on April 17.

Former Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, now with the Anaheim Ducks, gave Rosen one of his paintings.

Minnesota Wild forward Mats Zuccarello wore a special jersey to honor Rosen in warmups at Madison Square Garden on April 2. It had the No. 40 on the back and ROSEN for the nameplate.

The Rangers honored Rosen with a special ceremony before their game against the Vancouver Canucks on March 22. They called it "Salute to Sam" and celebrated him throughout the game.

But getting to call a game with Davidson one last time is not something he thought would be possible because the NHL's rightsholders have their regular broadcasters; Rosen isn't one of them and Davidson hasn't been a regular in the booth in 19 years.

"When I got the call from the producer, Kevin Brown, then I knew it was real," Rosen said. "First, I was waiting and wondering, were they just throwing feelers out and might they not do the game because the Flyers aren't in the playoff picture and the Rangers have been up and down, but at that point when the call came, I knew, 'OK, we're doing the game, let's go.'

"This is a real special moment. It's an addition you didn't know was going to happen."

Rosen and Davidson last called a Rangers game together on April 29, 2006. It was Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils that ended New York's 2005-06 season in a sweep.

Davidson, known for his signature ‘Oh Baby’ call while with the Rangers, left the broadcast booth after that season to become an NHL executive, first with the St. Louis Blues, then the Rangers and finally the Columbus Blue Jackets. He transitioned into a senior adviser role with the Blue Jackets after last season.

But he has called five Blue Jackets games this season with Steve Mears on FanDuel Sports Network Ohio. He watches games nightly, including regularly taking in Rosen's call on the Rangers' broadcasts.

"This is another great example of our terrific partnership with our national rightsholders, as we are constantly brainstorming unique and creative approaches to our broadcasts," NHL president of content, events and productions Steve Mayer said. "We wanted to celebrate Sam Rosen's incredible career and thought that there could be no more fitting way than by reuniting him with his longtime partner and fellow Hall of Famer, John Davidson. This will be a celebration for the entire NHL and particularly special for New York hockey fans. And we are delighted that TNT embraced the opportunity to give this duo the microphones for the night."

Rosen and Davidson expect to seamlessly fall back into their old ways as Sam and J.D.

"I don't see why we wouldn't," Davidson said. "We're just going to go there and call a game that's hopefully a really good hockey game and just have fun doing it."

That's what they did for two decades. They were the voices of the Rangers when they won the Stanley Cup in 1994. They were there in the lean times, like when the Rangers missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for seven straight seasons from 1998-2004.

"When you've got a broadcaster there for 40 years, there's generations of Rangers fans that grew up listening to that voice," Davidson said. "It's a very important part of the fabric of sports. People identify a lot with that voice. I still have people come up to me and say, 'J.D., thanks for teaching me the game.' In fact, I went for an MRI today and I was going in and a Rangers fan was right there and he told me I taught him the game. It's just great. People remember. Times change, of course, but people remember. There's a bond there. There's a tremendous bond. The broadcasters, if they're doing their jobs, they're the conduit between the fan and the team."

Rosen has been for 40 years, half that time spent with Davidson. His mic will turn off after this season, but for one last time it'll be Sam and J.D. together in the broadcast booth and the Rangers on the ice at Madison Square Garden.

"I just want us to have fun," Davidson said. "I don't want at all to be the center of any attention, the game should be, but we'll do our best to have people enjoy the broadcast. It'll be fun. It'll be a great deal of fun."