Listen, I get it. We publish this headline every few months, and it's usually yours truly. Some of you have poked fun at us for constantly talking about a former 4th-round, seemingly low-ceiling defensive prospect that spent four years in college and only just made his professional debut last year.
But let us let go of any of the humor and smiles for a moment. It's time to be serious.
Guillaume Richard legitimately has the potential to be exactly what the Columbus Blue Jackets need in their bottom four on defense.
Ivan Provorov looks to be out longer term than what I assumed might be just a single week originally. Jake Christiansen regretfully has been as bad as last season so far this campaign, with zero points, a -2 rating, and a 12th-percentile net game impact per HockeyStatCards. Carson Soucy has struggled recently while Emil Andrae has rode the pine the past few nights.
While Zach Werenski, Damon Severson, and Denton Mateychuk continue to be what the CBJ need in their top three, the rotating set of musical chairs among the bottom four not named Erik Gudbranson (who has been, mostly, what the Jackets need him to be) is unacceptable, and has been especially bad on Special Teams.
The Jackets are third to last in goals against on the penalty kill in the NHL (7) and also third to last in PP goals for (2). For a team that relies heavily on its defense to both, well, defend and create offense on 5v5 as much as on special teams, these numbers are unacceptable.
If only the Jackets had a defenseman that has proven at every level that he's exactly what they need... wait.
You can see where I'm going with this.
The Jackets could use Guillaume Richard
We're not joking around anymore. It is, at the very least, a head-scratcher as to why Guillaume Richard is not in Columbus, and at the worst, organizational ineptitude.
In his 96 games in Cleveland, regular and postseasons, so far, Richard has a 14-16-30 line, with a +28 rating with only 45 penalty minutes.
I usually don't care much about the plus/minus rating, unless it's in either direction of the extremes. For a guy that averages only around 0.30 points per game, a plus 28 rating is outlandish. But if you watch Cleveland Monsters hockey, you can see almost immediately why he has so much success when he's on the ice.
Richard carries a great all-around defensive skillset. He has a relatively large frame that he doesn't necessarily throw around extensively, but has shown great body control with when boxing out and holding off rush chances under dire circumstances.
He plays with an intelligent stick that always seems to be in the passing lane. He also excels at zone exits, and commits very few bad turnovers. His hockey intelligence reminds me a bit of Zach Werenski-not in terms of the "able to slow down the game" ability that Z possesses which allows him to put up 80 points a year, but purely from the standpoint of he always seems to make the right reads when his team needs him to.
Frankly, Richard reminds me a lot of a young David Savard: not overly physical but a guy that clogs up shot and passing lanes and thrives in the defensive zone-based forecheck and zone exits. He's exactly the type of player the CBJ need with the big club if they hope to make the postseason.
There are no excuses left. It's time to call up Guillaume Richard.
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