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Todd Richards | Center

Team: Columbus Blue Jackets
Age / DOB:  (46) / 10/20/1966
Ht / Wt:  6'0' / 190
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The Columbus Blue Jackets are looking to improve their goal scoring in the off-season.
The Blue Jackets were 5-13-4 in games that they gave up more than two goals as they were only 25th in the NHL in goals scored. "It's tough to win games 2-1 every night," GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. "It's going to be easier for us to win more games if we score more goals. Skill and speed are a great part of this game, and that's an area we're going to work on this summer." The Blue Jackets have three first round picks so they do have a lot of options in the off-season. Of course having Marian Gaborik for the whole season won't hurt either. May 5 - 7:35 AM

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Date:

Todd Richards admits it was "tough" to get out of bed the day after the Columbus Blue Jackets were eliminated from postseason consideration.

The Blue Jackets were eliminated on the final day of the regular season. Richards said he's not sure if he'll watch the playoffs. "It’s going to be tough to watch. Really feeling that – 100 percent feeling, and the guys realy believe this, too – that we were a playoff team. If we had a chance, and we could have gotten there, I think we could have done something," Richards said Monday.
Apr 30 - 9:17 AM

Columbus picked up a vital 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

The Blue Jackets have just one game left in their regular season schedule and will probably need to win it in order to make the playoffs. However, if the Minnesota Wild lose their final two games in regulation, then Columbus could sneak in with an overtime/shootout loss.
Apr 26 - 9:40 AM

Detroit's 3-1 victory against Los Angeles on Wednesday shifts the pressure to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the battle for a playoff spot.

Columbus is now one point behind the eighth place Red Wings with two games left. That means that Columbus could be eliminated from playoff consideration Thursday night if they lose to Dallas and Detroit beats Nashville. Even if Nashville wins on Thursday, a loss to Dallas would be devastating to the Blue Jackets' chances of advancing to the postseason.
Apr 25 - 10:02 AM

Saturday’s season finale against Nashville is expected to sell out in Columbus.

It would be the first sellout at Nationwide Arena since the second home game of the season on Jan. 26 vs. Chicago.
Apr 24 - 10:10 AM

The Columbus Blue Jackets still have two games left in their five contests in seven days stretch.

They won the first three matches in that rough stretch, but they can't afford to let up as they're still just outside of eighth place. R.J. Umberger admitted that the schedule is tough but he added that "at this moment we're just excited to play, so bring 'em on, let's play. We want to get these five games over and get our playoff spot." They will play against the Ducks tonight.
Apr 17 - 8:37 AM

The Columbus Blue Jackets are willing to trade a first rounder for a scoring forward.

The Blue Jackets currently have three first rounders for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and see themselves as a buyer. First rounders are very valuable commodities, so there's little doubt they can get a great rental player if they wanted to. That being said, given that they're likely over performing, in part due to Sergei Bobrovsky's superb March, they should be seeking something more than a rental player if they pull the trigger on a trade at all.
Apr 1 - 12:28 PM

The Columbus Blue Jackets are now tied for the league-lead in overtime/shootout losses.

The Blue Jackets have picked up seven consolation points this season. That's allowed them to stay in the race for a playoff spot despite the fact that they've only won 13 of their 33 contests. They added another point on Tuesday with a 1-0 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
Mar 27 - 8:45 AM

Nick Foligno scored twice in a team-record 51 seconds and the Blue Jackets scored three goals in a span of 1:15 to beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 on Friday night, extending their franchise-record points streak to 12 games -- and coach Todd Richards is flying high.

"If you would have asked anybody in the hockey world they probably never would have imagined this," Richards said after his team -- last in the NHL with a 5-12-3 record on Feb. 24 -- improved to 8-0-4 since. "There were times I could sense it, you could feel it. Absolutely I have no crystal ball or anything like that, but those guys in there believe right now. That's a very powerful thing, when you believe."
Source: TSN.ca
Mar 23 - 12:54 PM

The Columbus Blue Jackets are now on an 11-game points streak.

Their run has propelled them into a tie for eighth place in the Western Conference. The goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky has been a major factor in this run, but on Tuesday they managed to provide him with four goals of support in their victory against the Nashville Predators.
Mar 20 - 8:36 AM

The Columbus Blue Jackets worked on their struggling power play in practice Monday.

While their penalty killing is fourth overall in the NHL and they have not allowed a goal in 13 games, the power play is another story as they are 28th in the NHL. "Our penalty kill has been very good all season, and you can see huge improvements 5 on 5," coach Todd Richards said. "The one area that has been a bit of a letdown has been our power play. It's not so much getting the puck into their zone, it's once we get it there. Our execution hasn't been good. We lose battles, and we aren't moving or playing fast enough to have success." It's tough to improve things this season with a compressed schedule and not too many days to practice but we shall see if Monday's practice helped.
Mar 19 - 7:46 AM

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman responded to Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman's request for clarification on when his city would host an All-Star Game.

Columbus was supposed to get the All-Star Game in 2013, but that was canceled due to the lockout. "I got a very nice letter from the mayor of Columbus, which I've responded to," Bettman said. "Because we don't know about Olympic participation (in 2014) yet, and as I think you all know in an Olympic year we don't have an All-Star game, we've got a whole host of factors that we have to look at. We know we owe Columbus a game, but we're not yet in a position to say what the timeline is. My hope is in the next couple of months, as our long-term calendar becomes a bit clearer, we'll be able to address that more specifically."
Mar 15 - 6:15 PM

With a shootout loss on Tuesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets have tied a franchise record with their eight-game points streak.

With a 10-12-5 record, the Blue Jackets are still in a bad place as far as the playoff race goes. Still, at least they're closing in on the pack, which is more than could be said for them last season.
Mar 13 - 9:51 AM

The Columbus Blue Jackets are the hottest team in the NHL.

The headline is true as the Blue Jackets have won five in a row and have points in their last seven games. They have been especially good against Detroit as Sunday's win gave them a 4-0-1 mark this season and will be looked at with disdain by Red Wing fans if Detroit does not make the playoffs.
Mar 11 - 6:44 AM

The Columbus Blue Jackets have been hit hard by injuries.

Two of their top defensemen, James Wisniewski and Jack Johnson, are currently on the injured reserve list while their top three centers, Artem Anisimov, Derick Brassard, and Brandon Dubinsky, are all sidelined. "We talked about it at the start of the year, that injuries are going to be a key," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "But you never thought it would be this many at the same time, let alone a large group of your core players. It's a challenge. But it's our job to find solutions. We have to find a way." If there's a silver lining, it's that it creates potential opportunities for young players and for a team rebuilding, that's valuable. Columbus is 5-12-3 this season and they probably wouldn't be a playoff contender even if they were healthy.
Feb 28 - 8:56 AM

Depth Charts

All Positions
PosRoleName
C1Brandon Dubinsky
2Artem Anisimov
3Ryan Johansen
4Derek MacKenzie
LW1Marian Gaborik
2Mark Letestu
3Nick Foligno
4Matt Calvert
5Colton Gillies
RW1R.J. Umberger
2Vaclav Prospal
3Cam Atkinson
4Blake Comeau
5Jared Boll
D1Jack Johnson
2James Wisniewski
3Fedor Tyutin
4Nikita Nikitin
5Adrian Aucoin
6Tim Erixon
7Dalton Prout
G1Sergei Bobrovsky
2Michael Leighton