Number:58
Age:29
Birth date:Oct. 22, 1990
Birthplace: St. Hyacinthe, Quebec
Height, weight:6-2, 229
Stats: 68 GP, 0-11-11, 2.9 point shares, 51.14 xGF% at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick
Contract:Signed through 2020-21 (one year remaining)
Quietly, David Savard has become one of the most indispensable players in Blue Jackets history.
With 557 games played in union blue, Savard is tied with teammate Nick Foligno for the third most games in franchise history. The two are 117 games behind all-time leader Rick Nash and just 14 behind teammate Cam Atkinson.
In addition, a number of CBJ records are his. With 869 blocked shots, he passed Jack Johnson for the team record in that stat category this past season. Savard is also plus-43 in his CBJ career, an all-time franchise record. While that can go down, of course, at the moment he is six clear of Artemi Panarin, who was plus-37 in two seasons in Columbus.
Not bad for the fourth-round draft pick who is now tied for being the longest tenured on-ice member of the organization with Atkinson, as both made their debuts on opening night in 2011-12.
"He's quietly been a guy that everyone looks to," Foligno said earlier this year when Savard played his 500th game with the team. "He plays hard minutes. He's gone from being an offensive defenseman to now being in more of a shutdown role and handled that as much of a pro as anyone, and he still has the flair to score some big goals and make some big plays for us."
Entering the season:Savard was expected to be Savard -- i.e., a difficult to play against defensive force who would block shots left and right. Any offense would be a bonus, but Savard was put into the lineup in pen to start the season for his ability to be tough to play against in his own zone "below the hashmarks," as head coach John Tortorella often says about him. For someone who entered the season eighth in franchise history with 489 games played, Savard was going to be counted on to be a glue guy on a new-look team.
Season recap:The oddest stat about Savard's year is that he didn't score a goal this season despite playing in 70 games.
Despite the fact he's known as a defensive defenseman, with his impressive stature and lumberjack beard, Savard was capable of putting up big numbers in juniors and even the minors, as he totaled 11 goals and 42 points in 2010-11 with Springfield of the AHL. He had averaged six goals per season the past six years, but this year, luck simply wasn't on his side despite 97 shots on net in the regular season and 20 more in the playoffs.
Still, he was one of the harder defensemen in the league to play against, especially when paired with Vladislav Gavrikov. Among defensive pairs that played at least 400 minutes with one another, Gavrikov and Savard placed 16th in the league in allowing 2.13 expected goals per 60 minutes, per MoneyPuck.com. The pairing jelled around midseason and stuck together throughout the rest of the campaign and into the playoffs.
One of the main reasons was Savard, always one of the elite shot blockers in the league, took that skill to the next level this year. Savard blocked 163 shots during the regular season, a personal best and the second most in CBJ history in a season. He added 44 more shot blocks in 10 postseason games, an average of 4.4 per contest.
