The Canadiens annually honour a player who was the team’s unsung hero, the one who had the biggest impact without getting the proper recognition.



This season the recipient of the Jacques Beauchamp Trophy was Phillip Danault and he couldn’t have been more deserving.



But if the voting were opened up to all members of the Canadiens, not just the players, Danault might have had some competition.



This person had an impact on the team in every single game without most people even realizing it. We marveled as unproven players were shuffled in and out of the Canadiens patchwork defence, at the massive improvement of Jordie Benn from a season ago, at Victor Mete’s continued growth while playing in the most difficult of roles, at Brett Kulak grabbing a top-4 role and never letting go and yet the reason behind all those things happening almost never gets discussed.



Yes, Luke Richardson is the epitome of unsung. The Canadiens new defence coach...