The Carson Soucy experiment is not working

A sloppy start to the season only got worse Tuesday night, as the Blue Jackets simply got exposed by the Florida Panthers.

After Columbus was up 1-0 at the end the first period, the Panthers scored six straight goals, and the game was pretty much over after that, even with a late push that resulted in two goals for the Jackets.

Carson Soucy has not been the steady presence Columbus was hoping for

It's hard, and maybe even unfair, to single out one player for the struggles so far. However, after originally joining the team on a PTO, Carson Soucy has looked out of his league through five games with the Blue Jackets.

This was especially obvious last game, as he made a brutal mistake to give the Panthers the first goal of the game, which ended up opening the floodgates.

It was simply a head-scratcher, as he was facing minimal pressure from the forecheck, and flipped the puck right to Matthew Tkachuk instead of moving it to an open Blue Jacket.

As a veteran of 446 NHL games, there is no excuse to make such a rushed, poorly executed play. However, it's just one mistake, and we can look past that.

The Panthers did have four power plays, so picking apart the defense is again a bit unfair. But on the first of these penalty kills, Soucy got frantic, out of position, and failed to break up a pass right to the low slot area.

Then, he took an unexplainable high sticking penalty where he had his stick in the air and made contact with a player who wasn't near the puck.

Combine that performance with the underwhelming (at best) performance from the previous four games, and there's no reason Carson Soucy should be in the lineup for the foreseeable future.

Even with the injuries, there are better options

I know the defense is thin right now, with Dante Fabbro and Ivan Provorov both out with injury, but Emil Andrae is a much better option right now. Carson Soucy undoubtedly has the size advantage, but that's where the list of his benefits ends for me.

He currently has a 43.1% on-ice expected goals percentage at 5-on-5, a drop by about 15% from when he isn't on the ice. On the other hand, Andrae has an almost even 49.8% in the same metric, according to MoneyPuck.

Columbus may not like throwing Andrae out there on the penalty kill, but that's no excuse at this point. Soucy caused one penalty and was a big reason for one of the failures on another.

I have no doubts that Andrae can hold down the fort until one of the two defenders I mentioned is ready to return. And if you want size, look no further than Guillaume Richard, who has proven to be an excellent defender and already has four points in four AHL games this season.

We are big fans of Richard here, but that's not even what I'm asking for. Soucy had a rough performance, and he simply doesn't have the upside to leave him in. Whether it's Andrae, Richard, or even someone else, Soucy cannot be in the lineup Saturday against the Rangers.