Richie was the Bon Jovi sound. Lets not fool ourselves here. Jon was the commercial showman who sold the records but Richie was the soul that kept people coming back.

Tico and David are replaceable but Richie is not. I don't know much about guitar work but hearing Phil and his terrible tone and workman like guitar playing makes me realise how great Richie was.

Removing Richie from the equation is like taking tomato sauce out of a bolognese and still calling it bolognese.

So yeah, he'd save it.