Unless you go to Nationwide Arena only because you like pizza (in the morning, every day, in the evening, any way), odds are you've noticed the Columbus Blue Jackets have had some issues at center this year.
First, the team stitched together a roster heavy on wingers and short on centers, likely with the hope that one of the former could be part of a deal for a really good one of the latter. The name bandied about most was Matt Duchene, the Colorado centerman who was then traded to Ottawa earlier this year.
Then, the centers on the roster have had their own set of issues. Alexander Wennberg, Brandon Dubinsky and Lukas Sedlak all have missed time because of injury and have battled inconsistent play, though the emergence of Pierre-Luc Dubois and the willingness of Nick Foligno to pitch in in the middle have helped some.
Now the team faces a longer-term issue as Dubinsky suffered facial injuries in a late fight Tuesday against Edmonton, leaving him out six to eight weeks.
So where do the Jackets go from here? How about acquiring a familiar name in Derick Brassard? The Ottawa center could be on the market as the Senators fight through a disastrous start. Is a move like this the right one for the Jackets?
1st Ohio Battery's Jeff Svoboda and Dan Dukart debate.
Svoboda's Take: Plus
I've said all year the team needs to figure out this forward situation. There's so many wingers that there's no room for Sonny Milano, and the center depth has been tenuous all season. So a move for Brassard wouldn't just be a short-term fix with Dubinsky out but also provide key depth at a position where the Blue Jackets need it (in case you doubt that, Jordan Schroeder skated as the team's fourth-line center in the immediate aftermath of the Dubinsky injury before Boone Jenner eventually got the nod to work in the middle).
So the next question is, does Brassard fit? So far this year with the Sens, he's posted seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points in 31 games even while fighting through a recent goal-scoring drought, so he's still got something to deliver a team. He's been used heavily in the offensive zone (56.4 percent oZS%) but boasts possession metrics above 50 percent, so he's been part of units holding their own out there.
On the salary cap front, he's signed for a cap hit of $5 million a year over the next two seasons, so it's not like he'd come cheap (though he would fit into this year's salary structure). I'd also argue that this Blue Jackets team is in win-now mode, with a two-year window in which the team has a real chance to make some noise before the contracts of Artemi Panarin, Zach Werenski and Sergei Bobrovsky (among others) come due. So while $5 mil is a little expensive and makes signing next year's free agents a bit of a sticky situation, I think you could rationalize that given where the team is right now. Again, this group is calling out for a center.
Then there's two big questions: Would he want to come to Columbus, and would the Sens want to trade him? On the first part, our intel seems to indicate the answer is yes, so there's a start. Brassard has played for Tortorella before in New York, and it likely doesn't hurt the Blue Jackets are in a much better spot right now than the Senators, who made the Eastern Conference finals last year but sit just 11-13-7 right now with the third-worst goal differential in the East. That also likely puts Ottawa in a mode where the team has to be looking at trades, and swapping out a 30-year-old center with a moderately big contract for some potential youth might be an attractive scenario.
Is it perfect? The contract is a little too high to say that, but again, this is a team whose chips are in the center (no pun intended) of the table. Fixing what has been legitimate problem this season has to be a priority, and it's why someone like Brassard has to be an attractive option for Columbus.
Dukart's Take: Minus
Jeff, you make some excellent points. Clearly this team is lacking depth (and talent, frankly) at the center position. Secondly, your point about Milano being wasted in the lineup is well taken. A good team with a surplus of talent on the wings but a lack of depth down the middle makes it easy to play armchair GM.
However, I have a hard time convincing myself Brassard is the solution to the Blue Jackets' problem.
As productive as Brassard was in last year's playoffs (19 GP, 4-7-11), he's topped the 50 point mark just twice in his 12-year career (2014-15 and 2015-16). This year, he's on pace for 49 points, which is a solid year for the majority of NHLers, but not exactly the ceiling of a player the Blue Jackets covet.
Would he be an upgrade for the Blue Jackets in their current environment? No question. But I always ask myself when projecting these trades, would I feel good about this player matching up in a seven-game series against the NHL's elite (read: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin)? My answer was no, and to be fair, there's not many players in the world that can match up well against those two. But I went back and looked at Ottawa's Game 6 and Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Penguins to see what Senators coach Guy Boucher thought.
In Game 6, Brassard played the eighth-most minutes among Senators forwards. That's third line minutes. In Game 7, he played the seventh most. When push came to shove, the Sens didn't think of Brassard as a top-six forward.
Brassard's $5 million cap hit is reasonable for a player of his ilk, but is a hefty number for the Blue Jackets to take on without trading away significant salary.
The Blue Jackets have the pieces to make it happen, but after next season, the Jackets will be left without the assets it took to acquire Brassard as well as Brassard, himself. The then-soon-to-be-32-year-old will be a UFA, and with Panarin, Bobrovsky, Werenski, etc. pending free agents, it's unlikely that Brassard would be retained.
Lastly, there's the question regarding what it would take to trade for Brassard. The Jackets would be forced to part ways with coveted prospects and likely draft picks. On the one hand, GM Jarmo Kekalainen built the Blue Jackets through the draft and the organization possesses an impressive stable of prospects. On the other hand, depleting the proverbial cupboard for one and a half years of a second line center seems wasteful.
I'm a fan of Derrick Brassard's game. He's a solid NHLer that would make the Blue Jackets better, no question. I'm just not convinced the return is worth the risk.
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