Columbus Blue Jackets: Who Will Play Alongside Jeff Carter and Rick Nash?

With the acquisition of Jeff Carter this offseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets finally have an All-Star center to play alongside Rick Nash.

Most would think that the Blue Jackets problems on the first line would be solved, but questions still remain.

The big one is who will play alongside Nash and Carter and complete the top line?

There are several options for the Blue Jackets, but the chances of seeing a shuffle before the right fit is found is more than likely.

Although no lines have been made official, the Columbus Dispatch reported the top two lines next season for the Blue Jackets will consist of Carter and Nash, as well as RJ Umberger, Kristian Huselius, Derick Brassard and Antoine Vermette.

According to head coach Scott Arniel, "We have some options now."

So let's take a look at those options and see who would be the perfect fit for the first line.

RJ Umberger

RJ Umberger, in my opinion, is the most qualified to play alongside Rick Nash and Jeff Carter on the first line.

Umberger's big selling point is his consistency.

In the three years that Umberger has played with the Blue Jackets, he did not miss one game, playing in all 246 regular season games.

Not only is Umberger consistent when it comes to staying healthy, he is also consistent on the scoreboard. In those three seasons, Umberger scored a career high 26 goals in 2008-2009, 23 in 2009-2010, and 25 last season. He also registered 32 assists in each of the past two seasons.

Everyone in the NHL knows that Carter and Nash are goal scorers and having a player that could put up 30-plus assists a season makes the Jackets' top line the most competitive it can be.

A line is not complete unless all three pieces are in place night in and night out. Umberger brings the consistency that All-Stars like Rick Nash and Jeff Carter require.

Another positive in Umberger's favor is that he is the only Blue Jacket that has experience playing alongside Jeff Carter.

The two started their NHL careers at the same time in 2005 with the Philadelphia Flyers and the two contributed to help the team reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 2008, Umberger's last season before being traded to Columbus.

Kristian Huselius

The other likely candidate being mentioned in this race is Kristian Huselius.

Huselius has shown in the past that he can put points on the board. 

In three of the last five seasons, Huselius has registered over 60 points. He did so twice with the Calgary Flames with a career high 77 in 2006-2007 and 66 the following season and once in his second year as a Blue Jacket with 63 points in 2009-2010.

However, this past season, the Swede has struggled with injuries, only playing in 39 games. Huselius struggled with hip and groin injuries and when he was able to play, he was not 100 percent and his stats were a clear representation of that. 

Huselius finished last season only registering 14 goals and nine assists, with a plus/minus rating at an abysmal -17.

If Huselius is healthy in the upcoming year, there is nothing stopping him from playing alongside Nash and Carter and making an impact when the pressure is on this team to contend after their very busy offseason.

However, if he is not completely healed, coach Scott Arniel could be looking to make a change sooner than later.

Antoine Vermette

For the first time in a long time, the Columbus Blue Jackets have depth at the center position.

With a list that includes Jeff Carter, Antoine Vermette, Derick Brassard, Samuel Pahlsson, Derek MacKenzie and prospect Ryan Johansen, there has to be an odd-man out.

If the Blue Jackets plan to keep all of these players in Columbus, chances are one of them will be moved over to the winger position. One of the players that would not have trouble in the transition would be Antoine Vermette, who has had experience playing wing.

Vermette, before being acquired by the Blue Jackets in 2009, played several games at wing for the Ottawa Senators.

However, the Blue Jackets are not concerned with who will have the easiest time making the transition to wing, they are concerned with putting the best possible team on the ice.

If that is the case, Vermette isn't going anywhere.

The Jackets need Vermette's presence at the center position, as he has won more than half his faceoffs not only last season, but in his career.

He is one of the better players at the center position, maybe even the top center until the arrival of Jeff Carter.

Vermette has proven to be a great second-line center and his impressive vision and speed should keep him there next season.

There are other centers mentioned above that would be a better fit at wing for the Blue Jackets.

Derick Brassard

One of those centers that could be better at the winger position is Derick Brassard.

Last season, Brassard centered the first line alongside Rick Nash and former Blue Jacket Jakub Voracek. Brassard recognized who was in charge on the first line and became Nash's leading assist man, finishing the season with a career-high 30 assists.

He also was able to almost double his goal total from two seasons ago, going from nine to 17 goals.

However, Brassard's true talent is dishing the puck.

Even though Brassard was drafted to be a center for the Blue Jackets, he has struggled when it comes to winning faceoffs in his time with the team, winning under 50 percent of the draws taken last season.

According to Bart Logan at HockeyBuzz.com, his size hasn't done him any favors when playing at center:

"He has never demonstrated strong defensive skills and his lack of size—though not tenacity—can make him mismatched down low in the zone. He’s a liability taking faceoff draws in the defensive zone and Umberger regularly took his draws when they were matched up on the power play as well."

Logan goes on to say that Brassard as a winger on the first line is a "no-brainer" and with a decrease in defensive responsibility could improve his play on the forecheck and show his true worth as a winger.

Other Options

Another option when it comes to the first line dilemma is not having any of the previous mentioned candidates at left wing and moving Jeff Carter.

Carter has plenty of experience at the winger position as he played a lot of his time in Philadelphia at wing because of Philadelphia's depth at the center position.

His right handed shot would be a perfect fit on the left side of the ice and Derick Brassard would have a lot of pressure taken off of him with two All-Stars playing alongside of him.

However, Carter was brought into Columbus to improve the center position on the first line, not to play on the wing.

In the past two seasons in Philadelphia, Carter won 53 percent of his faceoffs taken. 

The problems the Jackets had at center last season was why GM Scott Howson refused to accept anything less that a top-line center when he let the league know he was shopping the team's first-round draft pick. 

As mentioned earlier, Derick Brassard struggled when it came to playing center on the power play, as shown by RJ Umberger taking most of the draws when the two were lined up together.

Having a player of Carter's caliber on the power play will increase the time the Jackets spend on the forecheck and the Jackets man-advantage will actually be that, an advantage.

Not only can Carter win the faceoff consistently, he is also has the ability to score off of the draw.

On several occasions, Carter would catch his opponent off guard by shooting the puck off the draw past the unsuspecting goaltender, but Blue Jackets fans do not need to be told this, as they were a prime example of this two seasons ago in Philadelphia. 

Conclusion

Whoever the Blue Jackets choose to fill the left wing on the first line, you can almost guarantee that that player will not be Antoine Vermette or Jeff Carter.

Even though both players have had past experience at wing, the coaching staff has no plans of moving either player over the course of the season.

The race to fill the first line will be between RJ Umbeger, Kristian Huselius, and Derick Brassard.

In the end the Jackets odd man out will come down to Samuel Pahlsson and Derek MacKenzie. With Ryan Johansen's only plausible option in the NHL, the Jackets will only have room for one more center on the fourth line.

Drottar's Predicted Jackets Forward Lines:

Line 1: RJ Umberger - Jeff Carter - Rick Nash

Line 2: Kristian Huselius - Antoine Vermette - Derick Brassard

Line 3: Matt Calvert - Ryan Johansen - Dereck Dorsett

Line 4: Jared Boll - Derek MacKenzie - Maksim Mayorov