Bethany's Hockey Rants

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Brassard on the top line?

by Bethany on 09/21/08 at 10:39 AM ET
Comments (4)

This came as a bit of a shock to me yesterday, and I couldn’t wait to blog about it. Rookie, Derick Brassard, was centering a line with Nash on his left wing, and Huselius on his right. It was thought going into camp that Umberger would be centering the top line, but for now, they are trying this out. I like it a lot. Umberger is more of a second line center, Brassard has the talent to be a number one center, but it just depends on how he is developed, and we certainly don’t want to rush that like we did with Brule.

I think Brassard was pretty excited to be given the opportunity to play with those two. After one sequence the packed Ice Haus gave Nash, Brassard, and Huselius a round of applause. I wish I could have been there.

Umberger was centering a line with Voracek and Modin. Hitch said that the north-south style of game that both Voracek and Umberger play really compliment each other. If we go into the season with these two lines as our top lines (which who am I kidding, Hitch changes his lines all the time), I think we have two really solid top lines.

I like Brassard on the top line because I feel like he’s good enough to pull it off. He’s a solid player, and last season when he was with the big club he didn’t really get a chance to show us how good he could be. I like Umberger on the second line because I feel like Umberger and Voracek could have some chemistry, and it’d be good for Modin to play on a line with the younger guys.

Camp is always an exciting time for Blue Jackets fans. Every season we get hopeful, excited, and anxious to see if this season will be the one season that we make the playoffs. It could be this year with a huge roster change, and some powerful rookies we just might have what it takes to make our first post-season appearance. The fans were enthusiastic which is a great sign. Check out Bzarcher’s photos from yesterdays camp here.

Don’t forget about the meet up tomorrow at Mac’s. We will be there at around 6, and if you need the address here you go:

693 N High St,
Columbus, OH

If you need anything, shoot me an , I have a blackberry so I can answer e-mails whenever!

Filed in: Columbus Blue Jackets, Jakub-Voracek, Rick Nash | Bethanys Hockey Rants | Permalink

Comments

Thanks for linking my photos - I’m blushin’ here!

Looking forward to seeing people tomorrow.

Posted by Matt W. on 09/21/08 at 07:03 PM ET

Yay! You’re coming then?! Perfect!!

Posted by Bethany on 09/21/08 at 07:39 PM ET

Congrats!!! You were mentioned again on Puck Daddy (Yahoo) today:

“Rather interesting note from Columbus Blue Jackets camp: Rookie Derick Brassard was skating in between Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius. So maybe that whole R.J. Umberger-as-fantasy-sleeper thing needs a re-evaluation. [Bethany’s Hockey Rants]”

Posted by Rick on 09/22/08 at 12:01 PM ET

Thanks Rick!

Posted by Bethany on 09/22/08 at 01:21 PM ET