Sharp knows Brassard's story well

Derick Brassard is a top-six talent stuck in a fourth-line role these days with the Blue Jackets. Frustration and confusion are part of his daily routine, it seems, as he seeks the trust of coach Ken Hitchcock.

"I can't think about my ice time," Brassard said, "or I just get (angry) and rattled."

One of the players who can best empathize with Brassard's situation will suit up down the hall tonight when the Blue Jackets play the Chicago Blackhawks tonight in the United Center.

Center Patrick Sharp, now one of the top offensive threats on the high-flying Blackhawks, spent three seasons in the mid-2000s trying to convince the Philadelphia Flyers that he was a full-fledged NHL talent. Hitchcock was his hard-to-impress coach.

"Yeah, I probably know a lot of what Brassard is going through right now," Sharp said.

"He's a fiery coach and he yells a lot on the bench. I had (veterans) Mark Recchi and Keith Primeau there to tell me how to deal with what's going on, how to find the message. But it's not easy."

Sharp never did become a regular with the Flyers. He was traded during the 2005-06 season to Chicago and has seen his game flourish with the Blackhawks. He's now a 30-goal scorer.

It would appear that Hitchcock was holding him back, but Sharp sees it another way. Hitchcock, he says, was building him up.

"The easy thing to do is point the finger at Hitch and say he's tough on young guys," Sharp said. "He was good for me. He taught me how to play the game the right way.

"Hitch taught me how to compete and battle every night, and those were things I wasn't doing coming out of college."

Brassard, 22, doesn't have a Recchi or a Primeau to lean on in the Blue Jackets dressing room.

"I don't really talk to any of the players about it," he said. "I just keep going."

Brassard was seen as the Blue Jackets' long-awaited No. 1 center, but he lasted only a couple weeks at the start of the season playing next to captain Rick Nash.

Since then he has bounced from line to line, currently playing — out of position, it would seem — on the No. 4 line between agitator Derek Dorsett and fighter Jared Boll. If he hopes to score, he'd better make the most of his second-unit power-play role.

In Tuesday's 4-1 loss to St. Louis, Brassard took a couple of late shifts with Nash but played less than 14 minutes. He's eighth among Blue Jackets forwards in ice time this season, averaging 14 minutes, 11 seconds. He drew 14:25 last season as a rookie.

"Sometimes you don't understand, but there's a reason why (Hitchcock) makes a decision," Brassard said. "You can't get mad. I just try to work hard with the guys I'm with.

"I have no clue sometimes. As week ago, (Hitchcock said) I was going to play in the top six for good. Now, I'm back in the top 12."

Hitchcock believes Brassard is still working his way back from missing the final 51 games last season because of a shoulder injury. But he sees similarities between Brassard and Sharp, and all young players, for that matter.

"What you're trying to institute is a work ethic," Hitchcock said. "That's what we did with Sharpy. We didn't try to overwhelm him with the details.

"When you institute a work ethic, you have a foundation that carries you through a career, through the ups and downs of scoring and not scoring."

Brassard has heard this, no doubt, a thousand times this season. As of yesterday, his head was still held high.

"I'm not thinking bad," he said. "I'm trying not to get frustrated.

"I can work hard. That's what I can control. If I work hard, everything else will take care of itself, right?"