Since the dawn of the franchise, the Blue Jackets have searched high and low -- spending No. 1 draft picks, making ill-advised trades, and throwing money at free agents -- to find centers who possess the skill and jam to play a top-six role in the NHL.

It has brought them to today, where those roles are filled by Antoine Vermette and Derick Brassard, two highly skilled players who will admit to learning on the job.

It's not an easy education, and it raises the question: Will Brassard and Vermette ever provide the Blue Jackets with strong enough play to compete with the top clubs in the league? In the NHL, the most dynamic teams -- San Jose, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Washington, etc. -- have superb play down the middle of the ice.

You can even look at tonight's opponent, the Los Angeles Kings, whose ascension to a playoff-caliber club began with the emergence of No. 1 center Anze Kopitar. And the Blue Jackets cannot forget how they were exposed at center by Detroit in the playoffs last spring, although Brassard was injured at the time.

"It's one of the hardest spots on the ice to play," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "When you're that high in the lineup, every mistake gets magnified. Antoine and Derick are both improving a lot, but they're going up against really experienced players. And it's tough."

Vermette is an NHL veteran, and though he played mostly on the wing in his five seasons with the Ottawa Senators, he calls center his natural position.

"It's not the position that is new, it's the role," Vermette said. "It's the added responsibility that is the biggest adjustment."

Vermette went up against opponents' top players in Ottawa, too. As a third-line checking winger, he was charged with shutting them down. But since he was acquired by the Jackets at the trade deadline last March, he has been thrust into a top-six center's role, where he is expected to produce points and keep captain Rick Nash happy and well-fed with pucks.

"It's a challenge," Vermette said, "but it's the challenge I've always wanted."

Hitchcock has toyed with several players next to Nash, but he keeps coming back to Vermette, who -- with 16 goals and 25 assists -- is just 12 points short of a career high.

"It has been leaps and bounds better since even the start of the season," Hitchcock said. "He's got a way to go -- he knows that -- but he's shown unbelievable improvement. A top-line guy always plays with tempo. And Antoine is getting there where he sets the tempo. But when you're a top-six guy, you're counted on every night to do everything."

Brassard was pegged as the No. 1 center at the start of the season but hasn't been seen next to Nash (outside of a handful of shifts) since the third week of the season.

He's 22 years old, still growing into a man and, Hitchcock believes, still working off the rust of a long-term injury last season. It's no shame to say that Brassard isn't ready to go toe-to-toe with Joe Thornton, Henrik Sedin or Pavel Datsyuk.

"Some guys I've been able to play against, and some guys I haven't," Brassard said. "They're not just bigger, but really fast and quick. Yeah, I was getting discouraged a little bit. But I feel like I'm starting to put some good games together now. It's as good as I've felt all season."

Brassard was good Tuesday in a 3-2 win over Nashville, even though he played just 12 1/2 minutes.

"You can't get past the fact that he's playing every night against 27-, 28- or 30-year-old men," Hitchcock said. "Where is he going to be in three seasons? People are going to say the same things about Derick that they say now about the people he goes up against."

aportzline@dispatch.com