Hi Blue Algae,
With the needle breaking often, and the threader being miss-aligned, I suspect you're right about the needle bar. It may have been knocked out of alignment. There are 3 needle bar timing positions to check. It could be knocked up or down, or front to back, or too close or too far away from the hook.
If you put a new needle in and turn the handwheel, you can see where the needle goes into the needle plate hole. You can tell if it is too far forward or backward -- it should be centered.
To check if the needle bar has been knocked up or down is a bit more tricky. You remove the needle plate and bobbin case, put your needle in the far left position, and watch where the hook meets the eye of the needle. The hook point should meet the top of the eye, or just above the eye.
Another timing setting is needle/hook distance. There should only be a 1 thread space between the needle and the hook, and they shouldn't be crashing together.
Another thought... with the needle getting wedged tightly, there may be something stuck in the hole. If the needle can't go all the way up, that throws off the timing -- the needle position is too low.
Generally, you can tell if the timing is off by sewing a zig-zag stitch. If it skips on one side, you know the timing is off. You may have to sew 12" to 18" for a skip to show up. If you find that any of these timing settings are off, you shouldn't try to adjust them yourself. It's time to take the machine to the shop.
Please let me know what you find.