Lars Eller
“A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts.”
-- Wole Soyinka
It was shrouded in mystery.
What we know of Lars Eller being nicknamed “Tiger” is a bit sketchy. But he lived up to his nickname in 2017-2018,
and he personified the observation by the Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, that a
tiger does not shout, it acts. Eller
posted career highs in goals (18) and points (38) last season, obliterating his
previous bests (16 goals with Montreal in 2011-2012 and 30 points with the
Canadiens in 2012-2013). He also had
career highs in even-strength goals (15), power play goals (3), shots on goal
(161), and blocked shots (69) in a career-best tying 81 games played. He finished the season on a goal scoring
rush, posting 13 goals in his last 41 games.
His strong regular season performance, especially his
late-season performance, carried over into the playoffs where he scored what
might be two of the most consequential goals in Capitals history. His game-winning goal in double overtime in
Game 3 of the first round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets let the Caps
avoid going in a 0-3 hole, made especially gut-wrenching in that all three
losses would have been in overtime. One
could have envisioned a quick and quiet exit thereafter, not an uncommon theme
before the 2018 postseason for this franchise, and a purging of the roster. Then there was the last goal of the season,
the game-winner in Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights with 7:37 left in
regulation to complete a third period comeback and clinch the franchise’s first
Stanley Cup win.
Odd Eller Fact…
Lars Eller is the only center for the Caps since the
2005-2006 season to record more than 15 goals in a season while averaging less
than 16 minutes of ice time per game. He
had 18 goals last season while averaging 15:18 per game in ice time.
Bonus Odd Eller Fact…
Lars Eller had more game-winning goals in the postseason
(three) than he did in the regular season (two).
Double Bonus Odd Eller Fact…
Lars Eller had more three-point games in the postseason
(three) than he did in the regular season (one). Get the feeling this guy was clutch down the
stretch?
Fearless’ Take…
What Eller provided was another layer at depth where
successful teams need it – down the middle.
Here is what that meant to the Caps.
Eller’s 18 goals gave the Caps three centers with at least 15 goals
(Nicklas Backstrom had 21, and Evgeny Kuznetsov had 27), the only time they did
it with three full-time centers since the 2004-2005 dark season. In fact, it was the first time since the 1992-1993
season (Mike Ridley (26), Dale Hunter (20), and Michal Pivonka (21)). He is one of 28 centers in team history to record
30 goals and 30 assists for the Caps, but he is only one of three to do it
having played only two seasons with the Caps (Robert Lang and Rolf Hedberg are
the others). If he should go 20-17-37 this coming season (not impossible), he’d
become just the 19th center in team history to be a career
50-goal/50-assist player with the franchise.
Cheerless’ Take…
It is hard to figure out just what Eller’s last half of the
regular season and postseason mean going forward. Maybe things finally clicked for him, and he
has settled into a situation that fits his skills and style. He is a solid third line center who can even
fill in as a second line center for stretches, as he did when Nicklas Backstrom
injured his hand in the postseason, and he went 2-3-5, plus-2, in the four
games (three of them wins) Backstrom missed.
But there is also the thought that his career performance to date did
not suggest a coming out party in 2017-2018.
Until this season he was a dependable low teens goal scorer and high-20’s point
getter. Not quite what one might have
expected from a 13th-overall draft pick (2007). And he started pretty quickly last season
(3-8-11, even, in his first 16 games) before going into a prolonged dry spell
(1-3-4, plus-1, over his next 21 games).
But even with that push at the end, looking at his ten-game splits he was a minus-13 over his last three segments.
It wasn’t all unicorns and accordions to end the regular season.
Potential Milestones:
- 250 career points (he needs 31)
- 100 even strength goals (he needs 13)
- 200 career even strength points (he needs 12)
- 100 points as a Capital (he needs 37)
- 10,000 minutes played (he needs 1,181)
The Big Question… Is
the 2017-2018 production a new normal for Lars Eller?
If you are a Caps fan, two things are striking about Lars
Eller’s 2017-2018 season. First, his
jump in scoring from 2016-2017 (12-13-25) to the 2017-2018 season (18-20-38) was
reminiscent of his jump in scoring from his rookie season (7-10-17) to his
sophomore season (16-12-28). Second, he
remained between 25 and 30 points over the following five seasons, including his
first season in Washington. Now, he
took another big leap in production, and the question as the 2018-2019 season
gets underway is whether this is another “quantum” leap in production that can
be sustained. Arguing in his favor is
that he remains in his productive prime years (he will not turn 29 until next
May), and he is likely to be centering familiar faces this season, what with so
few changes on the roster overall. On
the other hand, were last year’s numbers juiced by a hot streak over the second
half of the season? But then again, that
might signal a new normal. This gets
confusing.
In the end…
Lars Eller is an example of what happens when a team does
not get sufficient secondary support on offense, and then when it does. In the 2017 postseason he was generally
quiet, posting no goals and five assists in 13 games, while going minus-2 (the
only time he finished a postseason on the minus side of the ledger) in a second-round flame-out. This past season he was one of the critical
ingredients to the Caps’ playoff success (7-11-18, plus-6, in 24 games). And,
his ability to fill in for an injured Nicklas Backstrom only added to his value
as a player who can to “be that guy.”
If he can post similar numbers, the Caps have a better chance of achieving similar
success. It depends on whether 2017-2018
was an outlier in his career arc, or it was a new normal. The “tiger” announced his tigritude with
action last season. This season is about
sustaining that level of feline ferocity.
Projection: 78 games, 17-22-39, minus-1
Photo: Kirk Irwin/Getty Images North America
