Confirmed with Link: Lars Eller to caps

[Cyclones Rock]

Eller is so overrated by the hfboards Montreal crowd that it's laughable. The myths about his defensive play are absurd. There's no stat that I'm aware of which can justify his reputation as a stellar defensive player.

His QOC last year was average:

http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stat...+36+37+38+39+40+47+48+49+50+51+52+53+54+55+56

His goals against even strength over the last four years was abominable:

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...500&teamid=16&type=goals&sort=A60&sortdir=ASC

His passing ability is poor. His vision of the ice and ability to use teammates is below average. Shot is decent. He's got size but generally plays very soft. He's got decent speed and is adequate on the PK.

He had one good playoff year a few years back, but so did his linemate Rene Bourque. It was a outlier for both of these players.

Given how bad the Caps #3C position was last year, he's an upgrade. But, virtually anyone who the Caps would have brought in would have been. With Kuznetsov and Backstrom, your #3C isn't gonna make or break you.

Love watching the Great Eight play. Hopefully you guys can break through the second round blues next season.

 

[SpinningEdge]

wow, seems like every time we get a player, people come over and tell us they wont succeed. weirdly every time they have career years. wonder why that is

I don't think that's true. Williams this year was average and had better years before this year. Richards this year was below average and hd much better years before here. Winnik wasn't good. Weber wasn't good. Oshie has 51 points this year in 80 games which is his lowest point total in his lat 4 seasons playing at least 70 games.

 

[txpd]

I don't think that's true. Williams this year was average and had better years before this year..

what are you talking about? williams scored 22 goals. he had not scored more than 22 goals since 2006/2007. willams 52 pts were an improvement over his last two seasons in LA.

tj oshie scored 26 goals. he had only scored as many as 20 in his career once before, 21.

 

[g00n]

HABS FANS: This is the Caps board and it is for Caps fans. Read our local rules. This is not the place for you to continue your debates about current and former Montreal players.

 

[Xaroc]

I am sure someone has already linked this but:

That looks like he is pretty good defensively. 2nd line shot suppression from a 3rd line player works for me.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

I don't follow the Caps very much, can you give me just 2 exemples of newly acquired players that had career years with your club?

Career years may have been hyperbole, but we've been told a lot of things about guys we brought in that didn't end up true.

Pens fans said Niskanen was just average defensively, not particularly reliable. He's formed one of the best shutdown tandems I've seen the Caps ice with Alzner.

They also told us Orpik was over the hill and all-around awful. He didn't look out of place at all on our top pairing and was one of our best players in the '15 playoffs (admittedly he took a step back this year).

Kings fans said Williams was really slowing down and not to expect more than a 20-20 player. He put up 22-30-52, and still had the energy to PK and consistently win board battles.

Blues fans said Oshie doesn't have a great shot, has lost his physicality, and struggles in the playoffs. He set a career high in goals, was consistently a physical presence, and played out of his mind in the playoffs.

So, basically, I'm expecting Eller to set a career high in assists.

 

[hockeykicker]

Career years may have been hyperbole, but we've been told a lot of things about guys we brought in that didn't end up true.

Pens fans said Niskanen was just average defensively, not particularly reliable. He's formed one of the best shutdown tandems I've seen the Caps ice with Alzner.

They also told us Orpik was over the hill and all-around awful. He didn't look out of place at all on our top pairing and was one of our best players in the '15 playoffs (admittedly he took a step back this year).

Kings fans said Williams was really slowing down and not to expect more than a 20-20 player. He put up 22-30-52, and still had the energy to PK and consistently win board battles.

Blues fans said Oshie doesn't have a great shot, has lost his physicality, and struggles in the playoffs. He set a career high in goals, was consistently a physical presence, and played out of his mind in the playoffs.

So, basically, I'm expecting Eller to set a career high in assists.

yeah i exaggerated a little on career years but this is a perfect post.

 

[Mr Jackpot]

yeah i exaggerated a little on career years but this is a perfect post.

you exaggerated but zoidberg exaggerated even more than you.

I mean he read one or two post from a Pens fans saying "Orpik was awful" and he applies it to all Pens fans

They also told us Orpik was over the hill and all-around awful.

I'm not gonna bother quoting the rest, it applies to all his post.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

you exaggerated but zoidberg exaggerated even more than you.

I mean he read one or two post from a Pens fans saying "Orpik was awful" and he applies it to all Pens fans



I'm not gonna bother quoting the rest, it applies to all his post.

It should go without saying that it was a portion of each fan base that **** on their players once we signed/traded for them, just like its a portion of Habs fans telling us Eller sucks. Some Pens fans praised Niskanen and wished they'd had room to re-sign him, some Kings fans recognized that his offense could return outside Sutter's stifling system, some Blues fans who thought Oshie just needed a change of scenery and some luck with injuries (everyone thought Orpik was trash though). We've just learned to take the doubters' complaints with a grain of salt.

 

[Carlzner]

I mean he read one or two post from a Pens fans saying "Orpik was awful" and he applies it to all Pens fans

It was not one or two. It was all of them.

 

[Mr Jackpot]

It should go without saying that it was a portion of each fan base that **** on their players once we signed/traded for them, just like its a portion of Habs fans telling us Eller sucks. Some Pens fans praised Niskanen and wished they'd had room to re-sign him, some Kings fans recognized that his offense could return outside Sutter's stifling system, some Blues fans who thought Oshie just needed a change of scenery and some luck with injuries (everyone thought Orpik was trash though). We've just learned to take the doubters' complaints with a grain of salt.

you're right about the part in bold

I didn't just say Eller sucks though, you're exagerating again, it's true that I don't like the player but in my post I tried to describe Eller the best that I could, some of his quality, things that he's not that good at, ect... all based on observations from the last 6 years he spent here. And again that's just my personal opinion and personal view of Eller, some things are facts, some others things are observations.

 

[hockeykicker]

you're right about the part in bold

I didn't just say Eller sucks though, you're exagerating again, it's true that I don't like the player but in my post I tried to describe Eller the best that I could, some of his quality, things that he's not that good at, ect... all based on observations from the last 6 years he spent here. And again that's just my personal opinion and personal view of Eller, some things are facts, some others things are observations.

thats fair, but we also have a lot of Canadiens fans who came over and said they loved him and we got a good player

 

[Hivemind]

Kings fans said Williams was really slowing down and not to expect more than a 20-20 player. He put up 22-30-52, and still had the energy to PK and consistently win board battles.

I don't remember Kings fans telling us this. I remember most Kings fans being really broken up about losing Williams. They even had a Justin Williams appreciation thread on their board.

 

[txpd]

I don't remember Kings fans telling us this. I remember most Kings fans being really broken up about losing Williams. They even had a Justin Williams appreciation thread on their board.

i think there was both things going on. people thought he had been good though his production had fallen off. some said he production had fallen off and going over the hill. some said the was over the hill but they hated to see him go.

 

[Holtbyisms]

It was not one or two. It was all of them.

Yeah, I legitimately live very nearly the Penguin motherland and any and everyone I work with, all my friends, media outlets laughed when we signed Orpik and told me how over his career was. It was a whole heck of a lot more than 1-2 Pens fans.

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

you're right about the part in bold

I didn't just say Eller sucks though, you're exagerating again, it's true that I don't like the player but in my post I tried to describe Eller the best that I could, some of his quality, things that he's not that good at, ect... all based on observations from the last 6 years he spent here. And again that's just my personal opinion and personal view of Eller, some things are facts, some others things are observations.

You're not the only Habs fan to criticize Eller. Others have been more negative than you've been.

I don't remember Kings fans telling us this. I remember most Kings fans being really broken up about losing Williams. They even had a Justin Williams appreciation thread on their board.

They were certainly broken up, and they were by no means trashing him, but I definitely remember a lot of them saying he had slowed down. I don't know about you, but I didn't leave those early threads expecting Williams to put up 50 points.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I understand your enthousiasm for getting a new player in your lineup but I can garantee you that Eller can't produce more in a different environment, he reached his peak while in mtl, he was well used and he did what he could to the best of his abilities.

My prediction right now is that Eller will never get more than 30 points in a season in a Caps uniform.

Unfortunately you CAN'T guarantee such a thing. You're obviously overly down on the player.

If he scores 15 and 15 while playing solid D at 3C, he's an easy upgrade for the Caps. As much as you want to spin it negatively it's not for us. 2 crapshoot 2nd rounders is fair from my perspective.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Unfortunately you CAN'T guarantee such a thing. You're obviously overly down on the player.

If he scores 15 and 15 while playing solid D at 3C, he's an easy upgrade for the Caps. As much as you want to spin it negatively it's not for us. 2 crapshoot 2nd rounders is fair from my perspective.

that's what you'll get unless you play him with highly skilled wingers (wich is rather rare on a 3rd line).

You may find it frustrating to see him win his battles along the boards on a nightly basis just to fizzle on a shot or miss a pass completely, but he'll be a 3rd liner who constantly pin opposing D in their own zone and tire them playing along the board all the time. the type of game he plays isnt flashy at all - even boring at time I'd say, but it's highly effective for a 3rd line C.

one pro no one mentionned yet : he never cheats, he will always work hard defensively and comeback to help the D and al'.

 

[The Viking Fury]

I like it

 

[ottawa]

I don't have many good things about Eller to say because I was not a big fan, but I will say I hope you guys use him on the PK, he's good great at it. Given you guys were #2 last year, having Eller should allow your coach some flexibility and allow him to rest one of your top 6 centers.

Aside from that, he should do better with you guys than he did with the habs...he was used mostly in a shut down role only, he wasn't given many chances to succeed offensively. Put a skilled winger next to him instead of the 2 plugs Therrien gave him and who knows, maybe he'll surprise everyone.

 

[Vandalay Industries]

THis is helpful, LG - thanks. Also thx to McKenna for additional insight on Eller and Therrien. I pretty much treat it as a plus that he couldn't get along with Therien.

That would be a great explanation, except he also apparently didn't get along with Randy Cunneyworth and Jacques Martin. When they were Canadiens coaches you heard the same story.

Eller came along nicely with all of them, he just has the downside of not being very intensive in his game a lot of the time. When he is, it's very noticeable so you always come to think that this kid can do more, but it's only in very short spurs.

He can be turned off for several games and the suddenly look good for period or two.

That is not the coaches fault, that is just because his fans in Montreal didn't understand that the coaches actually knew what they were doing.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Hmm, thought they would go for speed, but Lars Ellar does fit into the Caps' identity under Barry Trotz. Does this mean they're losing Marcus Johansson? I actually thought they needed more players like Johansson, but my views are skewed from watching the Pens - Caps series.

 

[Caps8112]

its a meh move and not the type of move a winning team makes. Really want them to just go for it. Screw the cap and all the propects. Every year that they dont make a big move to make the team better Ovi gets older. Pens did it last year getting Kessel although I still think the stars aligned for them.

 

[txpd]

. Every year that they dont make a big move to make the team better Ovi gets older. Pens did it last year getting Kessel although I still think the stars aligned for them.

huh? Pens got Kessel and the Caps didnt get anyone. Right? or.....Williams? Oshie? The year before. Orpik and Niskanen were nothing?
you do realize that Kessel scored 26 goals last season. Oshie scored....26 goals. Kessel scored 10 goals in 24 playoff games. Oshie scored 6 goals in 12 playoff games. So.....

 

[RandyHolt]

NHL Radio was talking Lars. Said he will have moments where you are wondering what was he thinking (offensively) but that he is an excellent shutdown center, notably taking out S1d when assigned the task. Also, that he is really hard on himself after displaying his offensive shortcomings, which kind of gets himself into a funk. A good locker room guy which always seems important to us.

They also said Montreal took a step back thinking Shaw was better, and are foolish to consider a 5-7 year contract for him.

I am happy with the move, and BMac tossing us fans a bone and getting someone fast, instead of kicking the tires and procrastinating that someone we want is a little too expensive, and panic calling off the deal. We needed a Lars anyways and København is freaking awesome. I miss Bellevue. The price seemed steep at first, but with the way we burn 2s at the deadline and they almost always crash and burn, who cares.

MJ Lars Wilson