Eller hasn't been driving the play at all. And is he great on the pk? He is OK.
Eller isnt a great offensive player. He is defensively responsible but he is far from a selke candidate. He is a career minus player. He is known to take lazy penalties. He isnt a physical presence. He is slightly below average on faceoffs. He doesnt have a great shot. He takes a lot of low percentage shots which usually results in an easy save and a change of possession. His passing is average at best. Skating is average. His strength is his possession with the puck. And that usually amounts to nothing. Too many times I have seen him maintain possession for quite awhile and instead of cycling behind the net he will skate back towards the blue line and try to throw a low percentage shot on net.
Is this inaccurate?
Honestly? You seem to take the negative play of certain players, and highlight/focus on it....and it alone. Eller, Niskanen, Grubauer, to name a few.
Eller is very very strong w the puck. He has really good vision, and is a
good passer. I agree he doesnt have a consistently good shot, but I have seen some very good shots from him.
I think he is a pretty physical player. He wins more battles along the boards than he loses, he's very hard to take the puck from (which to me connotes physicality and strength), he certainly drives possession = drives play.
He's inconsistent, for sure. But he's a workhorse who shows up to play every night. He doesnt take nights off, at all. For 3.5m, hes a great value.
You seem to want every player to be better than their contracts. Thats misguided, IMO. From where I sit, the only players that are playing beneath their contracts, on a consistent basis, are now....Burakovsky. Thats it. It used to be Orpik, but thats been remedied.
That is also why Bura is the current whipping boy of the board. The fact that he is the only one, is also why this team won the Cup
