Lars Eller Appreciation thread (the first of many for this season)

[TRG]

Somebody needs to start a Free Lars Eller campaign.

It's happening already. It's the #FireTherrien campaign.

 

[LePoche69]

It's happening already. It's the #FireTherrien campaign.

Ah c'mon! Therrien gave him more responsabilities and ice time than any coach before him.

And putting him on the wing with Plek and Gionta is an horrible decision, I agree, but at least it gave him big responsabilities and more icetime than if he had played with Bourque, Brière, Prust, Moen, etc.

 

[TRG]

Ah c'mon! Therrien gave him more responsabilities and ice time than any coach before him.

And putting him on the wing with Plek and Gionta is an horrible decision, I agree, but at least it gave him big responsabilities and more icetime than if he had played with Bourque, Brière, Prust, Moen, etc.

Natural progression. No other coach had him at this stage of his evolution as an hockey player. Therrien was good last year and so were the young guys. This year, Therrien has lost his mind. And almost everybody has regressed.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Ah c'mon! Therrien gave him more responsabilities and ice time than any coach before him.

And putting him on the wing with Plek and Gionta is an horrible decision, I agree, but at least it gave him big responsabilities and more icetime than if he had played with Bourque, Brière, Prust, Moen, etc.

We have done everything we can to make him fail.

Even last year he had to prove himself to an absurd extent before getting any kind of opportunity. And now we give him harder ice, rotating sub par linemates and put him on the wing...

BTW, not for nothing but he really disappeared after MT called him out after that Edmonton game. I didn't mind MT's comments at the time but he really dropped off after that. Coincidence? Maybe. But its another example of the coach doing something and getting less out of his player than he was getting previously.

 

[GoodKiwi]

Lars Eller is becoming a grinder but I don't think it's all on MT.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Lars Eller is becoming a grinder but I don't think it's all on MT.

It is on MT.

Only way to know if he's not a grinder is to give him opportunity and we haven't seen this. When Eller's been given opportunity he's actually done pretty well.

You can't put Eller in a grinder's situation and then exclaim that this is all he can do. The truth is we don't know what he can do because we haven't given him a real chance.

 

[Wats]

Mission complete and now moved to wing. Bournival already done. Next up is Gallagher and Galchenyuk.

Hilarious part is if they do find success with another coach, people will think it's because of MT somehow. Same with Subban's regression under MT defensively.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Lars Eller is becoming a grinder but I don't think it's all on MT.

Grinders don't get named 1st star of the week.

 

[Smokey Thompson]

Mission complete and now moved to wing. Next up is Gallagher and Galchenyuk.

Don't worry, they're almost there. At least Galchenyuk will be a grinder with nice hands!

 

[Wats]

Don't worry, they're almost there. At least Galchenyuk will be a grinder with nice hands!

Luckily Galchenyuk is away from the team now.

 

[Smokey Thompson]

Luckily Galchenyuk is away from the team now.

Hopefully he returns to a new coach.

 

[AcadiaAxeMan]

ELLER is a big puck-possession center who we need and should NOT trade! He is part of the team moving forward with a core of Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Subban, Bournival, Price, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Pacioretty! (can't include DeLaRose, Collberg, Hudon, Reway, McCarron, Pateryn, Deitz, Nygren, Fucale) here, but they are nice unproven "pieces") He is ON the puck (Bourque WTFU and chase the damn thing!) and is not afraid to use his big frame to get it and protect it when he has it! I am sick of watching floaters Bourque + Briere go through the motions! Wanting in the game vs Gliding through a game is a huge difference! ELLER, in my book, is untouchable!

 

[Bourdon101]

I disagree. He's also struggling on the defensive side too. He's involved in way too many turnovers. He's -9 these past 8 games, -12 in the last 20 games and -14 if you remove the first 4 games of the season. That's just not good enough for a defensive center, who's not even facing the best opposing line since that's Plekanec's job. Eller's Corsi Rel Qoc is worse than DD's, and that tells a lot.

I like Eller and I think he can do much better than that. But he has to prove he can contribute better to earn more ice-time and responsabilities. It's not the other way around.

I dont think I should reply to this but his +- and corsi are heavily influcenced by the fact that he plays no PP and a lot of PK, plus he is used defensively, which is the opposite of DD. And I think we can agree his turnovers, which happened much less when he was at center, are relatively acceptable when compared to the absolute garbage coverage that DD provides.

 

[overlords]

I dont think I should reply to this but his +- and corsi are heavily influcenced by the fact that he plays no PP and a lot of PK, plus he is used defensively, which is the opposite of DD. And I think we can agree his turnovers, which happened much less when he was at center, are relatively acceptable when compared to the absolute garbage coverage that DD provides.

Uh, nope. Most fancy stats keep to 5v5 and +/- isn't affected at 5v4 or 4v5, unless short handed goals occur.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Martin tried Eller at Wing and it didnt work
Therrien himself tried it a little last season and it didnt work

I guess it's a coincidence Eller last few games playing on Plekanec WING has been horrible...


who would have thought?

 

[Monctonscout]

This guy needs to spend a day or two in the press box. Horrible underachiever the last few months, he's turning into Bourque.

 

[GoodKiwi]

This guy needs to spend a day or two in the press box. Horrible underachiever the last few months, he's turning into Bourque.

He's been certainly trending down, but if you take away from first two games to begin the season he's been averaging about 5 points per month (13-15GP).

 

[Hoople]

Coaching matters. A lot. Always has, always will.

A lot of the fans who like Eller a lot are also fans who will easily dismiss the concept of momentum, confidence and other intangibles that cannot be measured.

The impact of having an enforcer to stand up for his teammates cannot be measured. It is an intangible since it is in the minds of the players.

A decline in production by a skilled forward can be measured. However, the reason for that cannot be measured because it is an intangible and in the mind of Eller and Eller alone. Has he lost confidence? Is he not as motivated? Is he not buying into Therrien's system? Is he frustrated because of his positioning and linemates?

We dont know. All intangibles that cannot be measured by statistics.

Coaching matters. Intangibles matter.

 

[pepperMonkey]

He's been certainly trending down, but if you take away from first two games to begin the season he's been averaging about 5 points per month (13-15GP).

~5pts/18gp

 

[Mrb1p]

He's been certainly trending down, but if you take away from first two games to begin the season he's been averaging about 5 points per month (13-15GP).

He's producing at a 40 point pace yet again with ****** ice-time.

 

[pepperMonkey]

He really needs Galch and Gally to be his wing men again...

 

[pepperMonkey]

He's producing at a 40 point pace yet again with ****** ice-time.

More like 30 (33 to be precise).
Probably be a good idea to bench him.
Then again, I wouldn't be against benching the whole team at this point

 

[GoodKiwi]

He's producing at a 40 point pace yet again with ****** ice-time.

Not quite, I don't think. I believe he's on pace for just over 30 points as of now.


EDIT: pepperMonkey beat me to it.

 

[Wats]

This guy needs to spend a day or two in the press box. Horrible underachiever the last few months, he's turning into Bourque.

Maybe he just sucks and overachieved. Perhaps just another expendable piece. Gallagher is look pretty bad too (9 points in last 28 games), looking no better than Briere. Bournival has been invisible too, turning into Pyatt. Was nice thinking we might have had a solid core pieces while it lasted. Even Galchenyuk was looking lost before his injury.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

I like him. Just not crazy about expectations people have for him.

He's kind of screwed by our sucky wingers. We don't have depth on the wing, losing galchenyuk hurts the team and it hurts Eller/Plekanec too.