Lars Eller needs to step up for the Capitals in January
The Washington Capitals enter an interesting and challenging month of January. Several players need to step up, as always, but one player in particular that could use a breakout month is Lars Eller.
The Tiger earned his stripes with the Caps during his six seasons so far with the team. He’s one of the best third line centers in the league and his veteran presence has helped the youth. Even so, by Eller’s standards he is having a down year.
But it’s not entirely his fault. Injuries have played a factor since last season. He also had a battle with COVID and recently was out with a non COVID illness. Whether you’re vaccinated or not, this virus is deadly and last month the COVID numbers spiked across every sport.
The Caps have played in 34 games this season. Eller has suited up in 27 of them, missing seven games. Last season, Eller played in 44 of the team’s 56 games and had eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points. This season Eller has six goals and 10 assists for 16 points.
Eller’s advanced stats are OK. He has a Corsi For percentage of 49.77 percent, his Expected Goals For percentage is at 50.22 percent but his High Danger Chances For is only at 46.97 percent (numbers via Natural Stat Trick).
Eller averages 17:50 minutes of ice time per game. His role is usually centering the third line but during yesterday’s practice the lines shuffled. Eller was leveled up to the second line between Conor Sheary and Tom Wilson. Perhaps some time on the second line is what the Caps need with Nicklas Backstrom still recovering from an illness.
That trio when together has played in just 13:39 minutes of ice time so take that small sample size into account with the following advanced stats. Their Corsi For percentage is at 39.13 percent, for now, Expected Goals For is just at 31.28 percent while their High Danger Chances For is 33.33 percent.
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Can Eller step up this month? He certainly has potential. He’s been trending upward with two goals in his last five games and had an assist in the overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils. He almost even won the game in the extra session. If he breaks out, he could be flirting with career highs and make General Manager Brian MacLellan’s trade decisions all the more tougher.