Lars Eller remains 1 constant on Penguins' oft-changing 3rd line

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has had no difficulty in assessing the play of forward Lars Eller this season.

“I think Lars has played extremely well for us,” Sullivan said after a recent practice in Cranberry.

Eller, the Penguins’ third-line center, has skated in all of the club’s 46 games, chipping in nine goals and six assists.

He has averaged 14 minutes, 59 seconds of ice time, including 2:13 on the penalty kill and 55 seconds on the power play.

In terms of versatility and production, Eller is doing what general manager Kyle Dubas hoped when he brought the 34-year-old aboard on a two-year deal worth $2.45 million annually this past offseason.

While the play of Eller has been relatively easy in appraising, the third line is more difficult to assess as a whole.

“If you asked me the question, ‘How do we evaluate Lars Eller’s line?’ my response to you is, ‘Which line is that?’ Because we’ve had a fair amount of guys around him, for obvious reasons,” Sullivan said. “We’ve had injuries and things of that nature.”

The Penguins are no different from any other NHL club in sometimes having to tweak their lineup because of performance- and injury-related reasons.

The trickle-down effect can be seen up and down a roster. But for the Penguins, those ramifications have been felt particularly on the third line.

Eller has had to navigate working with an ever-shifting cast of linemates.

“In a perfect world, you have the same two wingers on your sides for long stretches,” Eller said. “But it’s not a perfect world. There’s injuries, and unforeseen things happen. You’ve got to deal with the hand that you’re dealt.

“… It’s been challenging at times, but I’ve always got good players around me no matter what.”

The revolving door of linemates for Eller did not stop him from scoring a critical first-period goal in the Penguins’ pre-All-Star break finale, a 3-2 overtime win over Montreal, which also was Eller’s 1,000th career NHL game.

HAPPY LARS ELLER NIGHT TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE! pic.twitter.com/E6a4gPS8EJ

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 28, 2024

If he plays in all 82 regular-season games this year, Eller is on pace for about 16 goals and 11 assists. Last year with Washington and Colorado, Eller scored 10 goals with 13 assists.

So his production isn’t suffering as a result of less-than-ideal consistency on his line.

Per Natural Stat Trick, Eller’s most regular linemates this season have been Drew O’Connor, Radim Zohorna and Vinnie Hinostroza.

Because of injuries, O’Connor has been bumped up into a top-six role, and the performances of Zohorna and Hinostroza in Pittsburgh left something to be desired. As a result, both are at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Valtteri Puustinen, Eller’s regular right wing heading into the All-Star break, also was just reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

It has been no coincidence that Sullivan and his staff have deployed many of the club’s prospects and less experienced players next to Eller.

In fact, Eller’s 1,000 NHL games played surpasses the combined experience of many of his linemates this season.

O’Connor, Zohorna and Puustinen, plus the likes of Colin White, Alex Nylander and Jansen Harkins, have played in a collective 792 games at the NHL level.

“I think he does a good job of analyzing our games,” O’Connor said. “He does a lot of video, looking at shifts and seeing what we’re doing right, what we’re not doing right, telling us how we can fix things. He’s been great to learn from. He’s just a smart player (and) really reliable defensively, which helped our line a lot when I was playing with him.”

Sullivan recalled having conversations with Eller upon the veteran’s signing with Pittsburgh about undertaking a mentorship role with the club’s contingent of younger players.

As he has produced on the ice and chased down individual accolades, Eller also has taken care to play that role in the locker room with his less experienced teammates.

“We’ve put a lot of young players beside him on his line, and I think he’s done a really good job in sharing his experience, trying to help them improve and get better,” Sullivan said. “Ultimately, the team is the benefactor, and his line is the benefactor. I think Lars has done a great job in utilizing his experience in the right way.”