New Penguins lean on center Lars Eller for veteran wisdom

A few days after he signed his new contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins in early February, forward Jesse Puljujarvi sat on the bench and watched the team’s top power-play unit drill during a practice session at the team’s facility in Cranberry.

A lot of the vocabulary and functions of the Penguins’ way of doing things were still foreign to him.

Especially the power play. And early in his tenure, the Penguins were experimenting with Puljujarvi on the second unit.

Seated at the bench, he received something of a crash course on the schematics of the Penguins’ five-on-four attack.

The guidance didn’t come from a coach in this instance.

Lars Eller, the Penguins’ sturdy third-line center, sat next to Puljujarvi and held a piece of paper in front of them, pointing to what areas of the offensive zone Puljujarvi should inhabit while on the attack before they hopped onto the ice.

A mere 1,018 games and 15 years into his NHL career, the 34-year-old Eller has taken it upon himself to serve as something of a coach to his newer teammates, be it additions from outside of the organization or recalls from the American Hockey League roster.

“Some guys are quiet by nature,” said Eller, one of the more commanding presences on the Penguins’ current roster. “Every time there’s a new person coming in, as a player, I try to eliminate any doubt or any hesitancy there might be to talk to them. ‘When this happens, this is what we need you to do.’ So we have that anticipation of knowing what each other is going to do out there. To have a good line, you need everybody to know what each other is doing. So, to eliminate any hesitancy or not knowing, it’s communication. I try to talk to them on the bench. Before the game, we’ll go over some stuff. That’s what I can do.

“But a lot of the game is also instinct and willingness to battle and win races and have a competitive level. That’s what players have to bring. Then I’ll try to help with what I can help and hopefully, we can make it work.”

Eller’s willingness to provide counsel — along with the coaching staff’s hesitancy to dramatically alter the first, second or fourth lines — has led to Eller seeing a revolving door of linemates on the third line this season, many of whom have joined the organization in season, such as Puljujarvi and trade acquisition Emil Bemstrom or recalls from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton such as Valtteri Puustinen.

“Lars is a guy that is a cerebral player with a wealth of experience,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He can bring that to the table so that if we call up a young player from (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), he is a guy that I think is very complimentary of those guys and can help them. If we bring in a new player from another team like we did (Feb. 22) with Emil, he’s a guy that I think Lars potentially could help in understanding how the Penguins are trying to play and some of the subtleties of our team game.”

Puustinen, a rookie who is enjoying his first true sustained stretch of play at the NHL this season, heavily lauded Eller for helping him acclimate.

“We talk about what we do together on the ice,” said Puustinen, who pantomimed Eller drawing up schemes on a dry-erase board. “If I am sometimes a little bit (too) excited, he’ll say maybe what we can do together better. Because he played (more than) 1,000 games, and he’s a smart guy. I trust him.

“Sometimes, maybe I ask him, ‘What do you think if (I) do that?’ He says, ‘Yeah, that’s good. We can do that.’ ”

A native of Denmark, Eller speaks English as a second language but does so in a vivid, erudite fashion. That has helped him become something of a big brother to all his linemates, including a Finn such as Puustinen or a Yank — or whatever you would label a native of New Jersey — such as Drew O’Connor.

“A lot of guys can see the game well, but they can’t necessarily communicate it as well, which is kind of a skill to have both,” said O’Connor, who opened the season on Eller’s line as a right winger. “To be able to see the game well but also communicate what you’re seeing, not everybody has that. Lars definitely does.

“He’s a good guy to play with for guys learning the system, especially, because you know what you’re getting from him every day. He’s reliable and plays the right way. He knows the system well. He can help guys out just by being in the right spots and communicating to them what they have to do, as well.”

The son of Olaf Eller, a coach for Denmark’s men’s national team and for many professional teams in that country, Lars Eller fits all the cliches about the son of a coach being heady and understanding the granular details of the game.

In addition to that studious knowledge of the game, he professes a responsibility to aid younger or newer teammates similar to how a coach would.

“The coaches will go over a lot of the X’s and O’s with them,” Eller said. “As a linemate, for me, I will try to make him feel comfortable, make him feel as part of the team. New guys can come in and feel like they can be themselves. That’s the key to get the most out of everybody.”

Note: The Penguins canceled a scheduled practice on Wednesday.

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