By Kristina, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. — It’s about time.
Lars Eller has finally been placed on what can be considered to be Montreal’s top line, alongside the team’s best centermen in Tomas Plekanec and sniper Mike Cammalleri.
In 32 games played this season, Eller has spent 55.12% of his time on the ice with Mathieu Darche, Travis Moen, Tom Pyatt, Max Lapierre, Jeff Halpern and Benoit Pouliot. In other words, he has been placed into the Jacques Martin mold of making skillful rookies projected to be top line players, play with energy guys on the bottom two lines.
Why does that ring a bell? Oh right, that basically sums up Max Pacioretty’s experience with the head coach in the 2009-2010 season. But I digress…let’s get back to Eller.
The most skillful player Eller has played with this season is arguably Benoit Pouliot. In terms of playmaking capability, Pouliot does have the ability to provide Eller with someone he can feed the puck to on a consistent basis. But given Pouliot’s streaky play and lack of confidence, the Darche-Eller-Pouliot line has not been as fruitful as some would have hoped with their line producing a total of six points so far this season.
With the Canadiens in a slump, losers of four of their last five games, Jacques Martin has once again resorted to his line combinations blender and has given the young Eller a rare opportunity to skate alongside two of the top three leading scorers on the team.
Eller should have learned that by now if he doesn’t take advantage of his opportunities under Jacques Martin he will find himself wishing he had.
In order to not be thrown back down on a bottom line in Tuesday night’s game against the Dallas Stars, Eller must show intensity, be defensively responsible, and demonstrate that he can create some chemistry with Plekanec and Cammalleri almost immediately. Scoring a goal would also help his case to remain a top six forward for longer than a shift or two.
Plekanec and Cammalleri are two players that can match Eller in terms of puck possession style, skill and speed in the neutral and offensive zones. These two players should provide Eller with something more than what he has been accustomed to this season. That something more is offensive spark and fire.
But if matched up against the Eriksson – Richards – Neal line, Eller and company will certainly have their hands full defensively as the threesome has recorded a combined 100 points in 33 games played. That’s 41 points more than Plekanec, Cammalleri and Eller combined. So first and foremost, Eller must be on top of his defensive play. Committing a stupid penalty or making a major defensive mistake will likely mean one thing: opportunity lost.
Sitting second in the Western conference, the Stars will certainly give all Canadiens can handle tonight. Let’s hope that Eller can prove that he can handle it too.