by Corey Desormeaux , Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

OTTAWA, ON. — Lars Eller has been labelled as just about everything by fans of the Montreal Canadiens. He’s been the dispensable inconsistent scorer, the reliable defensive centreman, the playoff hero and the trade bait Marc Bergevin needs to bolster the Habs roster. It’s clear that Habs fans have varying opinions when it comes to Eller, so I thought I’d take a look at his NHL path thus far and his value to the Canadiens.

Heading into the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Eller was an intriguing prospect. As we all know too well, centreman with size, offensive ability and defensive acumen are rare. Lars Eller had all of it and was a prospect that analysts and scouts envisioned as a potential great second line centreman in the NHL. In the season leading up to the draft, his value skyrocketed playing in the Swedish Hockey League, leaving most curious as to which team would snag him outside of the top-10. It didn’t take long, Eller was selected with the thirteenth pick in the draft by the St. Louis Blues.  At the time, he was the highest selected Danish-born player in National Hockey League history until Mikkel Boedker was selected the following year with the eighth pick.

After another season in Sweden, Lars decided to move his pro game to North America. Eller spent the 2009-’10 season in the AHL playing for the Peoria Rivermen where he tallied 57 points in 70 games. He was also given a brief chance with the Blues playing seven games and potting two goals (including one in his first NHL game), before being sent back down to the AHL to finish the season.

Meanwhile, in Montreal, the Canadiens were having a mediocre season in 2009-’10 but managed to squeak into the playoffs as the eighth seed. The Habs had a successful playoff riding on the back of Jaroslav Halak through Alex Ovechkin and the first seeded Capitals, then Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins before losing to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference Final.

Once eliminated from contention, Canadiens management found themselves at a goaltending crossroads. Both Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak were to become restricted free agents and a deal involving one or the other was becoming more and more imminent as time inched closer to the draft. Approximately ten days before the draft, which was hosted in Montreal, the Habs shipped Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues for prospects Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.

At the time of the trade many fans were outraged. Only a small number had ever heard of Lars Eller, and many wanted former fifth overall pick Price to be traded over Halak.   Pierre Gauthier received a lot of flak for his time as General Manager of the Canadiens, but if he did one thing right in his tenure, it was holding on to Carey Price. All of us can breathe a sigh of relief that Price isn’t back-stopping a different team.

After five seasons with the Canadiens, some fans are still curious about Lars Eller. Most wonder when Eller’s offensive break-out year will come. Many thought it would after the lockout shortened season that saw him post 30 points in 48 games, but he responded the following season with 26 points.

Much of my personal frustration with Eller is how he is being used on the ice. Rarely is he given opportunity to succeed offensively. Look no further than how he is being deployed, his lack of power-play opportunities and his inconsistent line mates. Yet, Eller seems to take a fair share of blame from fans when the Habs are struggling to score goals, but I would argue his lack of offensive production isn’t entirely his fault.

Reality is, point production isn’t everything, and Lars Eller has become an extremely reliable defensive forward. He is far too often overlooked for his contributions. Eller’s size and speed allow him to use the boards with the best of them, he kills penalties extremely well, has become dominant in the face-off circle and is often tasked with shutting down the oppositions best players.

Playing in the NHL under defensive minded coaches like Jacques Martin and Michel Therrien, Lars Eller’s development of his offensive creativity has been pushed to the sidelines in place of defensive minded skills such as positioning and face-offs. Lars Eller has been relied upon more and more to take critical draws, most often in the defensive zone:

*all numbers are 5vs5 and from war-on-ice.com

As you can see, Eller has become more consistent in the face-off dot and has been given an increasingly defensive role as his career has progressed. For a player being deployed in the defensive zone as much as Eller, it’s expected that he wouldn’t have a positive influence on puck possession. Although this is somewhat true for Eller as he posted a Corsi for percentage of 47.47 throughout the 2014-15 season, I thought I would compare him to some other centreman around the NHL with similar deployment to see how they measure up.

*numbers at 5vs5 and from War-On-Ice.com

Eller’s individual Corsi for is outstanding. He directs a lot of puck towards the nets for a player with such poor deployment. In fact, he ranked fifth amongst Canadiens forwards with 211 individual Corsi for, players behind him with a much more favourable deployment include Weise (150) and David Desharnais (138).

Furthermore, Eller has shown a tendency to elevate his game come playoff time. In the 2012-13 post-season he proved his offensive ability by potting 13 points in 17 games. This year, Eller’s work ethic, size and speed was well on display throughout the playoffs. In 12 playoff games this year, Eller only took 32.04 per cent of his faceoffs in the offensive zone at even strength but managed a Corsi for percentage of 54.88. Despite his ability to tilt the ice in favour of the Canadiens, Eller was never rewarded with increased offensive deployment or power-play time. Many believe the frustration he displayed when he met with the media at the end of the season had a lot to do with this.

Eller is great at what he has been asked to do, and that’s being a responsible defensive centreman that can play tough minutes against the other team’s best players. I can’t see Therrien using him any differently; the Canadiens have invested a lot of time and energy developing Eller into a prototypical shutdown cetreman. I’ve said it a few times already in this piece, but I’ll say it again, his mix of size, speed and skill are hard to find and something the Canadiens lack down the middle of the ice. It’s time to cut Eller some slack and appreciate what he brings to the table.