Forensics – Lars Eller
Jason Arbuthnot
2012-01-11
Hello, I am Frozen Pool. F-R-O-Z-E-N P-O-O-L. And I am addicted to Holidays.
What a few weeks it's been! I'm full of Christmas rye and coke, Frosty Heinekens, Candy Cane Cabernets, Yuletide rum eggnogs and Festivus vodka sodas. I love Christmas so much that even a documentary crew about holidays has asked to follow me; amazed that I can celebrate so well, I guess…
They're pretty cool too. When I run to the bathroom at 4am to fetch a cold beer from the toilet reservoir, they use their camera light to help guide me to my nectar. In fact, they cheer me on by saying "This is gonna be great!". How supportive! When I mistook my neighbors front porch for my driveway, they just said 'You were never here. Go to bed. A&E's got this'. Whomever these secret A and E angels are, they're all right in my books!
While I'm decompressing over Canada's World Junior Championship loss in the semi-final game, it is time to get back to stats. Let us begin with a real Canadien.
Lars Eller
From Frozen Pool's Report Generator from the past two weeks:
NHL Yrs |
Team |
GP |
G |
A |
Pts |
PPG |
Pace |
GW |
PPP |
PPTOI |
%PP |
%TOI |
Shots |
+/- |
PIM |
2 |
MTL |
5 |
5 |
2 |
7 |
1.40 |
115 |
1 |
0 |
01:10 |
25.4 |
30.3 |
15 |
5 |
2 |
Deep in the heart of Europe lies this mysterious and oft-misplaced birthplace of our new friend: Lars Ulrich Eller. It's a fact that of all the people I know from Denmark, a quarter of them are named Lars. Ipso facto: 25% of Denmark is named Lars. It's just that easy boys… Not to mention, 50% of all Danes named Lars are whiney, opinionated, middle-aged jackasses.
Taken in the first round of 2007 (13th overall), Lars has brought a lot of expectations with him. To compound the pressure, he was the key piece coming back from St. Louis in the Jaroslav Halak trade back in June of 2010.
When he was drafted, he was enjoying a scrumptrulescent season in the Swedish Elite Junior league. He scored 18 goals and 37 assists for 55 points. This works out to 1.41 points per game. Holy non-concussed Crosby! Graduating to playing with the big boys in Sweden, he slowed his pace against the stronger, older competition with 0.61 points per game in 48 games.
At the age of 20, he was assigned to the AHL with the Peoria Rivermen. He managed to duplicate his Swedish Elite League production… almost to the letter: 18 goals, 39 assists for 57 points. Unfortunately, this was done in 31 more games at 0.81 points per game. Calm down, you can't have everything.
Fast forward to 2010-2011 where he played 70 games with the Canadiens. His point production was seriously lacking but that is mostly expected. He did score 17 points but if his ice time were to be projected to top six minutes, he would have had 31 points. Nothing crazy but it's better than our first impression. This year, with the 15:14 minutes and 0.45 points per game he's averaging, his projection gets even better at 47.7 points. Now we're talking.
Here is Lars' even strength line combinations and point production lines for the year. Could this legendary KEMistry line rival The French Connection or Legion of Doom? Only time will tell my friends…
For a more recent view of who Eller is playing with, we consult none than Frozen Pool's Line Combination tool:
Games between 2011-12-31 and 2012-01-07 |
||
Freq |
Str |
Line Combination |
19.82% |
EV |
81 ELLER,LARS – 46 KOSTITSYN,ANDREI – 32 MOEN,TRAVIS |
13% |
EV |
72 COLE,ERIK – 51 DESHARNAIS,DAVID – 67 PACIORETTY,MAX |
9.14% |
EV |
72 COLE,ERIK – 67 PACIORETTY,MAX – 14 PLEKANEC,TOMAS |
Hmm… still no change. Eller isn't going to win any scoring championships playing with Moen and Kostitsyn any time soon. Regardless, he's getting it done with seven points in five games.
He's been shuffled around on the power play so far. Amazingly, KEMistry line not really pulling their weight here. He gets the big ugly NO ACCUMULATED DATA for power play production. Let's just pretend we didn't see that.
As we look at the fabled points per game output of Chart-A-Player, it clearly demonstrates his steady consistency when he's called upon (or gets ice time). That's something to hang your hat on at least.
Now I'd like to continue analyzing our new favorite Dane but it seems I have to cut this short. I have to meet the Holiday documentary crew in an hour for "one last interview" at a hotel. Come to think of it, I think there's a pub on the way there! Cheers!
As always, I can be reached at @frozenpool on twitter. By all means, fire any comments or questions!