The band is getting back together again.
The Capitals acquired center Lars Eller from the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday. In exchange, the Pens received a third-round 2027 draft pick and fifth-round 2025 pick.
The Penguins are not doing well this year, hovering at the bottom of the division after a blowout 7-1 loss to the Stars. Trading Eller signals the first of likely several drastic moves the Pens will make this year.
Eller played for the Caps from 2016-23 and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2018. He was later traded to the Colorado Avalanche in 2023 and signed with the Pens a few months later as a free agent. Eller returns as the second player the Capitals have re-acquired this season since being traded under Peter Laviolette’s watch as head coach from 2021-2023. Jakub Vrána was the other.
Eller will almost definitely slot into his standard third line center role, flanked by Vrána and Andrew Mangiapane. This year, the Caps have already gone through a few iterations of their third line, with appearances from Mike Sgarbossa, Hendrix Lapierre, Sonny Milano and Aliaksei Protas. Unfortunately, none of those combinations really found any extended stability. Eller, Vrána and Mangiapane have all played well individually, hopefully suggesting they’ll find chemistry together.
To make roster space for Eller, Sgarbossa was sent back to the AHL Hershey Bears. That means Hendrix Lapierre will likely remain with the Caps as the healthy scratch extra skater. Lapierre was scratched several times this year after lackluster play, allowing him time to think about how to further develop his game. It’s not that Lapierre is bad – he’s actually a great player with phenomenal potential. He just needs some more time to learn and work through his game. Eller’s presence can help allow that.
Welcome back to the team, Eller. We’re glad you returned from the dark side.
