The topic du jour at Canadiens practice Wednesday appeared to be the proper development path for Lars Eller, coming off a near season-low ice time of 4:24 in Tuesday's 2-0 win over Vancouver, falling only three seconds short of the 4:21 he played in a 4-3 win over Ottawa on Oct. 16.
The subject is a somewhat sensitive one in light of Max Pacioretty's recent comments about his ice time while in Montreal, and how he feels his development is better served playing top line minutes in Hamilton.
That made many question Jacques Martin's ability to develop young players, and this Eller situation may very well be doing the same thing. I wrote a while back about Martin's past history with Jason Spezza in Ottawa and how it may pertain to P.K. Subban, but the situation is looking more and more like it applies to a far greater degree to Eller.
But if the AHL is good for Pacioretty, and it was good for Spezza, it must be good for Eller, right?
My esteemed colleague Brian Wilde thinks so, but I would argue Eller needs to be put into stable situations more so than head back to the minors for more seasoning.
And he needs to be put into situations to succeed.
What do you have to lose?
One of those situations would be the moribund Canadiens power play, which snapped an 0-for-17 slump in Tuesday night's win, but Roman Hamrlik's goal was hardly a byproduct of beautiful puck movement or some set play.
The power play is sick in a big way, and I have trouble understanding why Eller is not being given a legitimate opportunity to help it out.
Instead, Martin suggested at practice Wednesday that he may try to get Eller some shifts on the penalty kill to get him some ice time. Huh?
That is basically the opposite of putting Eller in a position to succeed. It is placing him in a situation where he is far more likely to fail. And as if Martin wants to kill two birds with one stone, it would also be messing with the one special teams unit that is working at an elite level right now with no goals against on 24 of their last 26 assignments.
What can Eller really accomplish as a penalty killer that will build his confidence? If the Canadiens don't allow a goal while he's on the ice, will Eller go to bed that night with images of returning to the bench after a penalty killing shift ends without him screwing up royally dancing through his head? Probably not.
It wouldn't hurt for Eller to feel some trust from his coach in a critical game situation, which practically every penalty kill is, but I've got to believe getting some power play time would accomplish that while also giving Eller a chance to show what he's got.
Decision-making needs to speed up
A big issue for Eller thus far has been his decision-making, and more specifically the speed with which he makes those decisions. Generally speaking, you have more time to make decisions on the power play.
Eller was obviously approached with the theory that he'd be better off in Hamilton at practice Wednesday, and Marc-Antoine Godin's piece for La Presse hit the nail right on the head as to why it's probably not a beneficial move for him.
Basically, if Eller's main problem is his speed in making decisions, how will he improve that playing in a slower league?
Every time Eller is presented with an opportunity to complain about his ice time, he turns it down, choosing to take the high road and talk about how he needs to earn it.
That's good to hear from a rookie, especially in light of the way Pacioretty presented his arguments last week.
Blues gave Eller stable linemates
But it did get me thinking as to how Eller was used last year in St. Louis during his two call-ups, one for five games in November and the other for the final two games of the regular season.
Over his first five games with St. Louis, Eller played almost exclusively with T.J. Oshie and Patrick Berglund, at the time the Blues top two forward prospects. But Eller was often benched late in tight games during that first call up, just as he is now under Martin.
Still, his regular linemates did not change throughout those five games, and he got some decent time on the power play as well.
Over his final two games in April, Eller played with David Perron and Andy McDonald. Again, quality linemates.
In total over those seven NHL games with St. Louis last season Eller had two goals, was a plus-2 and played an average of 10:49 per game, with 1:21per game coming on the power play.
So far after 15 games with Montreal, Eller has one assist, is a minus-3 and is playing 9:42 per game, with only 2:33 coming on the power play in total, or just over 10 seconds per game.
But the real comparison, in my eyes at least, is this: last year Eller spent the bulk of his time in the NHL playing with consistent linemates. This year? All over the map.
According to dobberhockey.com, Eller has played with 39 different combinations of players this season, and at some point he has lined up next to every single forward on the roster.
Martin appeared content at Wednesday's practice with the idea of playing Eller with Travis Moen and Tom Pyatt on the fourth line.
Frankly, I have no problem with that. My suggestion would be to leave him there with those two players for a while and see what happens when he's allowed to develop a little chemistry with his wingers.
And when a power play opportunity comes along, give him a shot and pull out some of the under-performing guys – perhaps starting with one whose name starts with "Go" and has the fattest paycheque on the team.
Maybe then Eller could go to bed with images of a goal celebration dancing through his head, and who knows where that might lead?
