Confirmed Trade: [WSH/PIT] Lars Eller for 2027 3rd round pick and 2025 CHI 5th round pick

[BonMorrison]

What's the word on Lapierre? Is he gonna live up to that 1st round draft pick?

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Kyle Dubas said via email on Tuesday that the Lars Eller trade has been "in the works since the spring; Washington met our asking price and we executed the deal." Eller did not indicate that he wanted a trade, and he had no say in the Capitals being that destination.

On what the trade signals for the direction of the team, Dubas only said that "it signals that with Blake Lizotte returning from injury and having depth options at center with Cody Glass, Noel Acciari, and Sam Poulin on the roster plus younger centers progressing in our system that we wanted the minutes for those players and give them greater opportunity plus increase our assets and cap space to give us greater flexibility."

That being said, the door is still open for other players in the AHL to come in and take any spots.

"Players will be recalled and given opportunity only when we feel they have maximized their development at Wilkes and are ready to make that step," Dubas said. "Some guys earned that out of camp and others are starting to make a strong push while helping Wilkes off to a great start. We look forward to seeing which guys can continue that push with Wilkes, help them win and earn their chance to come up when those opportunities arise."

Yeah....right. I'm sure they talked about Eller. I'm sure that Dubas' message that "all players are available" was likely a catalyst in finding a middle ground, for getting a deal done. So no...I doubt they "met our asking price".

Part of it feels like Dubas is trying to find a way for Mike Sullivan to change things up without telling him to, and without the ability to fire him.

Unless he truly truly believes the Sully hype.

What I'm waiting for is a James Neal for Hornqvist type trade. Problem is we don't have any 28 year old to do that with.

 

[GRob83]

This deal is great for Washington. They're 26th in the league in faceoff win%. Eller is at 56%, Lapierre is around 35% so that's already a huge win for the Caps.

 

[sxvnert]

Should be obvious now that Dubas is tanking. Pens need the next wave of top young talent.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Damn. Was hoping the Canucks jumped on him but with Ratu playing well, I guess it wasn't a priority.

 

[IcedCapp]

Penguins have two 2nds and two 3rds in 2026 and 2027. It's quite clear to anyone who is interested in something more than saying "LOL DUBAS SUX I LEARNED TO COUNT TO 1 YESTERDAY SO I'M SUPER SMART" that the Penguins are back loading their assets to lineup for when Sid is gone and the bottom can really fall out.

 

[TooManyHumans]

This makes the Penguins worse, which should improve their draft position thus eventually making them better. Just embrace the tank and trade anyone who has any value.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Have to admit that's a pretty solid lineup. Caps did a much better job trying to compete than the Pens did during Crosby/Ovechkin's final few years.

Ryan Leonard will be there for the playoffs too, likely displacing Vrana, leaving a third line of Mangiapane-Eller-Leonard. Not too shabby.

Feel very grateful as a Caps fan for Brian MacLellan and team. It sucks they couldn’t continue the momentum after 2018 but he’s done as good a job as you could ask retooling the team over the past several years.

Big difference between Caps and Pens was the Caps aggressively tried to retool when they were trending down while the Pens made some head scratching moves to keep the window open. And if we’re being honest, the Caps got a little lucky too. It sucks that Backstrom had to LTIRetire but not having to pay Backstrom, Kuznetsov, and Oshie and having their roster spots and cap hits free was very helpful as well.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Ryan Leonard will be there for the playoffs too, likely displacing Vrana, leaving a third line of Mangiapane-Eller-Leonard. Not too shabby.

Feel very grateful as a Caps fan for Brian MacLellan and team. It sucks they couldn’t continue the momentum after 2018 but he’s done as good a job as you could ask retooling the team over the past several years.

Big difference between Caps and Pens was the Caps aggressively tried to retool when they were trending down while the Pens made some head scratching moves to keep the window open. And if we’re being honest, the Caps got a little lucky too. It sucks that Backstrom had to LTIRetire but not having to pay Backstrom, Kuznetsov, and Oshie and having their roster spots and cap hits free was very helpful as well.

Yeah this is the big difference between the two teams. JR kept trying to dig in more to get another cup out of the Penguins in the 2018-2021 window, then he randomly quit and left a good NHL roster but nothing in the system beyond it. Hextall and Dubas have just made it worse.

This is an aside to this deal, but one thing I'll give credit to JR for was that this team never really lacked young players even with how many draft picks and prospects he was trading. Granted a lot of those were prospects he inherited, but he regularly acquired young guys that would play regular minutes for the Penguins. He butchered their future but he was really good at keeping the team competitive and stocked with at least some good young players. Now their best young player is....uh, Puustinen maybe?

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Yeah this is the big difference between the two teams. JR kept trying to dig in more to get another cup out of the Penguins in the 2018-2021 window, then he randomly quit and left a good NHL roster but nothing in the system beyond it. Hextall and Dubas have just made it worse.

This is an aside to this deal, but one thing I'll give credit to JR for was that this team never really lacked young players even with how many draft picks and prospects he was trading. Granted a lot of those were prospects he inherited, but he regularly acquired young guys that would play regular minutes for the Penguins. He butchered their future but he was really good at keeping the team competitive and stocked with at least some good young players. Now their best young player is....uh, Puustinen maybe?

The bolded used to drive me nuts about Pittsburgh, and not just with JR in charge. Guys like Khunhackl, Rust, Guentzel, Blueger, Murray, Lafferty, Simon... all just plug and play guys who provided terrific depth (or better) at cheap prices. Felt like there was a never-ending cycle of solid spare parts to plug in around 87, 71, and 58. "Oh hey who is this random 3rd round pick from Pittsburgh who is going to drop 25 goals this year? Must be nice."

Looking back on Pittsburgh's recent drafts and it's been... bad? Has anyone drafted since 2016 really been a contributor? Blomqvist looks like one but struggling to think of anyone else. Their draft classes becoming worse also coincides with JR's tenure, but it seems like he was more focused on filling out the NHL roster rather than drafting for the future.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The bolded used to drive me nuts about Pittsburgh, and not just with JR in charge. Guys like Khunhackl, Rust, Guentzel, Blueger, Murray, Lafferty, Simon... all just plug and play guys who provided terrific depth (or better) at cheap prices. Felt like there was a never-ending cycle of solid spare parts to plug in around 87, 71, and 58. "Oh hey who is this random 3rd round pick from Pittsburgh who is going to drop 25 goals this year? Must be nice."

Looking back on Pittsburgh's recent drafts and it's been... bad? Has anyone drafted since 2016 really been a contributor? Blomqvist looks like one but struggling to think of anyone else. Their draft classes becoming worse also coincides with JR's tenure, but it seems like he was more focused on filling out the NHL roster rather than drafting for the future.

Yeah and it wasn't just guys he drafted either. He got some UDFAs like Sheary, O'Connor and Aston Reese along with trading for guys like Marino, McCann and Pettersson. Even with all of the draft picks he was trading, he was still keeping the team stocked with young talent at the NHL level.

His late year drafts were terrible, and a part of it was also how many of those picks and prospects he was trading. But at the same time, he was still adding young guys to the team through those other avenues. It's just when he left, that stopped and now the impact of his constant pick trading is coming to full sight. Had he stayed and continue to do what he did in his last few years with the Penguins, maybe that can would still be kicked down the road further.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Should be obvious now that Dubas is tanking. Pens need the next wave of top young talent.

How?

Dubas trades picks like they're meaningless.

I'm telling you the Pens brought this guy in to be the fall guy. "quick retool" haha,

They could see what was going to happen, and bring in the young stats dork to take the fall for the old guard so they can continue on and not look bad.

Poor Dubas (I don't care)

 

[kanucks25]

What exactly is it about Dubas that made Pens ownership believe he was like the only option?

Apparently it was already determined he was going to be their GM months before he took the job, and that was when he was still Toronto's GM.

a 3rd 3 years down the road for a solid 3rd line vet lol...

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

How?

Dubas trades picks like they're meaningless.

I'm telling you the Pens brought this guy in to be the fall guy. "quick retool" haha,

They could see what was going to happen, and bring in the young stats dork to take the fall for the old guard so they can continue on and not look bad.

Poor Dubas (I don't care)

They're not paying him $40 million to be the fall guy. He's in charge of the rebuild. That is what he'll ultimately be judged on.

What exactly is it about Dubas that made Pens ownership believe he was like the only option?

Apparently it was already determined he was going to be their GM months before he took the job, and that was when he was still Toronto's GM.

a 3rd 3 years down the road for a solid 3rd line vet lol...

FSG thought they found hockey's version of Theo Epstein.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

a 3rd 3 years down the road for a solid 3rd line vet lol...

In the Penguins forum we discussed 2nd v 3rd on what Eller would get.

He got a 3rd from a middling team and a 5th.

I'd say that we did well. I really don't care if the third is from 2027 or 2025.

 

[Empoleon8771]

What exactly is it about Dubas that made Pens ownership believe he was like the only option?

Apparently it was already determined he was going to be their GM months before he took the job, and that was when he was still Toronto's GM.

a 3rd 3 years down the road for a solid 3rd line vet lol...

You mean the kind of return that fringe 3C/4C brings back every year at the deadline?

 

[kanucks25]

In the Penguins forum we discussed 2nd v 3rd on what Eller would get.

He got a 3rd from a middling team and a 5th.

I'd say that we did well. I really don't care if the third is from 2027 or 2025.

Typically picks are worth less the further out they are.

In the grand scheme of things when it comes to the Pens rebuild it doesn't really matter but from a GM's perspective, a current draft pick makes your team better faster than a later one.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Typically picks are worth less the further out they are.

In the grand scheme of things when it comes to the Pens rebuild it doesn't really matter but from a GM's perspective, a current draft pick makes your team better faster than a later one.

For sure. I lean towards a 2027 3rd from Caps being better than a Carolina Hurricanes 2025 3rd for example.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Man the moment Dubas comes into question its like all reason goes flying out the window. How are people losing their minds over a 35 year old 30 point center getting a 3rd and 5th? You think if anyone else was here Eller returns a 1st?

 

[Hivemind]

He got a 3rd from a middling team and a 5th.

Huh?

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Doobler’s gonna dooble.

Pens have been bent over in that deal

Yep.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Huh?

The season is 82 games.

I look at the moves they have made and the 3rd is 2027.

I could be wrong but my projecting suggests it won't be a 90th overall pick.

 

[Hivemind]

The season is 82 games.

I look at the moves they have made and the 3rd is 2027.

I could be wrong but my projecting suggests it won't be a 90th overall pick.

None of that is what you said. You said "a 3rd from a middling team." The Capitals are not a middling team right now, they're competing for a division title and have been one of the best teams in the East.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

None of that is what you said. You said "a 3rd from a middling team." The Capitals are not a middling team right now, they're competing for a division title and have been one of the best teams in the East.

The season is 82 games long. The Caps can prove me wrong.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Typically picks are worth less the further out they are.

In the grand scheme of things when it comes to the Pens rebuild it doesn't really matter but from a GM's perspective, a current draft pick makes your team better faster than a later one.

The last time Eller was traded, he was traded for a 2nd in 3 drafts from now. This time, he brought back a 3rd in 3 drafts from now plus a 5th this year.

That doesn't seem that dissimilar to me.

None of that is what you said. You said "a 3rd from a middling team." The Capitals are not a middling team right now, they're competing for a division title and have been one of the best teams in the East.

The Caps are more likely than not going to be a middling team when that pick rolls around. That doesn't even mean bad, I think most fans would have them as a wildcard team now and going forward.

They'll be in that 12th-18th range for teams most likely when that pick rolls around.