The Washington Capitals announced on Tuesday night that they have acquired center Lars Eller from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2027 third-round pick and the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2025 fifth-round pick, which was acquired via the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 7 in a trade that sent defenseman Joel Edmundson north of the border.
Eller can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and carries a $2.45 million cap hit this season.
The 35-year-old has four goals and seven points in 17 games for Pittsburgh this season and 182 goals and 409 points in 1,053 career regular-season games for Pittsburgh, Washington, the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, and Colorado Avalanche.
Eller scored 87 goals and 208 points in 488 regular-season games in addition to nine goals and 31 points in 59 postseason outings with Washington from 2016-2023. They acquired him from Montreal on June 24, 2016, and traded him to Colorado on March 1, 2023 with Eller approaching unrestricted free agency.
Eller scored the goal that clinched Washington their first Stanley Cup in franchise history against the Vegas Golden Knights on June 7, 2018. He recorded seven goals (which also included the tally that kept Washington’s season alive in Game 3 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime with the team down 0-2 in the first round) and 18 points in 24 games during the team’s championship run.
With Hendrix Lapierre and Michael Sgarbossa struggling to cement themselves as the team’s third-line center, Washington executed the trade. The team entered Tuesday night third in the Metropolitan Division with a .714 points percentage (10-4-0 record). The Capitals host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night (7:30 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market) before starting a three-game Western Conference road trip in Denver on Friday.
Eller could be the first of many dominoes to fall in Pittsburgh, who fell 7-1 to the Dallas Stars at home on Monday and is a Metropolitan Division-worst 6-9-2 (.412 points percentage) entering Wednesday’s game vs. the Detroit Red Wings. There was a report that came out on Tuesday that the team is open towards trading anyone except captain Sidney Crosby with the team, who has not qualified for the postseason since 2022, entering a rebuild.
By Harrison Brown
