Lars Eller Becomes First Danish Player to Skate in 1,000 NHL Games

While Denmark doesn’t have the strongest hockey culture and tradition, Lars Eller grew up loving the sport… but didn’t necessarily see a future in it.

“To make it to the NHL was not something I really found realistic when I was just a young kid,” said the native of Rødovre, a Copenhagen suburb. “Then later on, as I got older, that grew on me and started to become a possibility and then became a reality. It's been a fun journey.”

Eller is playing in his 1,000^th game on tonight against the Canadiens, becoming the first Danish-born player in NHL history to reach that milestone. He is the 36th active player, and 388th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000 game milestone. Eller has split his first 999 games between St. Louis (7), Montreal (435), Washington (488), Colorado (24) and Pittsburgh (45).

“I'm proud of the accomplishment to stay in the league for that long. It's a privilege, and I feel privileged to play with so many good teams and so many good players,” he said. “I'm enjoying every day and I feel grateful, looking back on how much I've been a part of and experienced in this league, and all the people I met along the way. It’s very special. I'm so glad to be where I am here with the Penguins.”

Eller has become a tremendous two-way player who can be used in all situations, but is especially effective in a third-line center role with his hockey sense and awareness. Eller is a cerebral sort of person with a wealth of experience that he uses in a mentor role with Pittsburgh’s younger players.

He’s such a consummate veteran it’s almost hard to imagine that Eller was a younger player himself at one point, preparing for the 2007 NHL Draft after scoring 18 goals and 55 points in 39 games for his junior team, Frolunda in Sweden.

“It was a very memorable day,” Eller said. “Just remember lots of meetings leading up to it, lots of excitement. Don't know where you're gonna go, it feels like there's a pretty good chance you're gonna go in the first round, but you just don't know.”

Eller became the first player born, raised, and trained in Denmark to be selected in the first round when the St. Louis Blues chose him with the No. 13 pick in the 2007 NHL Draft. He got to share that moment with his dad Olaf, who made a name for himself as a coach after wrapping up his own playing career that featured stops in the Superisligaen, the highest-level league in Denmark.

“It's not common for our country to have a lot of NHL players, let alone first-round picks. So, I felt like it was I was proud of my accomplishment, of being able to compete with the best players in my age at that level,” Eller said. “But it was weird, because all the other players ahead of me had played in North America, I hadn't played against a single one. So, there was no comparison. How much better are they? Are they better?”

Erik Karlsson – drafted 15^th overall by Ottawa the following year – was Eller’s teammate in Frolunda, as they played together at both the junior and senior levels of the organization for two seasons.

“Obviously he went high, you expect him to have a good career. But I think it took him a little while to get established on what he was going to be,” Karlsson said. “I think the role that he had in juniors isn't necessarily the role that he had to take here. It took him a little while to figure it out. He was a really skilled guy, and he's still a skilled guy. But he was a top, top prospect in juniors, right? And if you are, everyone thinks that you're gonna be a top-six forward, a top-four forward, and score tons of goals and do this and that's gonna be your role. But that's not his role.”

Eller would start learning what would make him successful after transitioning to North America for the 2009-10 season, debuting with the Blues on Nov. 5, 2009 – getting his first NHL goal on Flames goalie Miika Kiprusoff in a 2-1 loss to Calgary. T.J. Oshie had won a faceoff back and Erik Johnson teed off a shot that deflected off Eller’s glove and in.

“I remember just being on the ice there with Oshie and Erik Johnson, they assisted on me. Later on in my career. I got to play with both of them again later on away from St. Louis where it started,” Eller said. “So yeah, it’s fun to think back on things like that. It was a surreal moment come true to step onto an NHL arena and play an NHL game.”

Eller got traded to Montreal the following summer, which is where he met Scott Gomez, a two-time Stanley Cup Champion with New Jersey in 2000 and ’03 who did an excellent job of making his young teammate feel comfortable.

“Every time we were on the road, he was like, you’re going with me to dinner,” Eller said. “Most nights at home, in between games, he would say come over and have dinner or have a glass of wine or something. We’ll go out and play golf, whatever. That just makes you feel like you’re a part of the team, and especially when it’s someone like that, a very experienced player who takes you under their wing.”

After his first season with the Canadiens, Eller really started to establish himself in the role he plays to this day, picking up 16 goals in 79 games during the 2011-12 campaign. He spent six years in Montreal before getting traded to Washington, where Eller’s goal with 7:37 remaining in the third period in Game 5 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights gave the Capitals a 4-3 win and clinched the first championship in Washington's 43 seasons in the NHL.

“I coached against him for many years, and he was always a guy that was hard to play against. My most vivid recollection of him is when he was playing in Washington, and we've had a well-chronicled amount of battles over the years with those guys,” Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan said with a smile.

“It seemed like we were always battling for playoff spots, and we always inevitably faced each other in the second round. We felt like at the time, both our team and their team were two of the best teams in hockey, and he was a big part of the Washington Capitals in those years.”

After parts of seven seasons there – Eller finished last year with Colorado after the Avalanche acquired him at the trade deadline – he inked a two-year deal with the Penguins in the offseason.

It was an important signing for Pittsburgh, as finding players who not only accept, but embrace a third-line role – and who bring elite defensive ability with an offensive dimension – are hard to find.

“I think that's where Lars’ value has been so great for us,” Sullivan said. “I think the biggest thing that I've learned from him now that he's on our team is just how good of a person he is, how much he cares about winning, how much he cares about this team, and I think you can see it with how he interacts with some of our younger players.”

The older players enjoy Eller as well, as he plays in the big card game on the plane with Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Karlsson – who is thrilled to see his old friend achieve such a mark in the NHL.

“I think he's a smart guy on and off the ice, and I think that that's probably predominantly what’s carried from his first 1,000 games. Hopefully, he has another 1,000 in him,” Karlsson said with a smile.