In the early going of 2013-14, some of the most important contributions to the Montreal Canadiens have come from an impressive group of young skaters. More remarkable still, those players aren't named Subban or Price or Pacioretty.
Lars Eller, with five points, leads the team in scoring. The 24-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough lockout-shortened campaign, putting up 30 points in 48 contests, and so far he's been even better this year. He isn't playing carefully sheltered minutes, either; Eller leads the Canadiens' forward group in even-strength ice time and plays a regular shift on the penalty kill, too. Just for good measure, he's also been the best faceoff man among the Habs' regular centers.
There were more than a few eyebrows raised when Montreal made Eller the central return in trade for goaltender Jaroslav Halak; despite Eller's impressive draft pedigree (13th overall in 2007), he'd been relatively unimpressive in North America. Now it's looking like he was just a bit of a late bloomer.
At the moment, the line Eller is centering is having almost as much success as he is. 2012 third-overall pick Alex Galche ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Montreal Canadiens’ Young Guns Packing Powerful Punch
October 8th, 2013 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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