On the scant occasions the Penguins have a practice session at their facility in Cranberry on a Sunday, they are typically sparsely attended. Especially when it’s football season.
That’s to say most folks in Western Pennsylvania would rather worry about their fantasy football teams instead of watching the Penguins fine tune their puck retrievals.
But this past Sunday offered a different crowd. A crew of approximately 30 burly Danes all piled into the stands of the primary rink at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex and affixed a Danish flag to a wall overlooking the ice.
As members of the Penguins entered the rink one by one, the gaggle of Danish fans patiently waited for the greatest hockey player their country has produced to emerge from the dressing room.
As it was, forward Lars Eller was the final of the 23 players who practiced Sunday to step onto the ice. Once he did, a hearty provincial ovation greeted him.
“It was great,” Eller said of the group that also attended Saturday’s 5-2 home win against the Calgary Flames at PPG Paints Arena. “I saw them there. They’ve got a great thing going. Good for them. Happy to see them get together around the game of hockey.”
Hockey in Denmark involves a somewhat exclusive community. That’s a nice way of saying it’s not that country’s most popular sport.
Soccer and even handball generate more interest in the country with an estimated population of 5.9 million. Hockey is a little further down the list in the realm of badminton (a sport in which Denmark has been historically dominant).
Denmark’s top league is the wonderfully monikered Metal Ligaen, and it consists of just nine teams.
“It’s regional I would say,” said Eller, a native of Rødovre in eastern Denmark. “In some cities, they have a strong culture for it, some going back decades, having good hockey teams and a lot of kids playing hockey. Then there (are) some cities where there is nothing. It’s not the biggest sport. It’s probably not the second or third either. But it’s up there.”
Eller took up the sport because it was the family business. His father, Olaf, played 18 seasons in Denmark as a forward before becoming a coach, and three brothers have played the sport as well.
“It’s just natural,” Eller said. “I grew up at the rink it felt like.”
Part of that growth took place at rinks in neighboring Sweden. At the age of 16, Eller joined the Frolunda organization, which competed in Sweden’s Eliteserien (today called the Swedish Hockey League).
If Eller had any hopes of playing professional hockey at a high level, moving to a country with more resources in the sport was something of a necessity.
“I would say it was a path that a lot of guys took when they felt they were ready for the next step or a more competitive league,” said Eller, who suggested it took him two or three months to learn Swedish. “It was either that or keep playing men’s hockey in Denmark.
“I felt like that it was just the best path for me to go play competitive junior hockey in Sweden then make my way into the elite league there. It was a really good path for me. There (were) some great years. At the time, it was what most of the Danish guys — those that had aspirations to do more — they would usually go to Sweden.”
Eller’s aspirations to reach the NHL emerged quickly after the move.
“My second year in Sweden, I really took a big step, and I felt like I was just as good or could compete with the best Swedish kids in my age group,” Eller said. “Sweden always had a long history of having several players making the NHL. So I said, ‘OK, if I can do as good as the best Swedish kids, then maybe there’s a chance.’ I got drafted in the first round, and that’s where that picture started growing. Before that, the best Danish players really just made it to Sweden and had a career there. That was the road map for it.”
The path Eller took to the NHL wasn’t one well-traveled. Before him, only three Danish players had been drafted by NHL clubs: defenseman Jan Popiel by the Chicago Blackhawks (second round, No. 10 overall) in 1964, forward Frans Nielsen by the New York Islanders (third round, No. 87 overall) in 2002 and forward Jannik Hansen by the Vancouver Canucks (ninth round, No. 287 overall) in 2004.
(Note: Popiel was born in Denmark but raised in Canada.)
Eller wound up being selected by the St. Louis Blues in the first round (No. 13 overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft. Since then, he has embarked on a fruitful 15-year career in the NHL with the Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Colorado Avalanche and Penguins, whom he joined as a free-agent signing this past offseason.
In the early stages of the 2023-24 campaign, Eller hasn’t enjoyed a great deal of success considering he has one assist and penalties in all three games he has played for the Penguins. But it’s still early, and Eller’s game intrigues management.
“He’s a real cerebral, two-way center iceman,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He thinks it really well. He sees it. He’s one of those guys that has a lot of experience in the league, has played under a number of different coaches and different types of systems. He tends to pick things up quickly. I’m sure the environment he grew up probably has an influence on that. We know what his defensive game is like and his body of work, I think, proves that he’s a real solid defending center iceman.”
All of those attributes have led to Eller being the most accomplished of the 18 NHL players Denmark has produced. With 957 career games, he has the most career NHL games by any Dane and is likely to reach the 1,000-game barrier this season. Additionally, he is the only Danish player to win the Stanley Cup. In 2019, he scored the championship-clinching goal that secured the Capitals’ only title.
By just about any measure, Eller is the standard bearer for hockey in his country. Granted, that’s akin to being the greatest snowman builder in Arizona’s history.
But its clear Eller understands and treasures his place in Danish hockey.
“I’m very proud of it,” said Eller, 34. “I think when I’m done playing one day … I’ll look back at all that with a big smile. I feel very fortunate and privileged. Really proud of it. I hope that it maybe inspired some younger kids to pick up a stick and a pair of skates instead of kicking a soccer ball or something.
“I’ve always loved hockey from an early age. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
Source : TribLIVE