No Pressure on Lars Eller in Contract Year; ‘I Want to Win’ (+)

You can toss around whatever descriptions and cliches you want about athletes playing in a contract year. Pittsburgh Penguins veteran forward Lars Eller has outgrown them.

Eller, 35, is entering his second and final year on a deal with the Penguins, with a $2.45 million salary cap hit. He’s not feeling the anxiety often associated with living up to – or beyond – some standard to increase his negotiating leverage, or even to prove he’s worth signing another deal at his age.

“I think now it’s a little bit different than earlier in my career,” Eller said this week during training camp. “I’ve tried and done everything. There’s not so much pressure to perform to get a new deal.

“I want to keep playing, but I think for me it just comes down to, I hate losing. I want to win hockey games. I want to win a Cup with the Penguins, and all the rest will sort itself out.”

Sorting out where Eller might land in a Penguins lineup that could see changes might end up being anticlimactic. He could well be right back in the third-line center role.