Skating lessons for NHL player? It works for Eller

WA S HI N G TON» Capitals center Lars Eller has skated the same way for the past 25 years. It’s the same mechanics he has employed during hours and hours of practice since he was little. But during the offseason, Eller decided to change his technique.

Eller has worked with three skating coaches over the past four to five years, incorporating bits and pieces from each into his game. This past summer, he worked with skating coach Wendy Marco to make more significant adjustments.

The 30-year-old center wanted to get his upper body more in sync with his lower body to build up his speed. With a focus on his arms, he worked on his alignment, balance and point of gravity to move better on the ice. With the Capitals’ new aggressive system so reliant on skating, Eller wanted to be prepared, but trying to change one’s mechanics established naturally over time is difficult.

“When you’ve skated a certain way for 25 years and you try to change your mechanics in five or six sessions, five or six hours, when you spend 10,000 hours doing something else, then it’s hard,” Eller said. “You have to think about other things on the ice too.”

Eller said the tweaks probably aren’t noticeable on television, but he constantly reminds himself of the adjustments while he’s on the ice. More often than not, he’ll go back and look at the film of the previous game to see where he can improve his skating. He did a lot of video work in the offseason with Marco to identify exactly what ways he could improve his stride, explosiveness and speed on the ice.

Eller, who is playing in his 11th NHL season, is basically trying to teach himself how to walk again - just in hockey form.

“So far it doesn’t hurt me to think about it,” Eller said. “Sometimes I just watch clips after [games] in case I see, ‘here okay I can do a better job of getting my upper body involved there, the separation’ . . . so yeah. It’s very technical.”

Eller’s work ethic and attention to detail, both with outside coaches and Capitals skills coach Dwayne Blais, made Coach Todd Reirden confident the center would have a strong season.

“He puts the work in and continues to be the perfect guy for us in that third hole, and, you know, when things don’t go well, we move him up and that is a luxury I definitely have,” Reirden said of Eller.

So far through 16 games, Eller has 11 points, with five goals and six assists.

Earlier in the season, he also assisted on the winning goals in back-to-back games — Chicago and Calgary — to open the team’s five-game trip.