Twenty months after leaving the District ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline in March 2023, the man who scored the biggest goal in Washington franchise history is returning to DC in a deal with one of the Caps’ biggest rivals. Late Tuesday afternoon, the Caps announced that they have reacquired veteran center Lars Eller from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a pair of draft picks.

“We are pleased to welcome Lars back to our organization,” said Chris Patrick, Caps senior vice president and general manager. “This move increases our depth at the critical center position. Lars is an incredibly versatile player and we are confident he will strengthen our team, provide overall depth to our squad and help us compete.”

The Caps send their third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft and Chicago’s fifth-round selection in the 2025 Draft (previously acquired) to Pittsburgh for the Eller, the NHL’s all-time games played leader among Denmark born players (1,053 games) . Now in his 16th NHL season, the 35-year-old Eller is in the final season of a two-year contract he signed with Pittsburgh in the summer of 2023, a deal with a salary cap hit of $2.45 million for this season.

Originally a first-round pick (13th overall) of the St. Louis Blues in the 2007 NHL Draft, Eller has suited up for five different NHL teams over the course of his career, but his 488-game tenure Washington is where the biggest part is. he has spent time in any organization.

Washington acquired Eller from Montreal in a June 24, 2016 trade that cost the Capitals a pair of second-round picks, one in 2017 and the other in 2018. Eller spent the better part of seven years in Washington before being dealt to Colorado. March 1, 2023; the Caps in return harvested a second-rounder in that trade.

Although he has never recorded a 20-goal season in the NHL, Eller has recorded double-digit goals in 10 straight seasons going into the 2024-2025 season. He enjoyed the best years of his career here in D.C., where he will forever be remembered for scoring the winning goal in the third period of Washington’s Stanley Cup game in Game 5 of the Cup Final against Vegas on June 7, 2018.

Eller returns to Washington with 180 career goals and 226 assists for 406 points. He hasn’t missed a game since the Caps traded him to the Avalanche, where he played 123 straight games with Colorado and Pittsburgh. This season with the Penguins, Eller had four goals and seven points in 17 games at the time of the deal.

The addition of Eller appears designed to give the Caps a reliable veteran presence in the middle of the third line, where Hendrix Lapierre and Mike Sgarbossa have split time up to this point in the season. Eller also gives Washington another reliable faceoff artist and a guy who is not only an experienced penalty killer but also familiar with the basic framework of a Scotty Allen-coached penalty kill.

Eller joins potential linemate Jakub Vrana as the second member of Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship team to return to the District after making a few stops somewhere in between. Vrana was invited to training camp on a PTO basis and made the Washington roster out of camp.