It is no secret that the New Jersey Devils failed to get much out of their fourth line this past season, but it is unlikely nobody thought the situation was this bad.
Then-general manager Tom Fitzgerald made some efforts to add some depth last offseason, signing players like Evgenii Dadonov and Juho Lammikko and bringing in Luke Glendening on a tryout.
Dadonov finished the season with the Devils and recorded only one point, while Lammikko terminated his contract and signed with his former club, ZSC Lions in Switzerland, mid-season.
As for Glendening, he played the most of the bunch, but recorded just four assists in 52 games on an anemic checking line for the Devils. Naturally, the Devils placed Glendening on waivers ahead of the NHL trade deadline, and he was promptly claimed by the center-needy Philadelphia Flyers.
In 18 regular season games with the Flyers, Glendening scored two goals, three assists, and five points, handily surpassing his season total with the Devils in not even half the games.
Now, the 36-year-old is playing top matchup minutes for Rick Tocchet's Flyers, featuring on the fourth line alongside captain and former Frank J. Selke trophy winner Sean Couturier and veteran spark plug Garnet Hathaway.
Glendening tallied a goal in the Flyers' dominant 3-0 shutout of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 of the first round while being a valuable contributor defensively.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the journeyman faceoff specialist has played 18:09 against Crosby at 5-on-5, allowing just nine scoring chances and zero goals against. Glendening has also been flawless in his minutes against superstar talents Erik Karlsson (No goals, nine chances in 15:28) and Evgeni Malkin (Zero goals and seven chances in 12:37).
The Devils, meanwhile, ended their season using Paul Cotter and Mark McLaughlin at the center position at various points, and it doesn't seem that either player has a future in New Jersey at this point in time.
Although the Devils had no real chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs from January on, Glendening has proved himself a worthy playoff player, while Fitzgerald and Co. have egg on their faces for giving him away for free on waivers.
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