The New Jersey Devils ended last season with huge issues at the center position. By Game 5 of the first round matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes, Cody Glass was playing second-line center. Erik Haula and Curtis Lazar were ineffective after they suffered injuries during the year. Dawson Mercer never settled into the position. Jack Hughes got injured, and nobody from the Utica Comets stepped up. Justin Dowling played big minutes for the Devils last season, but he couldn’t even make the New York Rangers out of training camp, and they have Noah Laba and Sam Carrick taking faceoffs on opening night.
The Devils went into the offseason really needing to address the center position. They re-signed Cody Glass, but that’s pretty much all they did. The Luke Hughes contract drama probably impacted their ability to target anyone of note.
Then in September, the Devils finally made a move to add depth to the position. They signed both Kevin Rooney and Luke Glendening to PTOs.
Both players had good training camp and preseason performances, but Glendening was clearly the better of the two. Rooney left the Devils to sign a two-way deal with the Utah Mammoth. However, they were able to keep Glendening in house.
Glendening had a rough year with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, which is why he was forced to accept a PTO. He had seven points in 77 games played. He’s never been a big point scorer, with a career high 23 points in 2018-19 for the Detroit Red Wings.
One thing Glendening can do is win faceoffs. He won 57 percent of his faceoffs last season and hasn’t won fewer than 55% of his faceoffs since 2017. This is something the Devils have always prioritized, and this will help them when they need someone to win an important faceoff.
Glendening is going to make $775,000 this season on a one-year deal. It’s a no-risk move that can easily be buried if it doesn’t work.