Who is Tanner Glass

 

 

 

 

On July 1, 2012 the Penguins signed 6’1 210 pound left winger Tanner Glass, an unrestricted free agent left winger from the Winnipeg Jets to a two year contract worth 1.1 million dollars per year.  At first I have to admit I was not happy about this move.  I am an avowed Arron Asham fan, and I really thought the Penguins were making a mistake letting another rugged player with leadership qualities leave the fold.  Especially a guy who could contribute the odd goal and in a tough Atlantic Division, stand up for his teammates when necessary.   After all, Asham had built himself a reputation as a tough customer, and during the 2011 playoff loss to Tampa Bay, Asham was one of the better offensive producers in that series.  So what did this guy have that Asham did not, and why did we sign him as opposed to offering Asham, who wanted to stay, a contract?  First, let me give me finish the some of the history of Tanner Glass as a professional.  He was drafted in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Entry draft, 265^th overall by the Florida Panthers.  He played four years at Dartmouth College from 2003-2007, ending his college career as captain.  He went on to play for the Rochester Americans in the AHL, making alternate captain in his second season, and earning limited time in the NHL with Florida.  In 2009, he joined the Vancouver Canucks, and earned a spot on their fourth line, playing 73 games in the 2010-2011 season.  He chipped in 3 goals and 7 assists during the regular season when Vancouver won the President’s Trophy and appeared in 24 post season games for the Canucks before they were eliminated in the Finals by the Boston Bruins.  Glass left the Canucks to join the Winnipeg Jets for the 2011-12 season.  He posted career highs in all categories playing in 78 games, scoring 5 goals, 11 assists and 16 points.  Okay, so he is a decent mucker with some leadership skills as evidenced by his captaincy at Dartmouth and his role as assistant captain during his second season in the AHL.  Why does he help the team more than Asham?

Actually there are many ways, starting with his age, and durability.  Glass at 29 years old is a younger player, and he has appeared in 73 and 78 games respectively the past two seasons.  He is also a much faster skater, and as they say, “speed kills!”   Glass has earned a reputation as a relentless fore-checker and has the speed to raise a lot more havoc on the fourth line.  In addition, Glass plays a very physical gritty game outside of the fisticuffs, ending last season with 246 hits, placing him 10^th overall in the NHL!  He would have had the second most hits on the Penguins with that number last season behind only Orpik’s 259 hits.  He added 51 blocked shots, placing him second among Jets forwards in that category.  Finally, Glass logged the fourth most short-handed minutes on the team among forwards and 13:25 overall TOI per game.  Glass had 7 fighting majors and 73 penalty minutes  as well and does not shy away from sticking up for his teammates.  In comparison Asham had 8 fighting majors and 76 penalty minutes, hardly a huge difference in terms of  physicality in that manner, though Asham appeared in 14 fewer games.  However, where Glass had 246 hits last season, Asham had 95 hits, giving Glass roughly 2.5 times more hits.  Asham had 8 blocked shots in comparison to the 51 noted for Glass, giving Glass more than 6 times the blocked shots and Glass had 86 shots on goal in comparison to the 49 shots registered by Asham.  So if you want to assess the addition of Glass to replace a gritty player in Asham, it appears  that Shero again made a nice off the radar move to improve the team.  Statistically speaking, he lost very little in the way of “protection” by going to Glass, and improved a great deal in speed, fore-check, penalty kill options ,  and shots on goal. If you define grit and the need to be “hard to play against” outside of  fighting, to include hits and shot blocking, you just made a significant upgrade!  In short, Glass will provide more versatility with his speed, fore-check and penalty kill abilities, while adding a lot more consistent physicality on a game in game out basis, he will block shots and as you saw in his bout with Asham on Sunday, you have not lost anything in the willingness to go to war when necessary. Welcome Tanner Glass!