Let me start by saying this: I don’t know Tanner Glass as a person. He might be the nicest guy on the planet. Maybe he’s Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Santa Claus rolled into one.
Unfortunately, the first two people were not known for their work along the boards and the third’s slap shot is confined to an Arctic fantasy team. Likewise, Tanner Glass’ hockey game does not appear to be NHL quality.
But on Friday the Rangers shipped two other players, Jesper Fast and J.T. Miller, to the AHL while Glass, a player who contributes far less, remained on the team.
Glass ranks at the bottom, with Dominic Moore and Carl Hagelin, on the Rangers in Corsi +/- , which measures the shots on goal, missed shots and blocked shots that occur while a player is on the ice. Glass is minus-10. A plus is when the Rangers generate one of those opportunities and a minus is when the opposition does.
Switch to Fenwick, which is a similar measure but without blocked shots, and Glass is at the very bottom.
These are just fancy ways of saying the Rangers have given up far more shooting opportunities when Glass is on the ice than off it, which is a bad thing.
Yes, he's physical. But that alone isn't enough. A bruiser and a fighter can still generate good puck-possession numbers. Just look at Patrick Maroon of the Ducks, who had the highest relative Corsi rating on the team last season.
While the sample size is small, the lack of productivity isn't new for Glass. This has been the case his whole career. And given that Glass contributes very little in the traditional ways like goals and assists, it boggles the mind that he’s still getting ice time, though he did sit out the third period of Thursday's shootout victory over the Hurricanes.
So why does Glass seem to have a guaranteed roster spot in the NHL, unlike Miller and Fast? Looks as though it's about money. Glass’s contract is NHL-caliber; he's in the first year of a three-year deal that carries a cap hit of $1.45 million.
Maybe Miller and Fast aren't the answer, but at least they generated more positive results while they were on the ice and they have more upside. And with the Rangers (2-3-0) struggling at the start of their season, icing a veteran whose numbers have never been good seems to be far more counterproductive than hoping youth develops.
Again, it’s nothing personal with Glass. He could be a pretty nice guy. And he’s certainly far better at hockey than I’ll ever be.
But that doesn’t mean he'll help the Rangers win games, now or in the future. That should be a requirement of a player on game night.