When the New York Rangers made their surprise run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, one of the keys to their success was being able to roll four lines. Their fourth line of Dominic Moore, Brian Boyle, and Derek Dorsett was effective in both shutting down the opposition and chipping in the occasional goal.
With Boyle and Dorsett having departed in the off-season via free agency and trade respectively, the Rangers needed to remake their fourth line. Tanner Glass was brought in with the intention of helping solidify that line, but signing him to a three-year contract worth an average of $1.45 million per year was a questionable move to say the least. Unsurprisingly, Glass has not played well whatsoever. However, there is hope for Rangers fans, as newcomer James Sheppard might permanently replace Glass in the team’s regular lineup.
The Glass Experiment Has (Predictably) Failed
Glass, 31, is really nothing more than a middleweight fighter who isn’t even great at that one job, which also happens to be a dying profession in the ever-evolving NHL. Fighting is gradually being phased out, as the game is now more about speed, skill, and puck possession.
Speaking of puck possession, Glass is easily the worst player on the Rangers from a statistical standpoint, and one of the worst in the NHL. He is known as a physical player who will take the body, but isn’t an effective hit supposed to move a player off the puck and help one’s own team gain possession? That doesn’t seem to be the case with Glass. His 5-on-5 Corsi-for percentage (the percentage of total shot attempts that belong to the Rangers in 5-on-5 situations while he is on the ice) is a brutal 42.9%.
To put this into more context and to illustrate how much Glass drags down his the players around him, his line mates’ Corsi-for percentage throughout the season when NOT playing with him is nearly 10 percentage points higher, at 52.2%. This gap is also the worst of any player on the Rangers with at least 50 minutes played, and the 13th-worst in the ENTIRE NHL.
For those who are not as interested in fancy stats, we can look at a traditional metric: plus/minus. I personally tend to take this statistic with a grain of salt, but when you’re a -13 on a team that has scored 44 more goals than its opponents, you must be doing something wrong. The “you” in this theoretical scenario applies exactly in real life to one Tanner Glass. Then there’s the fact that he has a whopping three points (all assists) in 49 games played this season. That includes a recent hot streak of recording one assist in two consecutive games!
Yes, to be fair, fourth liners are not relied upon to produce points (although some occasional contributions on offense should be expected). But they should be able to defend well and limit scoring chances against — just like Glass showed in this gem of a performance back in 2012 when he played for the Winnipeg Jets:
On 3/24/12, Tanner Glass was on the ice for 0 scoring chances for and 13 scoring chances against in 13.1 minutes of ice time.
— Tanner Glass Facts (@T_Glass_Facts) January 23, 2015
Then, throwing stats out the window, we can just use the eye test. All anyone can reasonably ask out of a player is to put forth 100% effort all the time. Glass, however, has a nasty tendency to become lazy on back checks, as exemplified on a goal that was scored by Nashville’s Mike Ribeiro last month (watch Glass, #15, as he trails the play). The goal proved to be the game-winner for the Predators over the Rangers.
Sheppard to the Rescue?
Despite Glass’s obvious shortcomings and ineffectiveness as a player, he seems to be a favorite of otherwise brilliant New York head coach Alain Vigneault, who has chosen to dress Glass fairly regularly this season (Vigneault also knew and coached Glass in Vancouver several years ago), despite almost always having better options like J.T. Miller, Jesper Fast, and the recently-traded Lee Stempniak.
Stempniak performed decently well for the Rangers but his style of game was not especially suitable for the fourth line, and Vigneault sometimes healthy scratched him. After pulling off a blockbuster trade to land puck-moving defenseman Keith Yandle from Arizona, New York was still looking for more depth at the forward position prior to the trade deadline — particularly someone with a different style from Stempniak and a little more versatility.
Stempniak was dealt to Winnipeg for prospect Carl Klingberg in a move that also gave the Rangers some salary cap wiggle room to bring in another forward who would meet their aforementioned needs. Enter James Sheppard, a versatile bottom-6 player from the San Jose Sharks, who the Rangers acquired for a fourth-round draft pick. Sheppard, 26, can play center — where he is a decent faceoff man — and either wing position, offering the Rangers more flexibility among their depth forwards.
With the emergence of J.T. Miller and the chemistry he has shown on the third line with Kevin Hayes and Carl Hagelin, as well as the return of Jesper Fast from a knee injury, Sheppard might be the last piece of the puzzle needed to break Glass and finally convince Vigneault that his optimal lineup would not feature #15. After participating in warm-ups on March 2 but sitting out the game mainly as a result of his hectic travel schedule, Sheppard made his Rangers debut on March 4, replacing Glass in a hard-fought 2-1 overtime loss at Detroit. Despite the outcome, the Rangers played well and probably deserved a better fate. Sheppard contributed by logging about 10 minutes of ice time that Vigneault saw as effective.
“For Sheppard’s first game tonight, he played almost 10 minutes,” said Vigneault. “I thought he showed good smarts with and without the puck.” (Ranger Rants)
Sheppard, who had 5 goals and 11 assists this season with San Jose (that’s 13 more points than Glass) will bring more reliability and versatility to the Rangers’ bottom six. He slots in quite nicely as the left wing on Dominic Moore’s line, with Fast completing the line on the right wing. He can also be moved around and help with face-offs when necessary, such as on the penalty kill. His 50% mark on faceoffs is higher than all regular Rangers centers besides Moore.
Naturally, another advantage Sheppard has over Glass is with his possession stats (though this is pretty easy for most players to say). His 5-on-5 Corsi-for percentage of 49.7% is ranked right in the middle of Rangers players, so he is not nearly the detriment to puck possession that Glass is.
Sheppard’s skill-set and style of play should make him a mainstay in the Rangers’ bottom six group of forwards. His presence in the lineup not only adds value to the Rangers in terms of the benefits he directly provides, but he also adds value by subtracting out the liability that is Tanner Glass (I know I have been harsh on Glass, but he has been completely awful for the Rangers). As the Rangers march towards the playoffs and a potential division title, hopefully Vigneault will stick with the optimal lineup he used in Detroit, where Glass was a healthy scratch.
I disagree with all of you putting down Glass.
What he brings to the table isn’t measured in fancy-shmancy statistical percentages.
What I see in #15 is an old school mentality that is maybe the one element in short supply on the current Rangers roster.
What Glass contributes is a hard-nosed attitude and a gritty edge that this team is otherwise lacking.
Yes, maybe Brandon Prust could contribute a little more offensively and maybe Derrick Dorsett could pick up his man more reliably on the back check — and yes, I wish Sather had re-signed one of them. But he didn’t.
However, Tanner Glass is one of the few Rangers who brings some of that grit and aggressive edge to the ice, and the fact that he plays with passion and is there for his teammates is worth more tangentially to the team than some smooth skating floater with a better “Corsi average.’
It takes all different skill sets and personalities to make a winning team. Glass is a part of the puzzle, in the locker room, on the bench, and on the ice.
Rubbish! The anchor doesn’t make the boat…
Glass is probably the best, very best middleweight in the NHL….or at least he was, and now most middleweights won’t even touch him….so Glass is forced to mostly fight heavyweights now. Prust and Glass were once middleweight 5-11, 200 lbers but in the last 2 years Prust has “grown” to 6-2, 205, and Glass to 6-1, 210 lbs (sic). Just look at his opponents this season McQuaid, Strachan, Boll, Martin, Stortini. All of them like 3-4 inches, 20+ pounds heavier.
As for playing the body, match up body checks to minor penalties and Glass easily is 1st on this Ranger team.
Is Glass worth $1.5mi; probably not. But home much were guys like Boogard paid?
In terms of fighting you are probably right. But fighting is dying in today’s NHL. So what value does Glass really provide there?
Also, his ratio of body checks to penalties might be good, but clearly that is not helping him and the Rangers gain control of the puck, as evidenced by his horrific possession numbers. There is a difference between running around hitting everything you can and actually hitting with a purpose.
Glass is not some dumb, mindless assassin like Rindaldi or Stortini.
Glass does not start anything, but he sure as blazes finishes things real
quick. I remember both John Moore & Derek Stepan both patting Glass
on the back for going after they had been mistreated by an opposing player.
There will always be a need for a Glass in the NHL, especially since Sather
has no plans for McIlrath.
Great article, its something all True Ranger fans and Smart Hockey writers have been calling for all season, yet mainstream media and talking heads refused to acknowledge…That #15 does not belong in the Rangers lineup and does not make the team better (making them worse on most nights).
One of the biggest telling points for Sheppards arrival is the deployment of the 4th line in the D-Zone for a majority of the shifts during the game in Detroit. Something that an effective 4th line needs to be able to do to give the Scroing lines a chance to rest and work in the O-Zone. Vingeault had no choice but to use other lines for D-Zone faceoffs because #15 couldn’t handle it.
Thanks for reading and commenting! I agree that it’s good to be able to have a fourth line that won’t be a liability defensively, and this group now can spend a fair bit of time in the opponent’s end as well.
I needed to reread this again because, to the dismay of EVERY Ranger fan, Glass will be in the lineup tomorrow night against The Isles. If ever there was a need to have a better possession player in the lineup its against our most important rival. This Glass appears to be unbreakable… WHYWHYWHY!!!!
i was happy when the rangers got glass knowing he played for pittsburgh. other than that i didn’t know much about him. as the season progressed i cringed whenever he hopped over the boards because i knew the opposition would get at least one good scoring opportunity. after the game against the preds in the video i thought i had seen the last of him but he must have something on av because he kept being inserted into the lineup. i really hoped he would be gone by the trade deadline but there probably wasn’t anybody interested. now i can only hope av sticks with sheppard the rest of the way because they’re a better team without glass.
Rangers are still at most a mediocre team playing above their skill set.
what team are you watching?
FWIW Glass has been playing acceptably well for about two weeks now. There have been at least 3 games where he was a + player–he’d thrown up a couple assists–he was getting shots on goal–some of which even good opportunities. As far as his occasional fights he did a good job–there are few knockouts these days.
That being said–Sheppard brings more overall to the table and the Rangers needed to upgrade their 4th line and not just Glass. To me if anything Stempniak was a worse fit for that job description than Glass was. He’s not big enough or gritty enough. Not a good enough forechecker and doesn’t penalty kill. The Rangers need some size on the 4th line. Moore and Fast are aggressive enough but they’re more like mosquitos.
As for Klingberg–check out his player profile at elite prospects.com–an European based hockey database. He sounds like he might be the perfect 4th liner.
he played well because he knew the deadline was coming and he doesn’t want to leave NY. if he does get back into the lineup it should be only if there is an injury and the wolfpack is in the playoffs. otherwise, the only ice he should see is the cubes in his drink. i hope AV has seen enough of this waste of time to have finally come to his senses and tells him not to even come to practice anymore since he clearly hasn’t learned anything since coming here. i would gladly pay for a bus ticket to see him go somewhere else.
Interesting stats to say the least. Hard to ignore, but equally hard to ignore the (lack of) play on the ice. We can only hope that Sheppard can give AV reason to avoid any further need to dress Glass. Instead, Glass should get used to the suit and tie, because he’ll likely be a healthy scratch for the remainder of the season.
I certainly hope you are right, good sir.
Glass fails in every category: advanced stats, traditional stats, and just general examination of his play.