The Pittsburgh Penguins have had quite an active August Tuesday. In what is normally a quiet time of the year, the Pens made a draft pick trade today that was significant for St. Louis as they got their second-round pick back from Pittsburgh to provide the needed compensation for Philip Broberg.
Now Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet has said that the Pens have signed forward Cody Glass from the Nashville Predators.
And now I hear that Cody Glass has been traded from Nashville to Pittsburgh
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) 13 August 2024
The good news about Glass is that at 25, he could potentially be the youngest forward on the team next season (Valtteri Puustinen is two months younger). Glass also had a 14-goal, 35-point season for the Predators in 2022-23. Like many of the players Pittsburgh signed this summer, Glass is a natural center. He has just one year left on a manageable $2.5 million salary cap deal and his rights could be retained next summer.
The bad news about Glass is that he wasn’t particularly good in the 2023-24 season and needs a fresh start with his third organization after being selected seventh overall by Vegas in the 2017 draft.
His Goals Above Replacement of -8.6 for last season was the worst GAR of any Nashville skater over the last three seasons and ranked 869th in the NHL, 11th worst in the league.
I don’t think he’s as bad as that suggests though, I just don’t think he suits Brunette https://t.co/bJqFiCHFGW pic.twitter.com/X1zOsIrAjk
— Bryan Bastin (@BryanBastin) 13 August 2024
His career has had some good and some bad, but it’s nice to see a younger player with some offensive profile on the roster instead of the 30-year-olds that litter the roster with limited potential. Glass has some size at 6’3″ and 200 pounds and was moderately successful as a power play goalie in Nashville in 2022-23 (he scored six goals on the PP this season). If nothing else, he could provide Pittsburgh with an option on their power play, at least for a change of pace from their normal structure.
Pittsburgh’s return to Nashville is still unknown and the trade has not been announced. Nashville doesn’t have a lot of salary cap space ($595,000 according to PuckPedia for a team with only 18 players), so the contract situation will likely either be balanced or moved to make room for the Predators – who also have to re-sign RFA Phillip Tomasino.
UPDATE: The entire trade is off, the Pens are getting Glass for basically nothing. And continuing their offseason theme, they’re getting draft picks for their trouble, Pittsburgh gets a 2025 third-round pick and a future sixth-round pick in the deal. Fresca, 23, spent most of last season with Wheeling and the main purpose of his addition was to clear his contract versus the 50 the team can carry. Another nice deal to move on and stockpile draft picks for the future while giving a young player a chance at a fresh start.