Armchair Hockey Scout Beta
41

Luke Glendening

New Jersey Devils Center

7 points in 77 games, and a faceoff specialist at 36.

SeasonTeamGPGAPTS+/-PIMPPSHGWSS%TOI
2013-14DET56167-822000541.813:55
2014-15DET8212618+53410210411.514:43
2015-16DET8181321+446003889.114:35
2016-17DET7431114-1026000764.012:55
2017-18DET6911819-14171228812.513:12
2018-19DET78101323+2150111029.815:47
2019-20DET60639-2914011767.915:21
2020-21DET546915+320001679.014:48
2021-22DAL829716-17150011167.814:07
2022-23DAL70336-950020654.612:04
2023-24TBL8110111-2390115717.511:37
2024-25TBL77437-910010517.810:47
2025-26 so far
Career8648383166-8430828129448.813:37

This Season So Far

The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

4 goals and 3 assists in 77 games for 7 points, minus-9, on 10:47 a night with Tampa Bay, including a shorthanded goal.

51 shots in 77 games and 7 points. That is the smallest offensive contribution of any full-season forward in this edition, and it is exactly what he is paid for.

The Finesse Game

None, and none is expected. 7 points is close to his rate over four seasons and he has never had a season above 25 points in twelve.

The value is entirely in the faceoff circle, where he is among the two or three best defensive-zone centres in the league, and on the penalty kill.

The Physical Game

5-11 and 190, and he plays a hard, willing checking game. He blocks shots, finishes checks, and is trusted to protect a lead.

10 penalty minutes over 77 games is exceptional discipline for the role. Twelve seasons of this and the durability has barely wavered.

The Intangibles

Undrafted out of Michigan, four organisations, and a career built on one specialised skill done better than almost anybody.

At 36 the projection is unchanged and the runway is short. New Jersey lost Erik Haula and needed a fourth-line centre who wins draws, and bought the purest available version of one.

The numbers underneath

On the ice

Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 698 minutes

Expected goals
45.7%
17th pct

share of the chances while he was out there

Shot attempts
44.7%
10th pct

share of the attempts while he was out there

Goals while he was on the ice: 34 for, 27 against. Expected: 22.0 and 26.1.

The eye and the numbers

Hindsight
Report
26th
Numbers
17th

The two rank him within 9 points of one another. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason.

Both bars are percentiles among the 357 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 68 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.

Usual linemates

2024-25 with TBL · 698 minutes at five-on-five

Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.

Why the numbers land there

Five-on-five, 2024-25

The club
TBL took 50.8% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 45.7% — 5.1 below the club he did it on.
The role
Third line, 698 minutes at five-on-five — 28th percentile in ice time.

With and without

TeammateTogetherHim apartMate apart
Zemgus Girgensons52.3%35.7%51.8%
Michael Eyssimont54.6%40.1%51.4%
Emil Lilleberg40.6%48.9%50.9%

52.3% together, 35.7% for him apart and 51.8% for Girgensons apart. He was worse away from Girgensons, who was no better away from him — he needed that pairing more than Girgensons did.

Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.

Where he shoots from

goal on goal missed

72 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 4 of them goals. His median goal came from 14 feet. 44% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 21% from beyond forty.