Cody Glass proved to be a useful addition for the Devils down the stretch. However, it appears that won’t be enough to keep him in the fold as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that New Jersey is not expected to receive a qualifying offer at the end of the month which would make him an unrestricted free agent in July.
The 26-year-old was the sixth overall pick back in 2017 but has not yet lived up to his draft billing and has bounced around the league a bit, seeing action with four different teams over his first six NHL seasons.
It looked like Glass was turning a corner with Nashville when he put up 35 points in 72 games in the 2022-23 season, earning himself a two-year, $5MM contract along the way. But after his production slipped to just 13 points in 41 games the following year, the Preds shipped him with a pair of draft picks to Pittsburgh to open up some cap flexibility after their summer spending spree in free agency.
With the Penguins, Glass produced at a largely similar rate, tallying four goals and 11 assists in 51 games. But with the Devils looking for some insurance down the middle heading into the playoffs, they moved prospects Chase Stillman and Max Graham along with a 2027 third-round pick for Glass and forward Jonathan Gruden.
The change of scenery seemed to get Glass going offensively as he picked up two goals and five assists in 14 games following the swap while seeing an uptick in playing time to 14:31 per game. However, he was held off the scoresheet in their first-round playoff exit at the hands of Carolina.
To retain his RFA rights, the Devils would need to tender Glass a $2.5MM qualifying offer that would also carry salary arbitration rights. While his career numbers of 35 goals and 58 assists in 252 games aren’t lofty by any stretch, there’s a chance that an arbitration would award a higher amount than that. It appears that’s a risk New Jersey isn’t willing to take at this time. While the two sides could discuss a cheaper deal than that beforehand (his agent told The Hockey News’ Kristy Flannery earlier this week there had been preliminary talks between the sides), it doesn’t look like that’s in the cards, meaning that Glass appears to be set to hit the open market less than two weeks from now.