OTTAWA — For new Rangers ahead Luke Glendening, the begin to this season has been a journey.
Needing a skilled tryout to stick around the NHL for the second straight October, Glendening skated with the Lightning’s third group in coaching camp that principally featured prospects and AHL-bound gamers.
The 37-year-old veteran of 934 video games said skating with the children was enjoyable, noting that it “reinvigorated” him to see them expertise their first NHL camps amid his 14th.
Glendening made it sound like the PTO with the Lightning was more of a favor. He had been working out in Tampa Bay all summer time, and the group knew he meant to proceed taking part in in the NHL, so head coach Jon Cooper instructed him they had an further spot.
When he was launched at the finish of September, the Michigan native continued coaching in the Sunshine State while he waited for his next alternative.
“I went from playing dress-up and Barbies to playing in the National Hockey League,” Glendening said before making his Rangers debut in Saturday’s loss to the Senators, referring to the time spent with daughters Riggsy, 3, and Ada Grace, 1. “So it’s a wild ride.”
Saturday evening’s matchup was actually the first recreation in which Glendening was eligible to play.
The Blueshirts despatched Justin Dowling, who crammed in at fourth-line middle the earlier 4 video games, back to Hartford after follow Friday. Glendening slotted into that spot Saturday after turning his midseason PTO into a one-year, $850,000 deal (league minimal) just before the Rangers recreation in Toronto on Thursday.
Glendening has now performed for six groups over his NHL profession.
“These guys have been rolling along pretty well,” he said. “I’m not a big piece, I’m just trying to fit in and do what I’m asked to do. I keep using this word, but it’s true: Every day in this league is a blessing, and I’m just so thankful for another one.”
Luke Glendening falls to the ice as he skates against Artem Zub during the first interval of the Rangers’ 7-4 loss to the Senators on Oct. 24, 2026 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. NHLI via Getty Images
Dylan Garand stopped 17 of 22 photographs confronted in his seventh consecutive begin Saturday evening.
“We’ve looked at the schedule, so we know where we’re at,” head coach Mike Sullivan said when requested Friday about the rookie goalie’s workload. “We’ve appeared at the physique of work. The quantity of video games that he’s performed. We look at what we have shifting ahead and we’re going to strive to make selections accordingly. We’re nicely conscious of what his workload is and where he’s at.
“We talk with him daily, our coaching staff and in particular Jeff Malcolm, our goalie coach, who I think has a real good feel for Dylan and where he’s at. I speak to Dylan also as far as how he feels, and so we’re aware of what his workload is. Do we anticipate moving forward giving him some rest? Yes.”
Sullivan called Matthew Robertson’s late-night recall Friday “more the business side of it” and “making sure we’re prepared for any scenario.”
While Sean Durzi missed his second straight follow for what the workforce described as “maintenance,” the 28-year-old defenseman participated in an non-obligatory morning skate and finally performed against the Senators.
Shuffling the traces a bit by the second interval, Sullivan changed Pavel Dorofeyev with Oliver Bjorkstrand on the second line.
Dorofeyev scored his third objective of the season to pull the Rangers within one with 4:28 left in regulation, but the Russian sharpshooter still is struggling to make his mark on video games.
“This is what I said to him this morning; I had a conversation with him,” Sullivan said after the loss. “Pav’s had a lot of chances. He’s hit a lot of posts. If a certain percentage of the ones that hit the posts have gone in the net, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That’s the nature of hockey. If he wasn’t getting the chances, it would be a different conversation. He got a nice goal tonight. It’s a goal scorer’s goal. We’re hoping that might get him going.”