The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired their second center of the day as they signed veteran Luke Glendening to a two-year deal with an AAV of $800,000. Kevin Weekes first reported their interest.
**Keep an Eye On** I’m hearing
@TBLightning are working towards deals with F Sheary and F Glendening.
Glendening is a 34-year-old center from Grand Rapids, Michigan that has played for the Dallas Stars for the last two seasons. In his eight-year NHL career with the Stars and Detroit Red Wings, Glendening has posted 69 goals with 79 assists. He is not being brought in for his ability to put the puck in the net as he’s hit double digits in goals only three of his seasons with 12 being his high mark in 2014-15.
What he is likely to be is the replacement for Pierre-Edouard Bellemare as the fourth-line center.
One thing that Glendening does well is win face-offs. Last year he posted a 59% success rate and for his career sits at 55.7%.
The official press release:
TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed free agent forward Luke Glendening to a two-year contract worth an AAV of $800,000, vice president and general manager Julien BriseBois announced today.
The 34-year-old Glendening posted three goals and six points in 70 regular season games in 2022-23 for the Dallas Stars while winning 59.1 percent of his face-off draws to rank second on the Stars for face-off win percentage. Glendening also notched 114 hits and 60 blocked shots, ranking third among Dallas forwards in both categories. Glendening added two goals and three points in 17 contests during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs in helping the Stars advance to the Western Conference Final. Glendening played the last two seasons in Dallas, accumulating 12 goals and 22 points in 152 regular season games.
Prior to joining the Stars, Glendening was a mainstay with the Detroit Red Wings, where he spent eight seasons and tallied 57 goals and 126 points in 554 contests. For his career, Glendening has won 55.7 percent of his face-offs.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Glendening is a native of Grand Rapids, Mich.
