Miller will sit for Glass. Shocker.

Miller will sit for Glass. Shocker.

Update: Tanner Glass is out for the optional skate, which means he will likely be a healthy scratch, per Steve Zipay. The original title for this post is relatively useless, so I’m going to change it now.

Original Post: In case you missed it yesterday, Tanner Glass returned to practice and skated on the fourth line with Dominic Moore and Jesper Fast. With that, J.T. Miller will be a healthy scratch, sitting alongside Anthony Duclair in the press box. If you’re on Twitter, and you’re following me, Martin, Becky, Chris, or Kevin, then you know how absolutely thrilled we are to see two younger and better skaters sitting for Glass.

I’m not going to beat a dead horse and explain why Glass isn’t even remotely close to being the best option on the ice. Been there, done that. By all accounts, Glass is a fantastic person, but on the ice, he’s just not the answer. Let’s just compare him to the two kids sitting in favor of Glass, and it’s pretty clear.

Just looking at the numbers at even strength, it’s clear that both kids are a better option. If you want to use the argument that Duclair isn’t suited for fourth line play, that’s fine. Can just as quickly move Lee Stempniak to the fourth line, he’s a major upgrade there than Glass.

Skater GP G A TOI/Game CF% CF rel %
Glass 21 0 1 8.65 45.08% -5.73%
Miller 6 1 1 10.21 52.24% 5.81%
Duclair 18 1 5 10.72 51.27% 0.36%

For those of you keeping score, AV plays Glass two minutes less per game than Miller or Duclair on average. Duclair has played third line minutes, as has Miller, but that doesn’t amount to a two minute difference on average. Yes, we suffer from small sample size here for Miller and Duclair, but Glass’s numbers are right on par with his career averages. Of course, an argument can be made that Glass is getting crushed with defensive zone starts, which affects his puck possession. Both are true:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

But we can add Dominic Moore and Jesper Fast to the above chart, as that pair is getting the same zone starts as Glass:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

It’s getting to the point of unreasonable stubbornness. Fast’s possession numbers are worse than Glass’s, but he gets 20% fewer OZ starts. The fact that Fast is so close to Glass despite those zone starts is actually fairly incredible. Even more incredible: Dom Moore’s numbers. Man, where would that line be without him?

If Glass were out performing Duclair and Miller, this really wouldn’t be a problem. But all the issues AV has with Duke and Miller are the same issues we see with Glass. All three are prone to blown defensive assignments. But since Glass hits people –often taking himself out of position to do so– he gets the nod in the lineup, despite being the inferior player.

At some point, something has to give. Apparently that time is not now. But hey, at least Fast appears to be sticking around for a while. Kid’s been good.

Share: 

Mentioned in this article:

More About: