Why Luke Glendening Is the Perfect Fit for NY Rangers

The New York Rangers have been dealing with a lot of injuries thus far this season, with their depth being challenged in several areas.

In the net, Igor Shesterkin and Joonas Korpisalo, their No. 1 and No. 2 goalies coming into the season, are both on the IR. While Korpisalo is expected back in a few weeks, Shesterkin is going to miss the remainder of the season. That thrusts Dylan Garand into a No. 1 role, with the team on the lookout for goaltending depth.

Among skaters, the Rangers lost their No. 4 center Joe Veleno to a lower-body injury on Oct. 4. He was in a lot of pain and suffered a serious injury that is expected to sideline him for about three months.

Since Veleno has been sidelined, head coach Mike Sullivan has essentially been cycling through three lines. Cole Beaudoin and Justin Dowling have been used as the No. 4 center, but the team made a move to bring in Luke Glendening, who agreed to a professional tryout contract.

Luke Glendening has perfect skill set for Rangers lineup

Signed on Monday, there is a real chance that Glendening is someone that Sullivan is going to trust more than the other options who were available to the team. The skill set that he possesses makes him a great option to replace what Veleno was giving the team.

“Luke obviously has a significant body of work in the league,” Sullivan said, via Vincent Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic. “The type of player that he is, he’s been a real reliable, conscientious player. … He built a career on that element of his game and prides himself on that. Obviously, we’ve got a little bit of challenge with respect to depth at the center position, and I think Chris and his guys thought that we’d bring him in and see if potentially he could help us.” 

Both are limited offensively; it was one of the downsides in many people’s opinion of Veleno being signed. Glendening has a career-high of only 23 points, which came in the 2018-19 campaign. Now 37 years old, it is hard to envision much of an impact being made on that end of the ice, with single-digit scoring seasons in three out of the last four seasons.

However, the veteran does provide the same strengths that Veleno did, which have been missing from the bottom-six of the lineup since he went down with an injury.

Glendening is a reliable option for killing penalties, an area the team has been elite at thus far in 2026-27. In his career, he has excelled in the faceoff circle as well, winning 55.6% of the time.

Most importantly, he can help replicate the speed element that Veleno was providing to the bottom of the lineup. Improving the overall team speed was something Sullivan wanted to see, and Glendening fits right in, ranking in the 92nd percentile for max skating speed.

This certainly isn’t a splashy acquisition, but it is one that will help keep the floor of the team high. Glendening does everything well that Sullivan wants to see from a No. 4 center.