Devils' Cody Glass Impresses in Team Debut

Cody Glass made quite the first impression in the New Jersey Devils' 3-1 win over the Flyers.

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The New Jersey Devils have some work to do this offseason. But for now, they'll have to rely on a couple of trade deadline additions to help them navigate the rest of the 2024-25 season. One of those is Cody Glass, who impressed during his team debut in a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers yesterday.

Bottom-six anything has been a problem for the Devils since the holidays, but especially since Christmas. Yesterday, Glass and the Devils' third line helped lead the way to a massive two points. Is he the breath of fresh air the team needs in the bottom six?

Glass’ First Impression

The Devils had a relatively quiet trade deadline, with Brian Dumoulin, Daniel Sprong and Glass being their main additions. Glass had a breakout year with the Nashville Predators in 2022-23, totaling 14 goals and 35 points in 72 games.

He has regressed since then, but he was playing well for the Pittsburgh Penguins before the Devils acquired him on Friday. Not much has gone right for the Penguins this season, but he was one of their better players.

Glass led Penguins skaters in expected goals share (xG%), totaling an xG% of 57.12 percent. He was their best shot suppressor among both forwards and defensemen, allowing 2.02 expected goals per 60.

Even though Glass didn't score much in his time with the Penguins, they were generating offense, creating 2.69 expected goals per 60. Perhaps a low on-ice shooting percentage (6.77 percent) was the reason for the lack of scoring, but it's easy to see what the Devils liked about his game. Everything pointed toward an upgrade for their bottom six.

We saw a bit of all that in Glass' team debut yesterday. Erik Haula, Glass and Sprong were the team's best line in the first period, especially early, as they sustained the most offensive zone time among the Devils' top three lines.

Glass got rewarded for a strong first period by scoring a goal on his first shot as a Devil to give the team a 1-0 lead. That impressive start didn't wane as the game progressed, either.