Luke Glendening joins the Rangers on a PTO

The tryout broke Monday morning, and the beat filled in why New York wanted him right away.

Vince Z. Mercogliano

@vzmercogliano

The 37-year-old gives the #NYR a new 4C option while Joe Veleno is on LTIR. This will be his 14th season in the NHL. He registered 9 points (2G + 7A) with a minus-7 rating in 70 combined games with PHI and NJD last season. 55.6% career faceoff man with PK experience.

NY Rangers PR

@NYR_PR

The Rangers have signed forward Luke Glendening to a professional tryout agreement (PTO).

That's the pitch. Veleno got hurt in his Rangers debut against the Utah Mammoth, when his lower body twisted on his 3rd shift, and he's now on LTIR. The reported timeline is at least 3 more months. That leaves a hole at 4C, and Chris Drury went looking for the kind of guy who's spent 14 seasons doing that exact job. Glendening has 934 NHL games across Detroit, Dallas, Tampa Bay, New Jersey and Philadelphia, with 85 goals and 175 points. Nobody is signing him for the points.

He also didn't waste any time. He was on the ice for practice the same day, wearing a number that's going to look strange on a Rangers sweater for a while.

Mollie Walker

@MollieeWalkerr

Luke Glendening (PTO) is here with #NYR wearing No. 43 t.co/Geltz8y9aq

There's a catch, though. A PTO doesn't put him in the lineup. Glendening can't play a game for the Rangers until he signs a standard player contract, and the tryout runs only 10 days. He's been here before this fall: he went to Tampa Bay's camp on a PTO in September and was let go before the regular season. So this is an audition, not a roster spot.

Sullivan wouldn't say when Glendening might get into a game, but he was blunt about why he's in the building.

Mollie Walker

@MollieeWalkerr

#NYR head coach Mike Sullivan's scouting report on Luke Glendening: "Luke obviously has a significant body of work in the league and the type of player that he is. He's a reliable, conscientious player. Kills penalties. Really good in the faceoff circle. He built a career on that element of his game and prides himself on that. Obviously, we've got a little bit of a challenge with respect to depth of the center position. I think Chris and his guys thought that we bring him in and see if potentially he could help us."

"See if potentially he could help us" is about as noncommittal as a coach gets, and that fits a 37-year-old on a tryout. Still, the job is clear. Win draws in your own end, kill penalties, play the boring minutes without getting burned. A career 55.6% faceoff man does that better than most of what New York has in the system right now. Watch the next 10 days: if he's still taking draws at practice and Drury converts the PTO into a contract, Glendening is your 4th-line center until Veleno is back. If he isn't, the Rangers are back to shopping for a center.