Glass half full? Cody Glass brings positive perspective, two-way play to Penguins’ fourth line

Matt Vensel / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MONTREAL — Cody Glass is trying to keep his focus on the present. And why not?

The 25-year-old is playing the sport he loves for a living. Every morning, he walks into the rink and gets to spend time with one of his hockey heroes. And on the ice, he is beginning to carve out a meaningful role with his new team, the Penguins.

What’s the point of worrying about how he wound up in Pittsburgh — traded away twice in the last three years — when there is an opportunity right front of him?

“It’s been a roller coaster. That’s just life in general,” he said during this three-game road trip. “It’s on me to produce and take advantage of every opportunity I have. Maybe I didn’t in some places. You just have to live in the now and try to not worry too much about the past. ... I don’t take anything for granted, that’s for sure.”

Sorry, Cody, but we are going to have to trace your path to Pittsburgh. Because it has been an interesting journey to this point for the Winnipeg, Manitoba, native.

Glass had 27 points in 65 games in his first season with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. His trajectory changed in 2016-17, when former Penguins coach Mike Johnston was re-hired as their coach and general manager. Glass tripled his point total the following year and shot up NHL draft boards.

NHL draft analysts pegged Glass as one of the best two-way centers in his class.

“I’ve always been a 200-foot player,” he said. “Obviously, my [point total] in junior suggests I was a very high offensive guy. But I’ve always taken pride in both ends of the ice. You’ll get more ice time that way. You never know — PK, power play.”

The Vegas Golden Knights made him the first draft pick in team history, selecting him sixth overall — right after Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar and Elias Pettersson.

The Golden Knights surprisingly made the Stanley Cup Final that season and have been in win-now mode ever since. Glass made his debut in 2019-20 and played in 66 games for Vegas overall, producing nine goals and 22 points. But they ran out of patience with Glass in 2021, trading him to Nashville. He was still just 22.

He had a breakthrough season in 2022-23, playing a career-high 72 games for the Predators while setting personal bests with 14 goals and 35 points. The Predators rewarded him with a new contract. But after his numbers dipped and he suffered some injuries last season, Nashville was suddenly eager to move on from him.

In August, the Predators paid the Penguins multiple draft picks just to take on his contract, which has one year left with an average annual salary of $2.5 million.

“Yeah, they were in a cap crunch,” Glass said. “Especially with the moves they made at the deadline, I thought that [a trade] maybe could happen. No hard feelings.”

Glass had just gotten married two weeks earlier. He actually believes the Predators might have been doing him a favor, waiting to deal him until after the wedding.

And no, despite a little speculation on social media, he wasn’t on his honeymoon.

“No. Thank god,” he laughed. “I would have been freaking out if that happened.”

Mike Sullivan was familiar with Glass, and his staff and he felt Glass could play as a bottom-six center for Pittsburgh. But as he explained after Sunday’s practice at Bell Centre, you never really know for sure until you get a guy in your building.

Glass also saw some time at right wing in training camp and the preseason. But the Penguins decided to initially deploy him in the middle of their new fourth line.

“We’ve liked the role that he’s starting to carve out for us,” Sullivan said. “His size and his skating are what we like, just playing a 200-foot game, goal line to goal line. We’ve used him a lot on the penalty kill, and he’s starting to pick up the concepts. He’s embracing the role, and I think he’ll get better at it the more he plays it.”

Sullivan said he thinks there is untapped offensive potential for Glass, as well. Getting goals from the fourth line would be a welcome change for Pittsburgh.

Glass did good things in each of his first three games. During Saturday’s 4-2 loss in Toronto, he drew a penalty that led to a power-play goal. The game before that, he got the puck to linemate Kevin Hayes for a goal that clinched their first win.

Overall, that line — with Noel Acciari sliding over to right wing — has been fine.

Glass said his first few weeks with the Penguins have been a blast. A good-natured young player, he’s shared a lot of laughs with Sidney Crosby on and off the ice. The captain had him chuckling Sunday at Bell Centre after they did a drill together.

Glass was 10 when he watched Sid get the Golden Goal in the 2010 Olympics.

“I was a huge fan. He’s a role model for everyone from Canada, so it’s easy to look up to him,” he said. “It’s been super cool to play with four legends. It kind of feels like a dream come true, for sure, being around some of your idols growing up.”

So, yeah, it has been easy for Glass to live in the moment, even though a long-term spot in Pittsburgh is far from secure, not with prospects knocking on the door.

Why dwell on that when you are lucky enough to play hockey games for a living?

“Just make the most of the role I’m in right now,” he said. “Just be where you are.”