Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff chose to discuss the rumor that Luke Glendening may be headed to Toronto:
TSN reported that both the Leafs and Dallas Stars have talked to the Wings about what it would take to pry Glendening away from Detroit. And the answer they got from the Wings was quite a bit.
The Wings are looking to cut salary and add assets, mainly draft picks, and the Leafs have extra picks in the second and seventh rounds of the 2018 NHL entry draft.
The Wings signed Glendening as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and he was sent down to AHL Grand Rapids and recalled seven times during the 2013-14 season before making the NHL for good via a New Year’s Eve 2013 call up. He played the next day for Babcock’s Wings against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium, the school where Glendening played college hockey.
Saturday, the Wings are in Nashville, but Sunday, they play host to the Babcock-coached Leafs and perhaps Glendening’s future home.
Certainly, if Babcock has any pull the Leafs will made a concerted effort to land Glendening. Toronto has been seeking a reliable fourth-line center almost for as long as the Leafs have been seeking their next Stanley Cup win. OK, it hasn’t been that long, but if you were to ask a Leafs fan, it sure seems like it has.
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Glendening is versatile and can also play the wing, as he has frequently this season on Detroit’s matchup forward unit with Frans Nielsen and Darren Helm. He’s posted 8-6-14 numbers in 44 games, and leads the Wings at the faceoff dot, winning 57.8 percent of his faceoffs. Glendening ranks fifth in the NHL among players who’ve taken at least 400 draws.
Glendening’s current contract runs through the 2020-21 season and has a cap hit of $1.8 million per season.
