Player Profile:

Born: 04/28/1989 Grand Rapids, MI

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 199lb

Position: Center

Contract: Signed through 2020-2021, $1,800,000 AAV

Player Stats:

GP: 74

Goals: 3

Assists: 11

PIM: 26

ATOI: 12:55

Season Narrative:

Luke came into the season a bit of a quandary.  The re-signing of Darren Helm and the signing of Frans Nielsen in the offseason left the Red Wings with a lot of centers on the roster.  On the flip side, he also signed a four year, seven-million-dollar extension in the offseason that does not kick in until the 2017-18 season.

After bouncing up and down the linuep in recent seasons as well as parts of this past one, Luke eventually settled in on the forth line until a late season ankle injury ended his season.

Production wise, Luke, like the rest of the Red Wings saw a drop in his numbers.  He also saw a just over a minute drop in his ice time from a career average of 14:04 to 12:55 for the 2016-17 campaign.  This also coincided with a drop in the number of faceoffs he took, despite his faceoff win percentage finishing at 54% for the season.

What He Did Vs. Expectations:

This is a little harder to compare simply because it is hard to determine what exactly was expected of Luke Glendening during the season.  The Red Wings gave him a contract extension commiserate with someone they expected to chip in 8-12 goals, 18-21 points like he had the previous two seasons.  If that is the measuring stick than Luke definitely did not meet expectations.

However, the ice time (particularly at even strength) linemates and assignments they gave him said they wanted him to focus back on being a defensive minded, energy guy who was also a primary penalty killer.  In those respects, I would say he did decent.  Certainly nothing to write home about but when he is logging a lot of his ice time with the likes of Drew Miller, Steve Ott and a voodoo cursed Riley Sheahan decent is about the best one can hope for.

Final Grade: C-

Again, this was a tougher grade to give out than I expected.  Glendening did not match his output from the past two seasons offensively, which makes that extension the Red Wings gave him look even worse.  That said, there are still some things to like about his game and play this season.  He continued to perform in the faceoff circle as well as be a steady penalty killer.  He also managed to acquire 11 assists and drop his penalty minutes almost in half from the previous season, something important for a player viewed as a key penalty killer.  All in all, while it certainly was not a good season by numbers alone I would not judge him as harshly as we have others.  Unfortunately for Luke, many are going to judge his season based off the contract extension the Red Wings gave him (even though it technically does not kick in until this upcoming season) and that is not going to be a pretty judgement.

Up next we take a look at Gustav Nyquist

What Grade Should Like Glendening Receive?