Four Issues to Address for the Nashville Predators Following the Roster Freeze
Cody Glass, one of the Nashville Predators’ most promising young players, is one of those who generates the most buzz. To say that his season has not gone as planned would be an understatement.
Of course, the fact that he was on IR twice in the first half of the season is the key reason. He’s only been in 14 of the Predators’ first 33 games and has struggled to find a rhythm, but he hasn’t been particularly strong when he has.
Glass has one goal and one assist in 14 games and has been virtually inconspicuous when he has been on the ice.
While we don’t want to overreact to one bad stretch, it’s reasonable to ponder what’s going on and whether we feel he can and will correct it.
Glass has had a terrible start to his third season with the Predators.
As previously stated, Glass’ inability to play so far this season has been the source of his problems. Dealing with that, especially for a young athlete like him, can seriously limit what he is capable of, and Andrew Brunette himself has stated that it will take time for Glass to fully recover.
Obviously, turning your back on a promising player like Glass in this situation is totally unacceptable. His contract is also one-way, so don’t worry about him losing his spot on the club or even being sent back to Milwaukee anytime soon.But the fact of the matter is that Glass has underperformed in comparison to his preseason expectations, and you can’t blame everything on his injuries.
Aside from his low point total, his offensive point shares, or the number of points he contributes owing to his offense, have been dismal. It is the second-to-last on the squad with -0.2, and the only player behind him is Luke Schenn.
Looking at it that way, Glass appears to be harming the Predators’ attack more than helping it. But, when you dig deeper, it’s not quite that simple; he’s actually been reasonably involved, and things haven’t gone his way when he’s been.
Glass is 14th on the squad in expected goals with 3.2 and second to last in goals over predicted with -2.2, according to MoneyPuck. It would still be unimpressive if that margin was closed to zero, but it demonstrates that he has been unfortunate, and the next few figures stress this even more.
Glass excels in underlying analytical categories.
Glass is fourth on the club in anticipated goals per 60 minutes, which is a better picture of how he takes use of his opportunities, at 1.01. This places him behind just Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly, and Colton Sissons, the Predators’ top three forwards this season.
Glass has also stood out in terms of shooting, ranking fourth on the squad with 7.63 shots on goal per 60 minutes and seventh with 11.76 shot attempts per 60 minutes. Unfortunately, his shooting percentage has been dismal, ranking seventh on the squad at 4.2%.
Glass ranks eighth on the team in high danger anticipated goals with 1.8, and his on-ice expected goals percentage is third on the team at 61.3%. His off-ice expected goals percentage is the tenth lowest on the club at 52.3%, indicating that he is helping rather than harming the team’s chances of scoring.
Glass is also sixth on the club in on-ice expected goals differential with 4.7, so the underlying numbers indicate that when he is on the ice, good things should happen for the Predators’ offense. I’m not sure about you, but I’m a lot less concerned about Glass’ performance today than I was before I wrote this essay.
Glass is hoping to find a midseason spark similar to what Philip Tomasino has lately found.It’s a long road for an 82-game season, and Glass has plenty of time to contribute offensively.
Glass has not only been extraordinarily unfortunate due to his ailments, but it also appears that when he is on the ice, the puck is not bouncing his way more than anything else. It appears like it will only be a matter of time before he can stack some games at full health and, as a result, rack up the goals and assists that he has been laboring for.
If the underperformance persists into January and close to the All-Star break, a different discussion will be necessary, but that time is not now. Glass should be back in shape soon, but as Brunette stated earlier this week, we’ll just have to be patient.