With a logjam up front, Tanner Glass finally became expendable.
The Rangers waived the rugged winger Tuesday, making him available for the rest of the league to claim the two years remaining on his contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $1.45 million. If he isn’t claimed, the Rangers will assign him to AHL Hartford and will shed $950,000 of his cap hit, leaving exactly $500,000.
In conjunction with the contract numbers, the fact that Glass, 31, had played just two of the first seven games this season — including being a healthy scratch for the past three — became too much for the Blueshirts to carry. It seems Emerson Etem has passed him on the depth chart, and the 23-year-old speedster remains as the team’s extra forward.
Glass originally signed a three-year, $4.35 million deal before last season. The hope was he could add some grit to a lineup that was longing for it after not resigning Brian Boyle or Derek Dorsett after the 2014 run to the Stanley Cup final. Though Glass played 66 regular-season games last season, and all 19 in the postseason, he struggled to find his groove.
He hurt his ankle blocking a shot this preseason, and got his first game action on Oct. 10, in the second leg of a back-to-back against the Blue Jackets at the Garden.
“I think it was an element that we needed,” coach Alain Vigneault said after that game. “They came out hard [Friday] night, and I think we responded well. But in our home building, I thought that Tanner would be a big help, and I think he played a strong game.”
It was strong enough to get him a look in the next game on Oct. 13, at home against the big-bodied Jets. But that was it. Glass was replaced on Oct. 15 up in Montreal by Jesper Fast, who, after being a scratch for those two games Glass played, has reestablished himself as a solid contributor.
Fast scored his first goal of the season Monday night in a 4-0 win over the Sharks, a game that broke the Blueshirts’ three-game losing streak. The 23-year-old Swede also has quite a bit of versatility, playing in the top six on a line with Derick Brassard and Chris Kreider for the past two games — something Glass couldn’t have done.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in him because of his work ethic and hockey sense,” Vigneault said of Fast after the game. “Good to see him rewarded by a goal. I thought that line had some good looks, and it is a step in the right direction.”
Vigneault gave his team off Tuesday before they return to practice Wednesday in anticipation of Thursday’s Garden match against Anthony Duclair and the visiting Coyotes. It’s likely Vigneault will dress the same lineup, with Etem still having played just one game since coming over in the offseason trade that sent Carl Hagelin to the Ducks.
Etem would have needed waivers to be sent down, as well, and his one-year, $850,500 deal likely would have been scooped up. Same for young forward Oscar Lindberg (two years, $650,000 per) and defenseman Dylan McIlrath (one year,$600,000).
If Glass isn’t claimed by noon Wednesday and is sent down, the move will leave general manager Jeff Gorton a little more breathing room now under the cap, about $1.1 million. Before it, Gorton had just $200,000 to work with, making it impossible even to call up a player if he wanted.
