For roughly 13 months, Lars Eller halted the revolving door that the Penguins have had in the middle of their third line for the better part of the past eight seasons.
Eller seemed to have two new wingers every night as Mike Sullivan shuffled around his forward lineup. But Eller brought stability and an identity to that line. Eller was arguably the best third-line center the Penguins have deployed since Nick Bonino.
“Lars was kind of that staple on that line, and you knew what you were getting from that line,” Drew O’Connor said. “It’s been a little bit of a [committee] since then.”
In November, the Penguins traded the veteran Eller back to the rival Washington Capitals, adding a couple of draft picks and opening up more minutes for others.
At the time, president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas said the team’s NHL depth at center, in addition to “younger centers progressing in our system,” factored into their decision. Dubas said he wanted to give those players “greater opportunity.”
Two months later, Pittsburgh is still moving players in and out of Eller’s old spot.
In Tuesday’s loss against the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit, it was Cody Glass who lined up as the third-line center, with O’Connor and Philip Tomasino on his wings.
Ideally, said Sullivan, the Penguins will have somebody step up to claim that role.
“In a perfect world, we would like to have some consistency with all of our lines,” he said. “When you have some consistency, it brings an opportunity for chemistry to develop with players. You can learn one another’s tendencies. You can define roles and ... and lines can establish their own identities within the team identity.”
Why haven’t they found it with that line? A lot of it is performance, Sullivan said.
The Penguins had gone eight straight games without getting a single goal from their third line before Drew O’Connor scored his slump-buster against the Red Wings.
But Sullivan said it can be more about the performance of the forward lineup as a whole, not that particular trio. Typically, his top priority is putting the right pieces around Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. And Sullivan prefers to have a low-event, defense-first fourth line. He must cobble together a third line from the leftovers.
That partially explains why the Penguins haven’t settled on a permanent solution.
“For example, we like Cody Glass in that third-line center role. We think he can play that role really well,” Sullivan said. “When we play him on other lines on the wing, he brings a certain element to those lines that helps those lines in certain ways.”
The Penguins have utilized four different players, not including Eller, in the middle of their third line. Glass has gotten the most opportunities there. Tuesday was his 10th game so far. It would have been more had he not missed time due to injury.
O’Connor, Blake Lizotte and Noel Acciari have also played multiple games there.
Throw in all the wingers who have been shuffled in and out, and there has not been much continuity on the third line. That’s not uncommon around the NHL, though.
“I feel like the third line is always the line that will get put in a blender a little bit,” Glass said with a laugh. “So it can be a little bit harder to gain chemistry when you have so many different linemates. At the same time, you’re getting a good amount of ice time and a good amount of opportunity, and we’re all good hockey players.”
Glass, who was picked sixth overall by Vegas back in 2017, has only one goal in 26 games this season with a minus-9 rating. But those numbers are a bit misleading.
The Penguins have often controlled play when he is on the ice. His 58.1 expected goals percentage at 5-on-5 ranks first among all Penguins forwards, per Natural Stat Trick. But Glass and his various linemates haven’t converted their chances at a high rate, and Pittsburgh has had a save percentage of just 86.3 with him on at 5-on-5.
The 6-foot-3, 201-pound forward has been pretty responsible defensively with the Penguins, who acquired him in a salary dump trade this summer. And he has some skill, too. Glass made a stellar play against the Red Wings to snake his way into the slot and set up O’Connor. That gave the 25-year-old assists in back-to-back games.
Sullivan kept that trio intact when the Penguins practiced Wednesday in Detroit.
It’s a combination that makes sense on paper and, so far, has shown some promise out on the ice. Glass and O’Connor can cause issues for their opponents with their reach and energy in puck pursuit. And there is offensive potential there, too. Glass said Tomasino and O’Connor “both have a ton of skill” and “see the ice pretty well.”
“First and foremost, you want to be responsible defensively, then you can look to transition the puck into the offensive zone and put the other team under pressure and keep them there,” Glass said. “And if we can get some goals, that’s a bonus.”
Do all that, and Glass might have staying power in the middle of the third line.
First Published: January 2, 2025, 3:06 p.m.
Updated: January 2, 2025, 3:09 p.m.
