Luke Glendening talks about his NHL debut with the Red Wings
By Michael Caples –
Even Luke Glendening admitted that it came as a bit of a surprise.
“Yeah, I think it’s probably earlier than most people expected,” the Grand Rapids native said with a smile after his NHL debut Saturday night. “But you know, I’m excited that I had this opportunity and we’ll see where it goes from here.”
Glendening, a product of East Grand Rapids High School and the University of Michigan, realized every youth hockey player’s dream when he hopped over the boards and landed in the chaos of an NHL game.
The former captain of the Wolverines, who played for the Grand Rapids Griffins the majority of last season, skated for 7:32 in his debut, recording one hit, two shots, one penalty, and a 44-percent face-off wins total.
Not staggering numbers, but not bad for a guy less than a year removed from his first taste of any kind of professional hockey.
“I think after my first shift I did OK,” Glendening said. “Obviously I made some mistakes, I took a pretty dumb penalty, and I wasn’t good on draws tonight, I was minus one, you could go down a laundry list of things I did wrong tonight, but it’s fun being out there, fun getting the first one out of the way.”
Glendening has been a solid two-way forward for coach Jeff Blashill and the Griffins, playing an integral role in their AHL title run last spring. That means plenty of ice time in a variety of situations. Yet Glendening had to spend the majority of his first NHL game with his hockey pants affixed to the Red Wings’ bench, patiently waiting for his name to be called.
“Yeah, I think you just have to be ready,” Glendening said, admitting that it was difficult to wait for his next time on the ice. “I think that’s something that’s definitely different when I’m playing up here, well I guess it’s the first game, but yeah, it’s something different for today. You don’t know when you’re going to go next, you have to keep your mind in the game, and you have to keep your body ready, because when you’re called on, you can’t come up short.”
Yet he impressed most doing one of the things he does best for the Griffins – killing penalties. Glendening, along with fellow Michigan native Drew Miller, took part in a big penalty kill for the Wings in the third period, something that caught coach Mike Babcock’s eye.
“They did a great job,” the Wings’ bench boss said. “Glenny, when the guys got beat off the wall, he made a great read on that play that was going to Drew for an empty-netter there. That was a good play by him. His face-off circle, he was one under 50 (percent), I expected that to be the case for a bit until he figures out how to take face-offs in the NHL, but he’s smart and he’s hard.”
For Glendening, making his Red Wings debut was the culmination of a wild few days.
“It’s been a whirlwind for sure,” the high school hockey product said. “I was in Grand Rapids getting ready to get on a bus to Hamiliton, and then they told me I’m coming here, so, it’s been a whirlwind for sure, but it’s been something I really enjoyed.”
He also admitted to being nervous at the start of the contest.
“I think the butterflies were certainly there, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but you know, I was so excited as well,” Gledening said. “It’s a dream come true, it’s something I’ve been thinking about as a little kid.”
Now, his goal is to make it where the coaching staff doesn’t want to send him back to Grand Rapids. Glendening said his first taste of NHL hockey makes him want to be a regular in the Red Wings’ line-up even more so than before.
“Yeah, certainly, I think even training camp did that,” Glendening said. “I want to be here, this is where I want to play. This is the ultimate goal, obviously. I know they have so many forwards, they’re just waiting for Helm to get back off the IR here, but I’m just going to play my best and play my best.”