As we enter the homestretch of the 2025-26 season, the New Jersey Devils should start looking toward the future. The fact that they should be looking toward this instead of looking toward, you know, the rest of this season should tell you what a massive disappointment this campaign has been. The Devils are not technically eliminated from the playoff race yet, and they actually won’t be for some time. But in practice, their season has been over for a while now, the result of terrible roster management,
terrible coaching, and terrible performances up and down the lineup. There have been very few bright spots in New Jersey this season.
One of those few bright spots, however, has been Cody Glass. In his first full season in New Jersey, Glass has slotted behind Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier to give the Devils the quality third-line center the franchise has sorely needed for years now. He has driven play, he has piled up the goals, he has continued to round out his game, and perhaps most impressively, he has guided two rookies in Arseny Gritsyuk and Lenni Hameenaho on a third line that has played way above expectations since they’ve been matched together.
Since Glass was signed to a two-year deal over the summer, that means that 2026-27 will be his final season under contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. This also means that, come July 1, the Devils can officially sign him to an extension. We’ve talked on this site about Nico Hischier’s big summer ahead, but we haven’t really discussed the other Devils center that becomes eligible for an extension in a few months. Which is understandable, Glass is certainly not the caliber of player that Hischier is, but at the very least he does deserve a conversation. Should New Jersey consider inking Glass long-term? What are the pros and cons to a potential extension? What would a new deal for Glass even look like? We’ll try to tackle all of that today as we discuss whether the Devils should re-sign Glass this summer.
Glass’ First Full Season In New Jersey
After appearing in a handful of games last season after Tom Fitzgerald traded for him at the deadline, Glass was re-signed to a two-year, $2.5m AAV deal. Initially Fitzgerald was planning on not giving him a Qualifying Offer, but apparently Fitzgerald underestimated Glass’ market, and upon seeing how in demand he would be, he reversed course and slapped the QO on him to keep him under team control as an RFA. The two-year contract came together shortly thereafter.
In his first full campaign as a Devil, Glass has thrived in his role. According to Natural Stat Trick, on a team that struggles to drive play to a strong degree, Glass has been a beacon of puck possession (all numbers 5-on-5):
Aside from a lackluster but not awful HDCF, Glass is in the black in every other category. Again, those numbers might not jump off the page, but you have to keep in mind that the Devils as a team have numbers worse than that across the board. Glass is outperforming the rest of his teammates on average, so whenever he hops over the boards for a shift, the Devils are generally better off because of it.
If Natural Stat Trick isn’t your cup of tea, Hockey Stat Cards also has Glass as a strong player this season. His 0.9 overall Net Rating puts him in roughly the 70th percentile across the league (meaning he is better than 70 percent of players in the NHL). His defensive Net Rating particularly stands out, currently sitting in about the 79th percentile.
In addition to his play-driving prowess, Glass has also set a career high in goals this season with 15, eclipsing his previous high of 14 with Nashville in 2022-23. He won’t be able to get to his career high in points (35, also in 2022-23), but his uptick in goal-scoring has been a pleasant surprise.
I also mentioned his chemistry with Gritsyuk and Hameenaho. The numbers at NST back this up. The trio has spent 83:43 together at 5-on-5 this season, and their numbers are truly impressive:
Those are sparkling results, and Glass deserves a ton of credit for them.
No matter how you look at it, Glass has been a significant bright spot in an otherwise dark Devils season. For $2.5m against the cap, he has provided incredible value. So now, of course, the question is whether to commit to him long term…
The Free Agency Outlook
First, let’s add some context. The 2026 free agency center class is pretty thin. There are a handful of names in here that intrigue me, such as Alex Kerfoot, Joe Veleno, and Jack Roslovic to name a few. But other than that it’s either ancient legends who are either going to retire or return to their current teams, or middling centers who don’t really move the needle much. Not that the Devils will be looking to replace Glass this offseason anyway, but it can’t hurt to see what’s out there in case the Devils want to make a move with the intention of keeping a free agent center and Glass on the roster together for a year, then have that free agent signing take Glass’ place in two years.
As far as the 2027 class, Glass’ current cohort, things look much better. Nico Hischier is there of course. Sidney Crosby and Tyler Seguin are too, although neither of them are realistically coming to the Devils. When it comes to players who could theoretically slot into Glass’ current role, there are certainly more options than this upcoming free agency class. William Karlsson, Drake Batherson, Pavel Zacha (I can’t believe I’m saying that), Pius Suter, and Nic Roy are just some of the names that interest me as potential 3C’s for New Jersey if they let Glass walk. They will all certainly cost more than Glass, but then again Glass’ market might explode by 2027 as well, which is why it’s worth it to have the conversation now as to whether New Jersey should extend him this summer or not.
Predicting A Theoretical Glass Extension
It’s hard to come up with comps for Glass to use as a guide to what an extension for him might look like. I did something similar once before with Simon Nemec, but in that case, we had some pretty similar situations that we could use as points of comparison. For Glass, bottom six centers who experience modest breakouts and are up for new deals in their late-20’s are a dime a dozen. And you might think that having all that data can help us, but when contracts are all over the map, it’s tough to nail down a pattern. When you have two players who are very similar, and one player gets a huge payday and a ton of years while the other one gets a cheap, one-year deal, that doesn’t help us much.
So in Glass’ case, I suppose we can just try to eyeball it, so to speak.
Glass will turn 27 in a couple weeks, which means a potential extension will begin with his age-28 campaign. Even with how well he’s performed this season, he won’t be in a position to demand a max-term pact. Something along the lines of four years sounds about right. That would cover his ages 28-31 seasons, which would be much of his prime. That’s a win for the Devils. For Glass, it would also set him up for one more payday once he turns 32, as there should still be a market for his services even at that age.
As for cap hit, Glass’ $2.5m AAV accounts for approximately 2.6% of the current $95.5m salary cap. I’d say based on his performance this season, he’s due for a raise from that, though not a massive one. The salary cap is projected to be $113.5m in 2027-28, the first season of Glass’ new deal. If we double Glass’ AAV to 5.2% of the cap, that would give Glass a $5.9m AAV on his extension. That might give you some sticker shock, but it really is important to remember how much the cap will have gone up by then. 5.2% of the cap this season would be almost exactly $5m, which is a tad high but not ridiculously so for a quality 3C.
But that’s if we double Glass’ percentage of cap hit, which I don’t think he is likely to get. If we make it 4% of the cap instead, then 4% of $113.5m would be a $4.54m AAV, the equivalent of $3.82m in today’s money. Would you sign Glass to a four-year, $4.54m AAV extension this summer? I think that’s a reasonable ballpark for him.
Final Thoughts And Your Take
I’ve laid out what I believe to be all the relevant data as far as why the Devils might consider extending Cody Glass this summer. He’s had a very good season, and if the Devils truly believe in him, they might want to get ahead of things and get his name on a new contract soon. He doesn’t have much of a track record of playing at this level though, even if he does come with the pedigree of being a top-10 pick in the 2017 draft. So any potential new contract could age horribly for New Jersey if he turns out to be a flash in the pan.
In the end, I think the best option is to hold off on extending him and let him play out the last year of his deal and reevaluate after that. I really like Glass’ game, and I think he does have potential. But there’s just not enough of a track record there for me to trust that a potential extension would provide surplus value for the Devils. I think the estimate of 4 years and around $4.5m AAV on a theoretical new deal is a reasonable guess. In a rising cap world, even if Glass turns back into a pumpkin, that’s not a contract that would truly cripple a team. But it still would hurt at least a little if Glass’ contract turns into an albatross. Especially if it comes with the extensive no-move protections that Tom Fitzgerald just loves giving out.
I think Glass has been a true bright spot this season, especially at his bargain bin $2.5m cap hit. And while I believe in him to a certain degree, I think I’d want to see him prove it once more before I talk shop with him.
What would you do with Cody Glass? Are you in favor of extending him this summer, or letting him play out the final year of his deal? Do you agree with my rough estimate of what his next contract might look like? As always, thanks for reading!
