The Golden Knights are giving their first-ever draft selection Cody Glass some more time to develop in the juniors, the team announced Tuesday. Glass will return to Oregon for another season with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.
Glass, drafted sixth overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, is coming off a superb 37-goal campaign in which he led the Winterhawks with 102 points in 64 games. Despite those impressive numbers, though, Golden Knights general manager George McPhee is notorious for being patient with prospects and made it clear before training camp that young players will have to dominate to earn a roster spot with the Knights. While Glass did show flashes at times, he didn’t appear quite ready for full-time NHL action, so it isn’t all that surprising to see Glass heading back to Portland.
Along with Glass’ release, the Golden Knights also assigned goalie Maxime Lagace, defenseman Griffin Reinhart and forwards Stefan Matteau and T.J. Tynan to the Chicago Wolves.
Lagace, 25, appeared in 16 games for the Golden Knights last season and held the fort while Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban and Oscar Dansk were all nursing injuries.
With just two preseason games remaining, the Golden Knights still have a few cuts to make ahead of the season opener against the Philadelphia Flyers. For the next several days, all eyes will be on young defensemen Erik Brannstrom and Jake Bischoff as the two battle it out for the final available roster spot on the Vegas blue line.