The Nashville Predators have traded centerman Cody Glass to the Pittsburgh Penguins, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The Penguins have confirmed the deal, sharing that they’ve acquired Glass, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2026 sixth-round pick in exchange for forward prospect Jordan Frasca.
Glass was the sixth-overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, and the first draft pick for the Vegas Golden Knights franchise, though injuries have kept him from making too much of a big-league impact just yet. Glass scored 22 points in 66 games across two seasons with Vegas, filling a menial role and never doing much to reap the opportunity given to him. The lagging opportunity sparked a 2021 trade to the Nashville Predators, who were much more willing to give Glass a commendable role in the lineup. He vindicated that recognition with 14 goals and 35 points in 72 games during the 2022-23 season. That scoring pace carried into this past season, though one upper-body injury and one lower-body injury were enough to limit Glass to just 13 points and 41 games.
Nashville has quickly filled most of their notable roles on offense with summer additions of Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault – and the emergence of depth pieces like Thomas Novak. That’s left Glass on the outside looking in, and now catalysts a move to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he’ll be one of just three forwards under the age of 26. Glass might not get much more lineup certainty with the Penguins, who also added Kevin Hayes and Blake Lizotte this summer. The crowd created by those additions could inspire Pittsburgh to instead deploy Glass at right-wing, where their depth is shallow behind Bryan Rust. That change would put Glass in a much more manageable competition with Jesse Puljujarvi, Rickard Rakell, and Valtteri Puustinen. Winning that position battle could land Glass a lucrative spot next to Evgeni Malkin – potentially enough to revitalize his former offensive prowess, or so Pittsburgh will hope.
Meanwhile, Frasca will join the Predators organization as minor-league depth. He earned a promotion to the AHL after scoring 33 points in 40 ECHL games last season, though he’s still without a point through 11 career AHL games. Pittsburgh signed Frasca as an undrafted free-agent in 2022, inking him to a three-year, $2.8MM entry-level deal set to expire after next season.