Tanner Glass Won the Trade Deadline

Every year, the pundits analyze the winners and losers of the NHL trade deadline, reflecting on the moves made and pointing to organizations that got stronger or weaker, as a result. This convention is valuable, to an extent, but it ignores the smaller effects these trades have on individual dressing rooms. Here in Vancouver, for example, we had a brief look at the impact Maxim Lapierre won't have as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, but the impact he will have remains to be examined. Even within the locker room, these small moves have created winners and losers.

But who, exactly, are they? We ask you (rhetorically, as we already have an answer ready), who's the winner?

Tanner Glass.

Glass deserves a win too (especially after his recent public defeat at the hands of a blogger who will remain nameless... and sexy). All year long, Glass has been the only regular on the 4th line, a line that's shuffled young, inexperienced players in and out, with a focus on development. Its been good for the prospects, but the lack of consistent linemates has foisted leadership and defensive responsibilities onto Glass that, while welcome, have mitigated his individual game and his icetime.

Sure, he continues to get penalty kill time, but when your coach doesn't really trust your linemates in tight game situations, you're not jumping the boards too often at even-strength unless it's a blowout. Glass recently admitted playing with the inexperienced Cody Hodgson could be nerve-wracking, and you have to think that, if he felt this way, coach Vigneault felt similarly. As a result, the 4th line saw sheltered and sparing minutes during Hodgson's brief stint with the big club.

Things changed at the deadline, however, when Gillis went out and, effectively, bought Glass a complete line. The acquisitions of Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre give Glass two NHL-calibre players to play with. They push the Canucks to 12 deep at the forward spot, and allow them the option to roll four lines. That should mean more minutes for Glass and less time covering for inexperienced linemates.

The evidence is already showing. In Lapierre's second game with the Canucks, Glass skated for over ten minutes, nearly double what he got during Cody Hodgson's three-game pre-deadline stint.

Glass would never say it, but I suspect he's pumped.

Plus, if Lapierre's as big a douche as some say he is, Glass is going to have to fight for him. Said Glass, "Hopefully, he chirps a bunch and I can get in more fights." More fights with humans? This can only be a plus. I have to imagine recreational bare-knuckle bear boxing is probably not a Canuck-approved activity.