Cody Glass and Arseny Gritsyuk Deserve Massive Role Increases

EDMONTON, CANADA - JANUARY 20: Cody Glass #12, Lenni Hameenaho #29, Dougie Hamilton #7, Arseny Gritsyuk #81 and Brenden Dillon #5 of the New Jersey Devils celebrate a second-period goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the game at Rogers Place on January 20, 2026, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images Much ink has been spilt this year over the Devils’ inability to play in a cohesive two-way system. Even more words have been written on how Tom Fitzgerald is not the man for the general manager position.

But the more I watch the New Jersey Devils, the more I think that they could save themselves a lot of strife by being more deliberate with the ice time they hand out. This season, the “top six” of Devils forwards by time on ice are: Jack Hughes (21:04 ATOI) Nico Hischier (20:48 ATOI) Jesper Bratt (18:49 ATOI) Timo Meier (18:33 ATOI) Dawson Mercer (18:07 ATOI) Connor Brown (17:07 ATOI) Meanwhile, the third to fourth liners of the team generally vary between 8 and 13 minutes a game, with only Arseny Gritsyuk (15:09) breaking somewhat far beyond that 13-minute mark. The question today is: is there anyone in the Devils’ bottom six who should be playing a lot more?

The answer is simple: Cody Glass and Arseny Gritsyuk should be getting second-line minutes. Let’s dive right into it. Cody Glass — A Top-Six Player?

When Cody Glass was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins, I am going to say that the general feeling among Devils fans was middling confusion. He was a player who had not shown much on offense up to that point in his career, and he looked to many more like a fourth-liner than anything else when he first suited up for the Devils. That could not be more wrong.