{"id":664112,"date":"2026-09-16T22:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T22:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/664112\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T22:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T22:51:13","slug":"pto-signings-glendening-gleason-delia-zherenko-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/664112\/","title":{"rendered":"PTO Signings: Glendening, Gleason, Delia, Zherenko \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced<\/a> today that the team has signed veteran forward Luke Glendening<\/a> to a PTO, giving him the chance to compete for a roster spot in the team\u2019s training camp and preseason. Tampa\u2019s on-ice practices begin tomorrow. Glendening, 37, is a veteran of 934 NHL games who most recently played for the Philadelphia Flyers. Glendening split 2025-26 between the Flyers and the New Jersey Devils, scoring two goals and nine points in 70 games. In Philadelphia, Glendening averaged 12:22 time on ice per game and played two minutes per game on the penalty kill, all while winning 57.2% of his draws. Glendening averaged nearly 14:00 time on ice per game in the playoffs, helping the Flyers defeat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the first round of the postseason.<\/p>\n

While there is virtually no offense left for Glendening to give, his stint in Philadelphia showed he could still be relied upon as a defensive fourth-line center bringing adept skills at the faceoff dot. Glendening garnered down-ballot Selke Trophy consideration earlier in his career and remains a regular penalty killer. While he\u2019s no guarantee to make the Lightning roster and earn a full contract, his chances improved today after the announcement<\/a> that veteran pivot Yanni Gourde<\/a> would be out until at least December after undergoing hip surgery. Gourde\u2019s absence leaves a hole in Tampa Bay\u2019s bottom-six, and Glendening will get the chance to show he can be the one to fill it thanks to today\u2019s PTO signing.<\/p>\n

Other PTO signings from around the league:<\/p>\n

The Dallas Stars signed veteran defenseman Ben Gleason<\/a> to a PTO, per a team announcement<\/a>. The 28-year-old originally signed with the Stars organization as an undrafted free agent all the way back in 2018, inking his entry-level deal with the club after winning an OHL title with the Hamilton Bulldogs. Gleason\u2019s only career NHL games played have come with Dallas, and he spent a half-decade with their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, becoming one of their most reliable two-way defensemen. Gleason only produced 22 points in 59 games last season, the worst showing of his AHL career in terms of offensive production. He\u2019ll now head back to familiar grounds in order to re-establish his value as a premier AHL blueliner.
\nThe Pittsburgh Penguins signed veteran goalie Collin Delia<\/a> to a PTO for training camp, returning the 32-year-old to North American pro hockey on a temporary basis. The 52-game NHL veteran left to play in Sweden last year, suspending an eight-year career in North American professional leagues that included one year spent as a nearly full-time NHL goalie. (2022-23 with the Vancouver Canucks) Delia was limited to just eight games played last season across two levels of pro hockey in Sweden, but his last stint in North America was solid, as he posted a .906 save percentage in 28 games. Delia could have a real chance at earning an NHL contract in Pittsburgh. If the team goes with an expected NHL tandem of Sergei Murashov<\/a> and Arturs Silovs<\/a>, Joel Blomqvist<\/a> would likely end up the No. 1 for the team\u2019s AHL affiliate. But 25-year-old Taylor Gauthier<\/a>\u00a0has little recent AHL experience and would be an unproven backup, while Cam Johnson<\/a>, who is on an AHL deal, figures to be more of an ECHL option. If the Penguins decide Gauthier isn\u2019t ready to back up Blomqvist, Delia could slide in as Pittsburgh\u2019s organizational No. 4 goalie.
\nThe Ottawa Senators also added a goalie on a PTO, bringing in<\/a> Russian netminder Vadim Zherenko<\/a>. The 25-year-old has yet to make his NHL debut and has lingered on the open market as a Group VI unrestricted free agent. A seventh-round pick by St. Louis at the 2019 draft, Zherenko spent four seasons in the AHL with the Springfield Thunderbirds, ending up as the team\u2019s No. 1 goalie in 2025-26. Zherenko went 17-16-5 in 42 games for the Thunderbirds last season, posting a .902 save percentage. He also has a legitimate path to an NHL contract in Ottawa, at face value, given the uncertainty the team faces in the crease with their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. If Ottawa rosters Linus Ullmark<\/a> and Samuel Ersson<\/a> in the NHL as expected, Leevi Merilainen<\/a> would be exposed to waivers. Given his NHL experience, he could be a genuine candidate to be claimed. If he were claimed, Ottawa would be left with two under-23 goalies to hold down the fort in the AHL, and neither Jackson Parsons<\/a> nor Kevin Reidler<\/a> appear ready to step in as an AHL No. 1. Despite his age, Zherenko already has extensive experience in the AHL and his addition provides the club with useful cover in the event they lose Merilainen (or Ersson) to waivers later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that the team has signed veteran forward Luke Glendening to a PTO,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[19400,7357,147,5,1333,4,72,25,5157,100,73,92,20411],"class_list":["post-664112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa-senators","tag-ben-gleason","tag-collin-delia","tag-dallas-stars","tag-hockey","tag-luke-glendening","tag-nhl","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-ottawasenators","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-senators","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-vadim-zherenko"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117283172074460170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}