The Penguins are making a hard push in the undrafted free agent market to restock their shallow prospect pool.
Ron Hextall on Tuesday announced the signing of Western Michigan winger Ty Glover to a three-year entry-level contract that begins next season. The contract carries a cap hit of $859,000 at the NHL level.
Glover is the fifth prospect the Penguins have added to their pool this way within the last month, following OHL center Jordan Frasca, WHL goaltender Taylor Gauthier, Princeton winger Corey Andonovski, and Michigan Tech defenseman Colin Swoyer.
Glover is 21 years old, 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, a left-handed shot and was born in Salford. England. He recently completed his sophomore season at Western Michigan, where he ranked No. 9 in team scoring with eight goals and 13 assists in 39 games.
Glover scored twice in the Broncos' NCHC tournament game against North Dakota to advance to the conference championship game. Both goals were net-front tallies:
“I was just playing my game, getting behind their D and being hard on pucks,” Glover said after that game. “Getting to the front of the net and it seems that’s where all the goals are scored these days.”
As a freshman last season Glover recorded five goals and six assists in 24 games. He was named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team.
There are other highlights of Western Michigan goals where Glover doesn't show up on the scoresheet, but he can be seen providing a screen at the net-front:
Western Michigan head coach Pat Ferschweiler said earlier this month that he believed Glover was close to earning an NHL contract.
"Ty is a kid that’s behind the scenes a little bit as far as our star players go, but he's improved a ton," Ferschweiler said. "I think he's a year or two away from an NHL contract. He's big, he’s athletic, he’s hyper-competitive."
Glover will report to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on an amateur tryout contract for the remainder of the season.
