New York Rangers add Tanner Glass, Tuomo Ruutu to hockey ops department

The New York Rangers have made quite a few additions to their hockey operations department Wednesday, with several familiar faces among the group. Tuomo Ruutu and Tanner Glass have been hired as assistant directors of player development and Chris Morehouse will become the director of North American scouting. Marshall Davidson and Derek Ginnell have also been added as amateur scouts. Steve Konowalchuk will move from the amateur to pro scouting department, while David Cunniff has officially been named assistant coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Glass, 35, played three seasons in the Rangers organization just a few years ago and became something of a folk hero for some fans. The fourth-line winger 69 regular-season points over parts of 11 NHL seasons, but ended up playing in 30 postseason contests with the Rangers and scored a game-winning tally in 2017. The hard-nosed forward was never asked to do much more than protect his teammates and set a physical tone, but carved out a pretty impressive professional career.

Ruutu, 36, had a very different role in the NHL. While his brother Jarkko Ruutu was known as one of the league’s most effective pests, the younger Tuomo brought plenty of skill to the table. Selected ninth overall in 2001, Ruutu scored 148 goals in his 735-game NHL career and broke the 40-point mark three times. That’s not to say he didn’t have his own agitating edge, routinely being among the league leading forwards in hits.

Player development is extremely important all across the league, but perhaps even more so in New York right now as they try to transition from a rebuild back to contention. Their hopes rely on several young players taking positive steps towards becoming the best NHL versions of themselves, something that Glass and Ruutu will assist with.