Lightning’s Luke Glendening out indefinitely with upper-body injury

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced Friday that forward Luke Glendening will be sidelined indefinitely due to an upper-body injury.

Through 77 appearances with the Lightning this season, Glendening has registered four goals and three assists for seven points coupled with a minus-nine rating and 10 penalty minutes. Currently skating in his second season with the Lightning, Glendening closed out the 2023-24 campaign with 11 points counting 10 goals and one assist coming in 81 games.

Glendening originally joined the Lightning in the 2023 offseason, agreeing to a two-year contract in unrestricted free agency that carries a $800,000 annual average value, according to PuckPedia.

A veteran of 864 career contests counting stops with the Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars, and Lightning, Glendening has totaled 83 goals and 83 assists for 166 career points. With the Red Wings in 2018-19, the 35-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Mich., reached a career-high 23 points counting 10 goals and 13 assists coming in 78 games, one of four occasions in which the veteran forward has netted double-digit goals.

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Glendening has seen 46 total appearances in which he has recorded five goals and three assists for eight points. In 2013, Glendening helped the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins capture a Calder Cup championship. A graduate of the NCAA’s Michigan Wolverines, Glendening originally signed with the Red Wings in 2013 as an undrafted free agent.

For the Lightning, on the season the club sits 45-26-7 and three points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for top spot in the Atlantic Division. Last Saturday, the Lightning clinched their spot in the upcoming postseason, marking the eighth consecutive year in which the club will compete in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Lightning have won the Stanley Cup three times in franchise history, with their first title coming in 2004 before back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021.