The Steven McDonald Extra Effort award is a cherished tradition for the New York Rangers community, and Tanner Glass deserves that honor.
By Chris Wengert
After the anthem(s) has been sung, the attendants roll out the blue carpets and Steven McDonald makes his entrance.
He is always given a long, and well deserved, round of applause by the garden faithful.
McDonald’s speeches are always touching, yet motivating, and he almost always ends them with a note of encouragement for the players.
Last year the recipient of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort award was Cam Talbot, who filled the void left by Henrik Lundqvist after he sustained a serious neck injury. The list of previous recipient’s can be viewed here.
The description of the award reads as follows:
“The Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award has been presented each season since 1987-88 to the Rangers player who goes above and beyond the normal call of duty, and is named in honor of paralyzed New York City police officer Steven McDonald.”
Extra effort, goes above and beyond.
Don’t be fooled, this award does not go to the most talented, or even the most beloved player. The Steven McDonald award goes to a player who gives their very best, day in and day out.
And that is why I believe this year’s recipient should be Tanner Glass.
I can just hear the cynics now, and it’s probably the same people who were complaining when John Scott was named as this year’s All-Star MVP.
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Listen, if you are one of those cynics, I was right there with you last year as I believed that Tanner Glass should have been stapled to the Hartford Wolfpack bench in 2015.
But despite all of the negative energy thrown his way, Tanner Glass continued to give his best effort every night at Madison Square Garden.
It’s easy to throw out a name like Henrik Lundqvist or Ryan McDonagh. But easy is not what we are about in Rangerstown.
He is not the best skater, shooter, or even fighter, but Tanner Glass never takes a shift off.
Heck, there are players on this Rangers’ roster who have taken whole games off. When thinking about this award, I went down the list, and it was hard to come up with a name that wasn’t Tanner Glass.
Last season a rumor was spread that fans snubbed the Blueshirt enforcer outside of MSG following a game. These actions were never confirmed, and Tanner Glass even stated that they never happened.
But of course the cynics went to work on Twitter and Facebook.
And how did Tanner Glass respond? He gave one of the better efforts in the 2015 playoffs.
The Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award is decided by voting, so I highly doubt that fans will write down Tanner Glass’ name.
They’ll make the easy or popular choice.
But I’ll tell you right now, I’m writing down Tanner Glass.