NY Rangers Announce New Director of Player Development

The New York Rangers wasted no time finding a new director of player development to take over for Jed Ortmeyer.

Jan 9, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers center Sam Carrick (39) celebrates his game winning goal against the New Jersey Devils with right wing Reilly Smith (91) during overtime at Madison Square Garden. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Anyone who has been closely following the New York Rangers the last few weeks likely wasn’t overly surprised when it was announced they were making a major change to their development staff.

Jed Ortmeyer, who has been the director of player personnel for the last nine years, was relieved of his duties. And now, a replacement has already been announced.

As Vincent Z. Mercagliano of The Athletic mentioned when sharing news of Ortmeyer’s departure, if the Rangers were going to stay in-house for his replacement, Tanner Glass was someone to keep an eye on.

He has been the assistant director of player personnel since 2019, and now he is officially moving into the head job. As shared by Peter Baugh of The Athletic on X, Glass is now the director of player development for the franchise.

Rangers replace Jed Ortmeyer in-house with Tanner Glass

Mar 2, 2018; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames left wing Tanner Glass (15) during the second period against the New York Rangers at Scotiabank Saddledome. / Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

Marc Staal is listed as the player development assistant. Antti Miettinen is the assistant for player development in Europe. Collin Downey is the player development assistant for the Hartford Wolf Pack. The player development skills coach is Mark Ciaccio.

The writing has seemingly been on the wall for the dismissal of Ortmeyer when president and general manager of the team, Chris Drury, didn’t mention him during a Zoom call on April 17.

During that call, he shared that every department was being evaluated for ways to make the team better. John Lilley, the director of amateur scouting, was mentioned during that call and praised for his work.

Lilley has been credited with the recent selections of Gabe Perreault, a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, and Noah Laba, a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, who both look like future contributors to the team. Perreault has the makings of a top-six forward, and Laba looks to cement a bottom-six role, at the very least.

The #NYR have promoted Tanner Glass to the director of player development. @vzmercogliano wrote yesterday about Jed Ortmeyer's departure from the role. https://t.co/KXrARtdwaW pic.twitter.com/pXPn953JnK

— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) May 2, 2026

Jaroslav Chmelar, a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, also looks like he will be in the mix for a bottom-six forward spot during the 2026-27 season after forcing his way into the lineup as a rookie this past season.

Adam Sykora, a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, also has the potential to be a regular for the Rangers.

While the recent emergence of the younger players on the team is encouraging, player development was an issue throughout Ortmeyer’s tenure in the position. From 2017, his first year on the job, through 2021, New York had nine first-round picks and only two of them remain on the roster: Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider, who were selected No. 1 and No. 19, respectively, in the 2020 NHL Draft.

Pressure will be on Glass right off the bat. The Rangers own the No. 5 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and are hoping to add a long-term building block to the organizational depth chart. It is imperative they hit on that selection to jump-start the retool and ensure their two-year playoff drought doesn’t expand.