My initial views of Gladman in the first few months of the season were positive, but throughout the Silver Stick, it became quite apparent he's someone who checks a lot of boxes for what I'm looking for. There's a lot I could outline here, but two key elements stood out, the first being his play with the puck. Almost every time he had the puck, everything was about making the smart play to advance play up ice with control. Even if he was under the pressure of a forechecker, he never panicked and was maneuverable enough to dodge them and off he went, securing a clean zone exit. I thought his handling was incredibly tactical, consistently having a clever puck touch up his sleeve to fake his way by defenders and do everything he could to maintain possession. In the offensive zone, he was scanning for dangerous passing lanes, looking to spark chances, and as a whole, it was just an excellent performance as a possession driver from the backend. The second element was his ability to occupy space, be aggressive, and force turnovers. He was always looking to suffocate oncoming attackers, take away their options, shutting down attack after attack. It was mainly through smart body and stick positioning to keep opponents to the outside, but again, was another element I thought was fantastic over the tournament. His skating and overall mechanics still have some developing to do, gaining more acceleration through his stops and stars was one thing I noticed, but overall, I adored the brain, raw tools, and came away thinking he'd be a player I'd bet on developing into a valuable player a few years from now.

Gladman impressed me with his consistency as a passer and how he impacted the game from the backend. Almost every time he had the puck, his eyes were up, scanning for his options, and he reliably connected on his passes to move the puck up ice with control. On the defensive side, I thought he was aggressive in applying pressure in the neutral zone and trying to disrupt play before it got over his blueline. Both of these two elements worked in tandem to enable A.J. to add tremendous value in both directions in transition and be the defender I noticed the most on his squad. It was nothing flashy, just a high volume of making the right plays to help Vaughan stay out of his zone and get into the offensive third that added up for a solid performance.

I've raved about Gladman's play every time I've watched the Kings, and this was another solid performance. Mainly for his defensive impact, using his reach to take away passing lanes, get his stick in attackers' space, and free up loose pucks. All over the ice, A.J. was aggressive in applying pressure and made life difficult for the Marlboros attackers trying to get by him. With the puck, Gladman was his typical patient self, scanned for options, and routinely spotted the right passing option and helped Vaughan transition with control thanks to his passing decisions.