"He did everything with his head up," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "He made really good decisions."
And that's really all you can ask at this stage. If John Klingberg (hand), Stephen Johns (neck/headaches), Marc Methot (lower body), Connor Carrick (ankle) and Polak are out, then the Stars are pretty much in survival mode. Gleason helped them survive Saturday in a 5-4 OT loss to Nashville. As the game went on, assistant coach Rick Bowness chose Gleason over his contemporaries -- and that says a lot.
He played more minutes than Heatherington and Julius Honka, and he was still around Sunday to go through practice in Frisco.
"You're working for a job," Gleason said. "I'm fortunate enough to come to practice today and skate with the big guys … it feels really good."
It should also feel good for the Stars, who definitely can use the depth on defense this season. Gleason is just 20. He played for Hamilton in the Ontario Hockey League last season, and produced very nice numbers. Gleason tallied 48 points (nine goals, 39 assists) and was plus-21 in 63 games for the OHL champs and scored 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) in 18 playoff games.
Those numbers would make him a pretty impressive draft pick, but the Stars added him for nothing. Now they have a guy who might be moving up the prospect depth chart at a pretty young age.
RADS RETURNS: [Alexander Radulov set to be back in lineup for Stars against Blue Jackets]
Asked if he could have ever imagined this in September, Gleason said: "You want to say yes because this is what you are working for. But two months ago, if you'd had asked me if I was going to play in the NHL this year, I probably would have said no, because I wasn't even thought about on a team yet."
Now he is. In fact, now he is in a pretty good place.
Of course, this is a business and the Stars have a lot of things they are juggling. They have eight defensemen under NHL contracts, so they will all be here when they are healthy. They also have their own draft picks that they are trying to groom.
But … they also want to win games.
"If you can prove you can play here and make plays, you have the potential to have a career in the league," Montgomery said. "It's been really fun to be around him, because I don't think the smile has come off of his face."
And if that's all this trip to the NHL is for now -- a smile -- then that's OK, too.