The Flyers gambled and lost. Defenseman Mark Friedman is reported to head to western Pennsylvania to the dreaded Pittsburgh Penguins. Friedman reunites with Penguins GM, Ron Hextall, who drafted Friedman in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
Elliotte Friedman reported the claim via Twitter. Elliotte works at Hockey Night in Canada. It was also reported on NHL trade rumors.
Time With The Flyers
Friedman played eleven games for the orange and black during the last three years. The right-handed shooting defenseman even changed position to play forward in his last game. The 25-year-old spent most of his career with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. With the Flyers, he played 11 total goals accumulating a single assist as his lone point. During his time with the Phantoms, he had a steady 61 points in 186 games. More notably, he also had 116 penalty minutes in these 186 games as well.
Does This Make Sense For Pittsburgh?
The move now gives Pittsburgh a seventh right-handed shooting defenseman. The claim seems more like a personal pick-up, rather than one of sense. Ron Hextall, the new general manager of the Penguins, did draft Friedman. The Penguins already had six (!) right-handed defenseman. The move to pick Friedman up is a questionable one.
Flyers’ Impact
It will be interesting how the Flyers respond, who will be moved to the taxi squad?
The Flyers could look to give Linus Sandin, Egor Zamula, or possibly even use Sam Morin on the blue line if it came down to it. That would be silly, but that’s beside the point. It’s really only the taxi squad that the Flyers have to worry about for now. We’ll have to stay posted on what manager Chuck Fletcher ends up deciding to do.
Photo Credit: Alex McIntyre
