[Trade] Canucks have acquired defenceman Mark Friedman and forward Ty Glover from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Jack Rathbone and Karel Plas

[eeeeeeeeergh]

14 hours ago, Alflives said:

Yup. Juulsson is bad. Myers is bad too. We have Hronek who is fabulous. We need another right shot D man who is really good and can play 20 minutes. Then Soucy and McWard can be our 5/6. 

 

Myers is fine on our 3rd pair. We need Bear to come back and play with Hughes, and Hronek to run the 2nd pair. bear was very good with hughes. 

 

Hughes-Bear

Cole-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

 

thats a solid D

[RWJC]

Vancouver Recalls Friedman, Sends Hirose To AHL

 

October 18th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST • By Gabriel Foley

 

The Vancouver Canucks have recalled their latest player acquisition, Mark Friedman, to the NHL club. Akito Hirose has been sent to the AHL to accommodate this move. The Canucks acquired Friedman in a four-player trade that sent Jack Rathbone and Karel Plasek to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Friedman and Ty Glover.

 

Friedman has split time between the NHL and AHL over the last two seasons, recording 23 NHL games and 24 AHL games last year. He netted three NHL points and six AHL points in those games. Friedman’s longest tenure in the NHL came during the 2021-22 season, when he spent 26 games with the Penguins, tallying five points. Friedman joined the Penguins via waivers from the Flyers during the 2020-21 season, after operating as a healthy scratch for much of Philadelphia’s season. But despite the NHL attention, Friedman only appeared in nine games that year, losing time to healthy scratches and an upper-body injury sustained in the Spring.

 

Hirose has yet to play in his rookie NHL season, appearing in seven NHL games last season and a pair of games so far this year. He’s tallied three points, all coming during the 2022-23 season. This assignment will be Hirose’s first experience in the AHL, after signing with Vancouver following the conclusion of Minnesota State University-Mankato’s 2022-23 season. Hirose was a successful two-way defender in college, recording 27 points in 38 games last year – his junior year of school.

 

Vancouver is 2-1-0 to start the season, with a +6 goal-differential. Friedman will likely slot in as the team’s seventh defenseman, adding pressure to Noah Juulsen‘s role on the team’s third pair.

 

https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2023/10/vancouver-recalls-friedman-sends-hirose-to-ahl.html#ref=home

[Beni]

Meh, gives Rathbone a chance elsewhere

 

rest of the trade doesn't really matter 

[The Lock]

15 hours ago, Guntrix said:

Bummed about Rathbone. I’ve always liked him. 
 

Hope this doesn’t turn into Forsling 2.0. 

 

Rathbone reportedly wanted a trade which I don't ever recall that being the case with Forsling.

 

Therefore, it'll never be the same thing even if Rathbone does succeed after the fact. It would just be one of those complaints people have without looking at the full picture.

[PhillipBlunt]

2 minutes ago, The Lock said:

 

Rathbone reportedly wanted a trade which I don't ever recall that being the case with Forsling.

 

Therefore, it'll never be the same thing even if Rathbone does succeed after the fact. It would just be one of those complaints people have without looking at the full picture.

Forsling was traded for Adam Clendening, if I recall. Never heard a peep from him as far as a trade. Another Benning blunder.

[The Lock]

6 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Forsling was traded for Adam Clendening, if I recall. Never heard a peep from him as far as a trade. Another Benning blunder.

 

Yeah he was traded for Clendening. Forsling also only really started playing showing his worth the past couple of seasons, so he literally took 6 or 7 years before becoming who he is. There are so many fans on here who likely would have complained about him for those 6 or 7 years and we probably would have traded him at some point anyway given it needed another trade to Florida before he developed.

Edited October 18, 2023 by The Lock

[PhillipBlunt]

2 minutes ago, The Lock said:

 

Yeah he was traded for Clendening. Forsling also only really started playing showing his worth the past couple of seasons, so he literally took 6 or 7 years before becoming who he is. There are so many fans on here who likely would have complained about him for those 6 or 7 years and we probably would have traded him at some point anyway given it needed another trade to Florida before he developed.

The Canucks haven't really been very good at developing talent in the minors for some time. Hopefully that's turning around now. 

[The Lock]

Just now, PhillipBlunt said:

The Canucks haven't really been very good at developing talent in the minors for some time. Hopefully that's turning around now. 

 

One can certainly hope that changes. Only time will tell with that unfortunately.

[Future Considerations]

42 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Forsling was traded for Adam Clendening, if I recall. Never heard a peep from him as far as a trade. Another Benning blunder.

 

Rathbone for Friedman could end up being a similar story.  I guess you can't fear the future too much trying to build a team in the here and now.

[Goose]

Friedman looks like a pretty good skater. Could be a stylistic fit with Soucy.

[PhillipBlunt]

32 minutes ago, Future Considerations said:

 

Rathbone for Friedman could end up being a similar story.  I guess you can't fear the future too much trying to build a team in the here and now.

Possibly. 

[The Arrogant Worms]

Penguins Look To Terminate Newly Acquired Contract

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/pittsburgh-penguins-terminate-karel-plasek-contract

 

Just a day after acquiring him alongside Jack Rathbone, the Pittsburgh Penguins have placed forward Karel Plasek on unconditional waivers with the purpose of contract termination.

[King Heffy]

1 hour ago, The Lock said:

 

Yeah he was traded for Clendening. Forsling also only really started playing showing his worth the past couple of seasons, so he literally took 6 or 7 years before becoming who he is. There are so many fans on here who likely would have complained about him for those 6 or 7 years and we probably would have traded him at some point anyway given it needed another trade to Florida before he developed.

It's similar to the Grabner trade, although not as egregious.  Those lambasting Benning for this trade should also be crucifying the idiot he replaced.

[aGENT]

Still left wondering why we didn't claim either of Bjork or Coghlan...?

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by aGENT

[RWJC]

Well for now seems like a heads down win by Allvin with Plasek’s contract termination 

[JeremyCuddles]

2 hours ago, aGENT said:

Still left wondering why we didn't claim either of Bjork or Coghlan...?

 

 

Cause that one contract slot is integral to PA's next move. Where I guess we take in 4 extra contracts in a trade? I dunno man. PA is a loose cannon, doesn't follow the rules. Not even his own.

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

On 10/17/2023 at 10:40 AM, nuckin_futz said:

Good for Boner. He was never going to get a chance here. Hopefully it works out for him.

ya good for Boner - the competition was *ahem* a little too stiff for him to penetrate the starting lineup

[nuckin_futz]

1 minute ago, I.AM.THE.WALRUS said:

ya good for Boner - the competition was *ahem* a little too stiff for him to penetrate the starting lineup

[Captain Kirk]

[R3aL]

6 hours ago, eeeeeeeeergh said:

 

Myers is fine on our 3rd pair. We need Bear to come back and play with Hughes, and Hronek to run the 2nd pair. bear was very good with hughes. 

 

Hughes-Bear

Cole-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

 

thats a solid D

Ya its far better than what we running right now.

 

We need to get Juulsen out of the lineup unless hes getting sheltered at home games or covered by Hughes for part of the game and even then its not ideal.

 

Myers cant be in our TOP 4 he just can't if we want to be a playoff team.

 

And bear is a ways away and will take probably 20 games to get up to game speed so until then:

 

Hughes - ???

Cole - Hronek

Soucy - Myers

 

Who plays with Hughes till then?

 

The most ideal option right now is:

 

Hughes - Cole / Soucy

Soucy / Cole - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

 

But with RT reluctance and the way Soucy looked in pre season next to Hughes I would say Cole is the only lefty who is suited to play with Hughes.

 

But then I worry Soucy - Hronek is not a strong enough second pairing. But I am not sure. We would have to see it for a few games.

 

I think they will pull Juulsen out and give Friedman a try before they put Cole / Soucy on their off side.

 

So we will probably see first:

 

Hughes-Hronek

Cole-Myers

Soucy-Friedman

 

And if its no bueno I hope RT will try:

 

Hughes - Cole

Soucy - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

 

And then when Bear is ready we can go:

 

Hughes-Bear

Cole-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

 

Hirose - Friedman

[Jaimito]

 

 

[D.B Cooper]

“It all comes down to my competitiveness, it doesn’t matter who it is. I just like to get in someone’s face, and I love pissing people off on the other team, that’s one of my strengths, so if I can do it and put us on the power play then I’ll do that all night.”

 

I love this so much.  
Nothing better than someone who plays like a jerk and can back it up.  
I don’t know a single thing about this guy, but what a great couple lines from the new guy.   
I hope he is decent because I want that attitude on the team. 

[Alflives]

1 hour ago, R3aL said:

Ya its far better than what we running right now.

 

We need to get Juulsen out of the lineup unless hes getting sheltered at home games or covered by Hughes for part of the game and even then its not ideal.

 

Myers cant be in our TOP 4 he just can't if we want to be a playoff team.

 

And bear is a ways away and will take probably 20 games to get up to game speed so until then:

 

Hughes - ???

Cole - Hronek

Soucy - Myers

 

Who plays with Hughes till then?

 

The most ideal option right now is:

 

Hughes - Cole / Soucy

Soucy / Cole - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

 

But with RT reluctance and the way Soucy looked in pre season next to Hughes I would say Cole is the only lefty who is suited to play with Hughes.

 

But then I worry Soucy - Hronek is not a strong enough second pairing. But I am not sure. We would have to see it for a few games.

 

I think they will pull Juulsen out and give Friedman a try before they put Cole / Soucy on their off side.

 

So we will probably see first:

 

Hughes-Hronek

Cole-Myers

Soucy-Friedman

 

And if its no bueno I hope RT will try:

 

Hughes - Cole

Soucy - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

 

And then when Bear is ready we can go:

 

Hughes-Bear

Cole-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

 

Hirose - Friedman

exactly! Benning sure did screw us over. 

[RWJC]

Why Mark Friedman is the Vancouver Canucks’ new best option at 3RD

 

On Tuesday, October 17, the Vancouver Canucks completed their third trade of the young 2023/24 season, swapping out Jack Rathbone and Karel Plasek in exchange for Mark Friedman and Ty Glover of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

On the surface, this is a significantly less notable trade than the ones that brought Casey DeSmith and Sam Lafferty to town. Plasek and Glover are both longshots to ever see NHL minutes, and both Rathbone and Friedman cleared waivers earlier in the preseason.

 

But less notable doesn’t necessarily translate to inconsequential, and especially not when it comes to the Canucks and their specific roster needs. That’s because Friedman is already the Canucks’ new best option at 3RD, and seems poised to make a positive difference on the ice right away.

 

No one will argue that the 27-year-old Friedman is anything more than a bottom-pairing defender at the NHL level at this point in his career. But while that might not sound all too exciting, the bottom pairing is one that the Canucks have had difficulty staffing of late, and particularly so on the right side.

 

Heading into the season, many expected Tyler Myers to be filling that role, with Filip Hronek and one of the new LHDs Carson Soucy or Ian Cole slotting in ahead of him on the right side depth chart. But early injuries and Rick Tocchet’s aversion to playing defenders on their off-sides has put Myers back in the top-four, leaving a noticeable gap at 3RD.

 

Noah Juulsen won the job out of camp, but that was almost by default, beating out Jett Woo, Filip Johansson, and the still-too-young Cole McWard.

Through three games and just over half an hour of even-strength ice-time in 2023/24, Juulsen has noticeably struggled. He’s got some of the worst fancy statlines on the team and in the NHL, with a Corsi of 35.09%, an expected goals rate of 22.58%, and a high-danger chance ratio of just 9.09%. In other words, an upgrade is both needed and not that difficult to achieve, and that’s where Friedman enters the picture.

 

Friedman is a year and a half older than Juulsen, but has a little less NHL experience, having arrived on the scene a bit later after three full seasons at Kevin Bieksa’s Bowling Green State University. Across parts of five seasons, Friedman, like Juulsen, has never advanced beyond part-time minutes on the lowest rungs of NHL depth charts for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

 

The key distinction here is that Friedman has generally thrived in his limited role.

 

Friedman’s own advanced statline is relatively sparkling, even given the context of his sheltered minutes. He’s rarely posted a significant stat below 50%, and his numbers with the Penguins in 2022/23 in particular were very strong: a 53.85% Corsi, a 56.27% control of shots, a 57.05% expected goals rate, and a 54.21% control of chances. These were some of the best numbers on the Penguins’ roster, period. And, sure, that’s in part because defenders like Kris Letang were taking on way more and way harder minutes, but the Canucks don’t need Friedman to be a Kris Letang. They just need him to keep performing well in that exact same bottom-pairing role in which he’s already found success, because that’s where they’ve got a hole in their lineup.

 

And we’re not exaggerating when we say “success.” Those multicoloured charts that attempt to measure a player’s value above the replacement level are probably leaned on a little too much in modern sports discourse, but they’re still plenty valuable, and in the same way as a cholesterol test: especially meaningful when either really good or really bad.

Friedman’s multicoloured chart definitely falls into the “really good” camp:
 

 

 

 

What all those numbers and shapes translate to is Friedman being far more effective, and contributing far more to his team’s win-rate, than the vast majority of other players playing the same role. Sometimes, when we write such nice things about a new Vancouver acquisition, commenters will say something along the lines of “you could spin this stuff about anyone!” What this chart really shows is that that is not the case this time. Very few other players have done what Friedman has done with his allotment of minutes over the past few seasons.
 

As JFresh notes, Friedman has a penchant for two things in particular, and those things are physicality and getting under his opponent’s skin, which are two welcome attributes in Vancouver.

 

Juulsen has thrown his fair share of big open-ice checks, too. But Friedman excels at making a physical impact on his opponents all over the ice. In the corners, along the boards, in front of the net, after the whistle; Friedman is almost always seeking to get a piece of someone, and he doesn’t pay much heed to the consequences. He’s one of those rare players to play a genuine agitatorial role from the blueline, and that’s probably why he draws minor penalties at a higher rate than basically any other player in his position in the entire NHL.

 

Just how much of an agitator is Friedman? Take a peek at this YouTube compilation that is essentially five full minutes of the Philadelphia Flyers trying to kill Friedman. Shots from behind, shots after the whistle, a fight. In just a couple of games, Friedman was able to draw so much negative attention from the Flyers as to have it become the dominant storyline between the two rival teams at the time.

 

The kicker? This all came just days and weeks after Friedman was claimed on waivers by the Penguins from the Flyers. Those are Friedman’s own former and recent teammates trying to take his head off. That’s how good this guy is at pissing people off.

 

Again, this is all done with a purpose, and that purpose is to get opponent’s off their game and into the penalty box. Usually, when a bottom-pairing D is the center of attention in a game, it’s a bad thing. Not so with Friedman!

Really, it’s difficult for someone to make a real impact with a career average ice-time of around 13 minutes per game. Yet Friedman has consistently managed to do so, and in a multitude of ways. He posts excellent defensive and possession-based results. He provides a modicum of offence. He punishes and frustrates opponents. He often becomes the center of attention.

 

All of the Canucks’ current options for 3RD are of the variety who can just barely manage to survive the role. Friedman, on the other hand, has proven that he can thrive in it.

 

As one trolls around various message boards, one can find plenty of sentiment from both the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh fanbases that Friedman wasn’t given a fair shot in either city. Truly, that’s the ultimate compliment that can be paid to a depth defender, that fans wanted to see more of them.

 

Of late, that certainly hasn’t been the case for many depth defenders in Vancouver. Is Friedman the one to break the streak and start contributing from the bottom-end of the blueline?

The sum total of his career thus far suggests the answer may be ‘yes.’

 

 

Stephan Roget

 

https://canucksarmy.com/news/whats-most-sustainable-thing-canucks-far

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by RWJC

[NoCupSyndrome]

8 hours ago, The Lock said:

 

Yeah he was traded for Clendening. Forsling also only really started playing showing his worth the past couple of seasons, so he literally took 6 or 7 years before becoming who he is. There are so many fans on here who likely would have complained about him for those 6 or 7 years and we probably would have traded him at some point anyway given it needed another trade to Florida before he developed.

And who knows how getting traded impacts a player's mindset. Sometimes it is the spark that inspires them to be better.