We have a trade to announce and it involves former front office members of the Penguins. Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin have orchestrated a trade with Kyle Dubas and no, it is not for Connor Garland.
The Penguins have acquired defenseman Jack Rathbone and forward Karel Plasek from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Mark Friedman and Ty Glover. pic.twitter.com/NBGC0KOlH5
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 17, 2023
The Penguins are adding two AHL players as dart throws to the organization. Jack Rathbone is a 24 year old defenseman who has played the majority of his professional career in Abbottsford in the AHL. He has 28 games in the NHL across three seasons.
Karel Plasek is a 23 year old forward from Czechia whose offensive profile is pretty limited. In four seasons in the Czech league for Brno Kometa and Olomouc HC he played in 138 games with only 17 goals and 37 points.
Mark Friedman is the most notable player moving and he will be going to Canucks. Friedman was a decent depth defenseman in his time with Pittsburgh. Between he and Chad Ruhwedel they had a plug and play competent bottom pairing right defenseman
They must not have plans for Friedman because I thought he was a nice depth piece for the organization. I am certainly not expecting a player like Friedman to fetch a lot in a trade, but I also don’t think what they’re getting back is equal value. I don’t have any expectations for Rathbone and Plasek. With Friedman you knew you had an NHL player who could give you competent depth minutes on a bottom pairing
Ty Glover is the other piece heading to Vancouver and he was a depth player on the Baby Penguins.
Even though this trade isn’t going to make or break anything I can’t say it is something I think is an overall net gain for the Penguins considering Friedman's NHL experience.
Thanks for reading!