PHILADELPHIA – Even with the return of injured defenceman Carson Soucy, the Vancouver Canucks are expected to give Mark Friedman another ticket back to the National Hockey League.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said before Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers that the team has decisions to make after acquiring Friedman earlier in the day in a multi-player trade that sent former key prospect Jack Rathbone to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Soucy returned to the lineup on Tuesday after missing the Canucks’ first two games due to a knee injury. He bumped rookie callup Akito Hirose to the press box.
But Friedman, 27, a right-shot defenceman who has logged 65 NHL games over parts of his five professional seasons, seems better-suited than Hirose, 24, to provide depth as the Canucks’ seventh blueliner. Signed as a free agent out of college last spring, Hirose is in his first professional season and needs playing time in the American Hockey League to develop.
Experienced minor-leaguer Guillaume Brisebois would have been the Canucks’ sixth or seventh defenceman but was placed Tuesday on Long Term Injured Reserve after failing to make progress in his recovery from a head injury suffered in the pre-season. Brisebois will miss a minimum of 10 games.
Allvin said it’s important for the Canucks to have seven defencemen available during their current five-game road trip, which reaches the mid-point with Thursday’s visit to Tampa Bay.
“Unfortunate here with Brisebois getting a little bit of a setback last week,” Allvin said. “We were hopeful that he was going to be able to recover quickly, but now we're just going to be a little bit more cautious and patient.
“Although our medical staff were a little bit more optimistic last week, we felt -- and he felt, too -- that the progress wasn't enough. In the end, it was a decision between the player and the medical staff here that felt that the timeline (for recovery) was more in line with the 10 games and 24 days.”
A fourth-round pick draft pick in 2017, Rathbone was considered among the Canucks’ top half-dozen prospects when he joined the organization from Harvard University in 2020. Rathbone played 28 NHL games over the last three seasons, but never seized a lineup spot in Vancouver and was passed over time by several players, including Hirose and Brisebois, on the organizational depth chart.
“It's been a tough couple of years for him in Vancouver not getting an opportunity and, (with) the depth we have now, (this) was a change of scenery for him,” Allvin said. “I respect him and he's a good kid, so I wish him all the best.
“Mark Friedman, we all know that he can play in the league. He played the last couple of years in Pittsburgh and. . . he's capable of being in the top six. But he's also one of those guys that could handle the tough job as a No. 7 sitting in the stands and, whenever called upon, come in and play games. We'll see here after tonight's game what we're going to do. We have some decisions to make here.”
A former third-round pick of the Flyers, Friedman cleared waivers last week after failing to make the Penguins’ NHL roster.
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