Ad Disclosure
Penguins Claim Mark Friedman Off Waivers
Published:
Raise your hand if you thought Mark Friedman would finish the season with Ron Hextall’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Yeah, me neither.
But today the Pens claimed the 25-year-old defenseman off waivers:
Ron Hextall strikes against his former team and nabs Mark Friedman off of waivers.
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) February 24, 2021
Friedman was part of Hextall’s first Philadelphia draft class. 86th pick back in 2014, so Hexy went out and brought his guy back, to complete the circle.
Entering the year, Friedman was in the mix as the Flyers’ 6th/7th/maybe 8th defenseman. They could have put him on the taxi squad if he cleared waivers, which obviously did not happen. Because of COVID issues and injuries and whatnot, he had to play forward in the Lake Tahoe game and only made four total appearances this season.
So yeah. Robert Hagg and Erik Gustafsson it is. And your most likely call-up is Nate Prosser, who is turning 35 soon. Friedman wasn’t exactly the second coming of Paul Coffey, but the Flyers lost a 25 year old RHD for nothing, after trying to trade him but finding no suitors, according to our hockey guys.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com