Nashville Predators Complete Trade To Acquire 29-Year Old Defenseman

The Philadelphia Flyers originally drafted Friedman in the third round of the 2014 NHL Draft. He made his AHL debut two years later, and has since spent the last nine seasons bouncing between NHL and AHL lineups. His career as a depth forward has taken him through stops in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and now Nashville. In that time, Friedman has totaled 93 NHL games, 13 points, 80 penalty minutes, and 141 hits.

Friedman has appeared in 28 games with the Canucks since then. He's only managed one point and an average of 12:34 in ice time in that span, but his 39 hits equates to the fourth-highest hits-per-60 (6.65) of any Canucks defenseman since the start of last season. He ranks behind Noah Juulsen (11.52), rookie defender Elias Pettersson (9.13), and Nikita Zadorov (8.07).

An injury to Jeremy Lauzon and the departure of Alexandre Carrier have forced Gravel and Blankenburg into the NHL lineup, and dried out Nashville's previously abundant defense depth. The Predators have erred on the side of physicality rather than finesse in addressing that issue, and now add the burly Friedman to their list of fringe NHL defenders.