On an incremental, year-by-year basis,third-season pro defenseman Mark Friedman has emerged as a candidate for a regular NHL roster spot with the Flyers.
After a tough rookie AHL season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, especially during the first half of the 2017-18 campaign, Friedman showed significant improvement in his second year. This season, he emerged as one of the Phantoms' most consistently effective players despite adverse circumstances with the team struggling for much of the campaign.
Friedman made his NHL debut in the final game of the 2018-19 season. This year, he has dressed in six NHL games with the Flyers, and gave a solid accounting for himself in a third-pair role. At the American Hockey League level, he appeared in 45 games (3g, 15a, 30 PIM) for the Phantoms.
Over the course of his pro career, Friedman has learned to do less roving -- at the college level for Bowling Green, he relied very heavily on his speed to join the attack and to recover if he caught got out of position -- and to play a simpler game. In addition to his speed and innately aggressive style of play, Friedman is also physically strong, especially for a player who stands 5-foot-11.
Once Friedman discovered what works well for him as a pro and better channeled his athleticism and competitive drive, he started to work his way up the organization depth chart to the point where he became the top call-up option when there were injuries on the NHL roster.
If and when the NHL season resumes following the current pause for the Covid-19 pandemic, rosters are likely to expand immediately in light of the American Hockey League's cancelation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season. Friedman, who with the Flyers in Tampa Bay (due to an injury to Phil Myers) for the ultimately postponed March 12 against the Lightning on the day the NHL implemented the pause, is close to a lock to being part of an expanded Flyers roster for a training camp and eventual restart.
Friedman turned 24 on Dec. 25, 2019. He signed through the 2020-21 season at an NHL average annual value of $750,000. Friedman can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2021.
FIVE KEY FACTS
1) Friedman has averaged 13:35 of ice time and 19.5 shifts per game at the NHL this season. Has has not played any significant time on special teams for the Flyers but is an all-situations player for Scott Gordon's Phantoms.
2) Notched his first NHL point -- an assist on Connor Bunnaman's first NHL goal -- on Jan. 13, 2020.
3) Fifty-five percent of Friedman's five-on-five shifts for the Flyers have started outside the offensive zone.
4) Friedman's single-game high in ice time (16:26 across 22 shifts) came in the team's Feb. 20 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
5) Friedman has earned solid reviews for his NHL performance from head coach Alain Vigneault and general manager Chuck Fletcher. He has fared better under the old-fashioned "eye test" and via video isolation of his individual play than by his small sample size of stats based on common analytics measures with him on the ice: He has an on-ice 39.4 percent Corsi/ 40.5 percent Fenwick as a proxy for team puck possession, 37.5 percent on-ice expected goal differential, 8th among Flyers defensemen in relative expected goals rate.
1) Dec. 21 @ Charlotte (11:41, 3rd period): Friedman shows off his outstanding mobility on this power play goal. Gathering the puck deep in his own zone, Friedman skates around the behind the net, skates up the left side, finds a big seam over the middle, splits the gap and goes into to beat goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to complete a gorgeous end-to-end goal.
2) Jan. 13 vs BOS (14:46, 2nd period): Friedman's first NHL assist came on a play where he shot from the right side and generated some puck luck as the puck made its may into traffic and caromed into the net off Connor Bunnaman. The Flyers' goal reduced a 5-3 deficit to a single goal, and the the Flyers went on to earn a 6-5 shootout win.
THEY SAID IT
"Mark is a good skater. That's one of his biggest strengths. For the most part, [he makes] high-percentage plays, good gaps, good in one-on-ones. When he had an opportunity to support the attack or be part of the forecheck, he was there."
-- Alain Vigneault, Jan. 8, 2020.
HE SAID IT
"Obviously, I want to stick around. I just want to play my game and soak in as much as I can from the coaches and the guys. It's about being in the NHL. It's been my dream as a kid ever since I was 3-years-old to be here and I just want to be here as long as I can."
