Not that long ago, Jack Rathbone was the Vancouver Canucks' top prospect on defence.
In his first full season in the AHL, Rathbone was a point-per-game player as a defenceman, putting up 40 points in 39 games. It was a promising season for the 2017 fourth-round pick, particularly after his excellent college career.
Unfortunately, Rathbone has never been able to crack the Canucks lineup on a consistent basis, only playing a few games here or there during call-ups for injuries. When in the NHL, Rathbone's game has been marked by defensive struggles and he hasn't produced enough offensively to make up for his issues in his own end.
With Akito Hirose and Christian Wolanin passing Rathbone on the depth chart, the writing was on the wall for the 24-year-old defenceman and now he has been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The full deal is Rathbone and fellow prospect Karel Plasek for 23-year-old forward Ty Glover and 27-year-old defenceman Mark Friedman.
The 6'3" Glover is a 23-year-old power forward who had 12 points in 49 games with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins in the AHL last season, his first in the AHL. He's got some size and speed but limited offensive upside.
Wilkes-Barre head coach J.D. Forrest said Glover "might have been the most improved player throughout the season." There's a chance that Glover could develop into a fourth-line forward for the Canucks, especially if he develops some skill on the penalty kill to go with his energy game.
Friedman is an interesting pickup for the Canucks, as he's a right-shot defenceman with some NHL experience in an organization that is lacking in right-shot defencemen.
While Friedman has played just 65 NHL games in his career, 49 of those games have come in the last two seasons. In some sheltered minutes on the third pairing, Friedman put up some very solid results in the defensive zone, with the lowest rate of expected goals against among Penguins defencemen.
Friedman isn't huge at just 5'11", but he's known for playing a physical game, while managing to stay out of the penalty box. In fact, he draws far more penalties than he takes, which is a rarity for a defenceman. Over the past two seasons, Friedman has drawn 23 minor penalties — the most on the Penguins despite playing just fractions of each season — while taking only 12 minor penalties.
At the very least, Friedman is nice depth to have on the right side. In fact, he would arguably be an immediate upgrade on Noah Juulsen in the Canucks lineup right now.
Plasek, for his part, had a disastrous first season in North America. The 2019 sixth-round pick missed almost the entire 2021-22 season due to injury, playing in just eight games with the Abbotsford Canucks and putting up zero points. It was such a disastrous introduction to North America that the Canucks sent him back home last season, loaning him to HC Olomouc in Czechia.
The Canucks brought him back this season but evidently were not too attached to the winger, as he's been a healthy scratch in Abbotsford. Now he'll get a chance to prove himself in the Penguins system.
