Penguins, Canucks complete first trade of NHL season

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks swapped depth players on Tuesday afternoon, with the Penguins acquiring defenseman Jack Rathbone and winger Karel Plasek and the Canucks acquiring defenseman Mark Friedman and center Ty Glover.

Rathbone, 24, was a fourth-round pick of the Canucks in 2017, and is in his fourth professional season. He currently has one goal in two games in the AHL, and last played in the NHL last season, where he had a goal and an assist for two points in 11 games. He is currently in the final year of his two-year contract with an $850,000 cap hit, and is set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at the end of the season.

Plasek, 23, was a sixth-round pick of the Canucks in 2019, and has spent a majority of his career thus far playing in the Czech Republic. He had yet to play a game with the Abbotsford Canucks this season, and had 6 goals, 9 assists and 15 points in 31 games with HC Olomouc in the Czech Extraliga in 2022-23. He’s in the final year of his three-year entry-level contract, and is set to become a 10.2 (c) RFA at the end of the season, so he is not eligible for arbitration or an offer sheet.

Friedman, 27, was a free agent signing by the Penguins, brought in by previous Pens general manager Ron Hextall, who also drafted Friedman in 2014 with the Philadelphia Flyers. Friedman currently has been held pointless in two AHL games so far, and last played in the NHL in 2022-23 when he had a goal, two assists and three points in 23 games. He’s in the final year of a two-year contract with a $775,000 cap hit, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Glover, 23, was a college free agent signing by the Penguins, and is in his third professional season. He has yet to play a game this season, but he had 7 goals, 5 assists and 12 points in 49 games in his rookie AHL season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2022-23. He’s in the second year of his three-year, entry-level contract.