CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Mark Friedman said that the last week was like studying "for the ACTs or SATs."
After being claimed off waivers from the Flyers on Feb. 24, the 25-year-old defenseman has spent much of his time the last couple of days using the apps the Penguins use to work virtually with players to study video in an effort to learn the system and style of play of his new team on the other side of the Commonwealth.
"I'm still not 100 percent with the systems, but I'm learning every day here," he said after Wednesday's practice. "There's no better coaches to learn from than the ones we've got here in Pittsburgh. I'm just super excited for this opportunity, and to soak everything up like a sponge."
After those days of cramming, Friedman got a call from defense coach Todd Reirden on Monday night, asking Friedman if he thought it would be "pretty cool" to get into the lineup against his former team. Friedman, naturally, said that it would be, and he was finally put to the test in Tuesday's game against the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena. He made his Penguins debut on the third pairing with Cody Ceci, shifted over to the left side of the pairing despite being a right-handed shot. It wasn't ideal playing on his off side while getting acclimated to things here, but it was much preferable to the way his time in Philadelphia ended. The last of Friedman's four games as a Flyer this season came as a forward, skating as a right wing in the Flyers' game against the Bruins in Lake Tahoe.
"I thought my game was the best it's been in awhile. I mean, the last game I played was as a forward in the outdoor game," he said with a laugh. "It was nice to play defense. And I thought I chipped in offensively and played well defensively."
Friedman played 10:25 in the game, the lowest time on ice of any defenseman in the game, but that was in part due to being the only defenseman not on any of the special teams units as he works to get comfortable just playing here. He recorded two hits, a plus-2 rating, and the secondary assist on his partner Ceci's third-period goal, finding Jared McCann across the slot to start the nice passing play:
Mike Sullivan offered praise of Friedman's play in his debut, and how his game could continue to fit in the Penguins' system.
"I thought Mark had a strong game," he said. "He's a good skater, he's a mobile guy, he can move the puck. He's got a little edge to him. I think he's going to fit in fine. Obviously he's a right-handed shot and we had him on the left side, which isn't ideal. Certainly he's a young guy who we think can be part of this young mix of defensemen that we have that can give us a complement of defensemen that can make us competitive. I think that with his strengths, his skating ability, his ability to move the puck, his ability to see the ice, and his competitiveness I think is really strong. I think with those attributes, he's a guy that can fit in here in Pittsburgh."
The mobility Sullivan described is something Friedman also noted was key to his game.
"I think my biggest strength is my skating ability," Friedman said. "I get up and down the ice. I'm a feisty guy. Not the biggest (he's 5-11, 185 pounds) but I like to mix it up a little bit. Not necessarily fight, but I'll give it 110 percent every time I get out there. Whatever it takes to block a shot, take a hit to make a play. I have some offensive ability as well, and I think I'm just a good two-way defenseman."
He said that his speed and tendency to not hold onto the puck long, "make the first pass and get up the ice," are the parts of his game that he thinks makes his game a fit for the way the Penguins play.
That feistiness he also described made an appearance in Tuesday's game, seeming to get a little extra satisfaction from mixing it up with his former teammates.
"It was quite funny to give it to some of them and draw that penalty at the end," he said.
Friedman was getting physical with Michael Raffl in the corner, then went down on the ice drawing a roughing penalty. As he got up to skate away, he gave Raffl a little wink.
The Penguins fared well when Friedman was on the ice, too.
In a game in which the Flyers controlled 60.47 percent of the shot attempts at five-on-five, attempts were even at 10 apiece when Friedman was on the ice, the second-best rate for any Penguins defenseman, after Kris Letang. The shot attempt differential saw a 13.64 percent bump in the Penguins' favor when Friedman was on the ice compared to when he was not on the ice. Not a single one of those shot attempts against came from a high-danger area on the ice, but the Penguins generated three from the high-danger areas, with one obviously being Ceci's goal from the tip of the paint.
When it came to actual shots that reached the goal, Friedman was on the ice for six shots for and three against, the best ratio any Penguins defenseman saw when on the ice.
The Penguins defense corps continues to make progress in getting healthy, with Brian Dumoulin and Juuso Riikola now both being full practice participants. When the defense is healthy, it's tough to say where Friedman will fit in. But if he continues to make progress and shows he fits in with this team, especially if he continues to show the ability to comfortably play on either side of the ice, he could at least help create an interesting trade chip or two. Not necessarily one in himself, but one of the glut of left-handed defensemen on the roster.