I honestly didn't even see the claim for him. Literally don't know a damn thing about the lad. I'll have to dig through multiple scouting reports and videos to get a fair read.
Per Pensburgh, from some media dude who watched him for 3 years:
"Friedman is probably a JAG (just a guy). He’s had a long road to the NHL, taking three years at Bowling Green after getting drafted (in Ron Hextall’s first draft in charge of the
Flyers) and spending two more full seasons with the Phantoms. No one can deny he has worked hard to get here, which fits his style of play on the ice. He’s small, which naturally some will hold against him, but he’s definitely got some toughness and physicality that offsets that. He’s a pretty good skater, too. I’m just ... not sure he’s got NHL-level skill. He’s just kinda OK at most things.
He’s not a particularly interesting or exciting player despite the decent physical talent. Not much offense to his game; he’s not a negative with the puck on his stick or anything but he’s not exactly a human highlight reel. His defensive abilities aren’t bad, but not special either. He never
looked out of place in his NHL time, but he never really seemed to pop, and I know his on-ice numbers in those limited games were not very good (obvious small sample size caveat here).
I became somewhat skeptical of him becoming any kind of impact NHLer because I always saw him as a guy who won at the AHL level by just outworking dudes, and at the NHL level where everyone is faster and bigger and harder-working and more skilled, I just didn’t know if that was going to work out."