D Radim Mrtka - Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL (Draft 2025)
- Thread starter czech
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This is in retaliation for the fact that many North Americans do not know where the Czech Republic is
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Czechboy
Češi do toho!
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Czechboy
Češi do toho!
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In fairness.. the first part says Canadian league and Seattle is in the CHL. Second part definitely says Canada though.lol.
Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
This will give me an excuse to watch more T-birds games. Haven't watched too many since their run.
Kind of funny that he's the biggest player in the WHL right now. 6'6 and 200+.
He got kicked out of the first game right before the shootout. I kind of wanted to see him out there!
Kind of funny that he's the biggest player in the WHL right now. 6'6 and 200+.
He got kicked out of the first game right before the shootout. I kind of wanted to see him out there!
PlayersLtd
Registered User
- Mar 6, 2019
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Seth Fryer (Victoria) played against Mrtka in his debut and he is 6'7" so not sure if that qualifies as bigger but certainly taller.
Did he get kicked out? Reschny was in the same scrum and got 2 mins and came out for the shootout.
Did he get kicked out? Reschny was in the same scrum and got 2 mins and came out for the shootout.
I was in Victoria last night and was happily surprised to catch his first game in the WHL. He definitely warmed up as the game went along, and considering that it was his first game in a while, amd he's certainly jet-lagged, I was impressed with him. He was put on the top pairing to boot (Seattle is missing some important defensemen at the moment). Yes, and after the buzzer at the end of overtime, he got a minor for spearing 
His second penalty of the game after kneeing someone earlier.
I'm watching the second game here between the Thunderbirds and Royals tonight, excited to see him play again!
His second penalty of the game after kneeing someone earlier.I'm watching the second game here between the Thunderbirds and Royals tonight, excited to see him play again!
Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
I am bit worried that he came to third worst and second worst in scoring team in whole WHL. Tough situation, Trinec wont use him in ELH, playing in Czech U20 is nonsense if you want to targed 1st round, but going to such a bad team as Seattle is this year? Idk doesnt seem like a particulary good move too. Maybe he could have tried Finland or Sweden instead.
He may very well dissapear here. If anyone has any info on him, does he at least getting some bigger ice time here?
He may very well dissapear here. If anyone has any info on him, does he at least getting some bigger ice time here?
Was your mission for today:
"Let's ruin the reputation of at least 3 young Czech talents... and try to do it in less than 5 minutes..." ?
I remember a guy who published a list of Czech prospects for the 2025 draft... basically all the 2007-born national team players were on it, mostly as very high rounders (which was funny, of course). I'm curious if he now agrees with your assessments.
Yeah seeing this night czech results across NHL, AHL, CHL I went on a bit of a everything is f***ed rant this morning lol.Was your mission for today:
"Let's ruin the reputation of at least 3 young Czech talents... and try to do it in less than 5 minutes..." ?
I remember a guy who published a list of Czech prospects for the 2025 draft... basically all the 2007-born national team players were on it, mostly as very high rounders (which was funny, of course). I'm curious if he now agrees with your assessments.
Of course I hope all of them will pan out and make it, but its kinda not going our way this season so far sadly.
It sucks becaues I remember those guys born 2007, killing it in U17 and league competitions last years, so the hopes were very high. And sadly most of them are underperforming so far this season.
So it was indeed you who posted that list back then:
"But I would say Cerny, Mrtka, Poletin, Benak, Novotny, Dravecky, Zahejsky, Pekar, Mikel, Cihar, Pavlik that's 11 players + Bartovic, Nestrasil, Katolicky, Novak who are not in the team right now... So 15 in totals with potential for top 100"
I would really like to read your current assessment for each guy.
No need to mock anyone, lot of those guys looked much better last season then this season, so what exactly is your problem?
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
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Save that one for a rainy day, did you?
Mrtka, Poletin, Benak, Novotny, Dravecky, Katolicky and Novak still have top 100 potential. They are spread out over several drafts.
Czechs have a black hole from 17 to 20. So they all look great at 17 (back to back Hlinka finals for instance) and then they all stagnate at once. Then us Czech posters bitch and moan. This is the cycle.lol
But thinking any of those guys could be top 100 when Marty posted it.. yeah that made sense at the time.
MrazeksVengeance
VENGEANCE
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Please correct me if I am wrong, but most of these are 7 guys are still in Europe. Unfortunately once they move to North America they look very different
Czechboy
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Benak and Mrtka are in North America.
Your point is an interesting one. There are lots of great NHL prospects playing in Europe.. every season. Never stops.
Sometimes there is a slow adjustment period to. Let's use Jakub Stancl, Eduard Sale or Ondrej Becher all as examples of guys that came over and had slow starts and found their footing. Jiri Kulich sure did fine in the AHL as a 19 year old. So did Jiricek. If you want I can include examples of Finn's, Russians and Swedes that stayed in Europe and came over to great success too. Heard of a kid named Michkov for instance.
I'm not sure if you are anti Czech or anti Euro or trying to have a serious conversation. If it's the serious conversation, maybe I'm assumign wrong.. what is your point here? My takeaway.. you think Euro's can't handle North American leagues. Boy I hope I'm wrong here!
Neither anti-Czech nor anti- Euro, never ever. On the contrary, I have tons of respect for European hockey.
I simply found this list of 2007 CZ prospects exaggerated and the opinions were based on them playing in other leagues. Some of these kids never even looked above average on international tournaments.
In my opinion, Mrtka attracted attention with his size (I don't see anything else there, sorry) and now that he moved to the US and simply getting more watched and exposed, the real assessment comes.
Cerny, Poletin, Mikel, Pavlik, Nestrasil were exaggerated that's true. They are average prospects which doesnt mean some of them can't be drafted.
Bartovic hasn't played a game this season, so it's hard to say, looked good last year, but probably would no get drafted higher then 4-5 round.
Others I would say are not. Pekar had around 1.5 ppg in national team throughout season last year if I am not mistaken. And Zahejsky played great in the U20 as 16 yrs old and were given an A rank in last ranking so he was amongst first 2-3 rounds. Their performances in CHL are disappointing at best so far.
Benak, Mrtka, Cihar, Novotny, Katolicky, Dravecky are considered 1-2 round prospects by many experts, so I would say not exaggerated at all
That’s not just the case with Czechs, it’s the same in other countries too, even in Germany and Switzerland young kids look super promising and then by the time the draft rolls around, they don’t look great anymore. It makes sense, though, because it’s easier to look good at lower levels. Once you start playing major junior or pro and U20 national team, things get tough.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with listing 15 guys with “top 100 potential” and a year later correcting that to 7. That’s just the way it goes. At the same time, there’ll probably be some others, including overagers, who didn’t look like top 100 players a year ago but do now.
I find Benak amazing!!! Since his very early days.... really a huge fan of his. Unfortunately his rating has been going downhill since he moved to the US. The same is about to happen to Mrtka.
I wish we could see Novotny, Cihar and Dravecky playing in North America, too..... and then speak about them.
And again, please don't accuse me of being anti-Czech
Czechboy
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In fairness.. I asked and didn't accuse lolI find Benak amazing!!! Since his very early days.... really a huge fan of his. Unfortunately his rating has been going downhill since he moved to the US. The same is about to happen to Mrtka.
I wish we could see Novotny, Cihar and Dravecky playing in North America, too..... and then speak about them.
And again, please don't accuse me of being anti-Czech
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
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I actually have to disagree though...I find Benak amazing!!! Since his very early days.... really a huge fan of his. Unfortunately his rating has been going downhill since he moved to the US. The same is about to happen to Mrtka.
I wish we could see Novotny, Cihar and Dravecky playing in North America, too..... and then speak about them.
And again, please don't accuse me of being anti-Czech
Remember this is successful Czech prospects and top 100 picks.. so a very small sample size.
I used to want them all to leave and hit CHL (or now USHL). Especially given they get 8 minutes a night in Extraliga and no opportunity to score.
However, when I think about our most successful Czechs.. they all stayed in Europe for their draft year.
Pasta stayed in Sweden
Hertl stayed in Extraliga
Necas stayed in Extraliga
Hronek stayed in Extraliga (I think and then D + 1 was in CHL)
Dostal stayed in Finland
I'd argue those are our 5 best Czechs today in the NHL. Zacha came over. Zadina came over.
I'd also argue, today, that our best prospects are Kulich and Jiricek and they both stayed as well.
Maybe that is cherry picking and someone sees it different though.
But the bigger problem is that Czechs just keep busting.lol I am also much higher on Mrtka than you and that's fine. I see a future NHL stud.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
With Mrtka I think he’s a player NHL teams will like, but I see him as a player that probably doesn’t have top pairing upside. I don’t think he has the offense to score more than 30 points in the NHL per season. I don’t view him as a PP player in the NHL.
But 6’6, right handed, skates well, has a ton of exposure playing for Czechs at some big tournaments. Has every chance to be a mid-first round pick.
But 6’6, right handed, skates well, has a ton of exposure playing for Czechs at some big tournaments. Has every chance to be a mid-first round pick.
