D Radim Mrtka - Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL (Draft 2025)

MS

1%er
Mar 18, 2002
56,334
94,031
Vancouver, BC
Buddy of mine works in the league and has ice time data. He says Mrtka had over 28 minutes against Victoria and has led the Thunderbirds in ice time every game since day 1 – except for that last one against Kamloops, where Mrtka got 26 minutes but Mynio had 28+.

Mynio was hurt and returned for the Kamloops game so that checks out.
 
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landy92mack29

Registered User
May 5, 2014
27,799
3,547
saskatchewan
Buddy of mine works in the league and has ice time data. He says Mrtka had over 28 minutes against Victoria and has led the Thunderbirds in ice time every game since day 1 – except for that last one against Kamloops, where Mrtka got 26 minutes but Mynio had 28+.
Game 1 vs Royals 28:13
Game 2 vs Royals 25:21
Game 3 vs Giants 25:51
Game 4 vs Blazers 26:09
Game 5 vs Silvertips 26:41
 

Czechboy

Češi do toho!
Apr 15, 2018
27,910
25,139
This start is very encouraging. Should keep him in round 1 for sure. High minutes and lots of offence. Showing more offence than I expected to be honest. Need him and a handful of other Czech D to make the show so we don't suck anymore.lol

Jiricek, Jiricek, Svozil, Badinka, Dvorak, Hamara, Alscher... all top 100 picks. Then add in Mrtka who is very likely a first rounder at this point. And Spacek who is a late bloomer (maybe). Some of these guys have to make the show, right?
 

Briser la glace

Registered User
Aug 28, 2024
90
104
briserlaglace-podcast.com
Size… and… size
Yeah, but is that enough to make him a Top-15 pick? I mean... I would probably have him in that range in a mock draft and would certainly be tempted to draft him there due to his very high value / rarity (6'6" RHD), but in a ranking... I don't know.

Yes, he has shown (a lot) more offence than most of the other >=6'5" guys (at least more than Amico, Rombach, Vilchinsky, Fagerblom, Kaiser, Kettles, Bondar, etc), but is it all translatable to the NHL or he's just going to become a 3rd pair mobile stay-at-home dman?

I'm not saying he is going to be a bust or anything, I have him at the end of my first round and I believe he has one of the nicest floors of the draft. I just don't see the high-end mobility and offensive game some have seen. In the games I've watched, he was shaky with the puck, was bad against the opposing pressure, and did not use his big frame that much... and that's kind of what makes me doubt he can be a top-pairing guy in the NHL. But that can change.

Wang and Bedkowski have shown a lot more potential offensively imo, and they are better skaters and way more physical.


RHD and offence to go with size and size.
I agree that being an RHD will increase his value on Draft Day, I'd be surprised if he slips outside the Top-20 tbh. But does he have that much offence though? I loved him at the Hlinka, but not much afterwards. I've seen some clips where he looked brilliant, but I did not see any of that in my viewings so far... I'll continue to watch him. Like I said, I may simply have watched the wrong games and I'll be more than happy to change my opinion on him 😊

Still, I have him at the end of my first round, it's not like I hate the guy, I just don't see him as a Top-15 talent right now. Same with Fiddler and Hensler.
 

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