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
smahtscouting.com
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.
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
I have him around 15 to 20 personally. This is cherry picking due to small sample sizeYeah, 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.
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.
Yeah he has 5 points in 7 games in the WHL but... he only got points in 2 of these 7 games, and did not get any scoring chance in the other 5 games (according to InStat). And let's not forget he only had 4 points in 10 games in Czechia U20, 11th in PPG for U18 D's.
You may be right. I'm not even sure he'll be an NHL dman at this point as Czechs really stall at 18 and 19.
Mrtka is going to play. I think Jiricek certainly had more maturity in his game, but none of these players had the size and mobility Mrtka possesses. He’s getting more and more confident every game in the WHL and it’s not like Seattle is an offensive powerhouse.
That's what makes scouting so chaotic: we see two different players
And it's not to have an argument or try to prove anything, I just find interesting to compare our observations that clearly don't go in the same direction. In the 7 full games I've watched and tracked of Mrtka, he was struggling under pressure and panicked a lot with the puck. I recognize he has a decent mobility, but I've never seen a "phenomenal" one with him. I like his four-way mobility, but he does not seem as fluid as Silayev or Simashev overall. His strides are short and choppy. His balance, pivots and backward skating were also an issue in some of my viewings. There were some "high-end" flashes, but the red flags were more frequent in the games I've watched.
