D Radim Mrtka - Třinec-U20, Czechia (Draft 2025)

[tomd]

Weird.. seems like a lot of people are saying he sucks lately.lol

I wouldn't say that but I would say that people (myself included) are just confused what he'll be at the NHL level. Besides being right-handed and big, what talents does he bring to the NHL that is going to make him a top 4D?

 

[Czechboy]

I wouldn't say that but I would say that people (myself included) are just confused what he'll be at the NHL level. Besides being right-handed and big, what talents does he bring to the NHL that is going to make him a top 4D?

My understanding is that he was playing 25 minutes a night as a 17 year old in WHL?
He wasn't that far off .ppg as a 17 year old Dman in WHL too.

I'll use .ppg since he played less than the others. Only 2 ahead of him are damn near generational. One is 15 and the other is 16. So he's the highest .ppg dman in the WHL that is eligible for this draft. Plus he's huge and right handed.

Seems like 4 things to me

Size
Right handedness
munches minutes
scores at a nice clip

But time will tell. If people are convinced he will suck. Great. If people are convinced it is all secondary assists. Great.

Not a hill I'll die on. I'm obviously really excited about him but I do think he's years from NHL.

 

[macbowes]

I'm really high on him, I have him 9th on my list right now. I think his combination of skating, reach, and general IQ is an enticing package, and I could see him being a number 4 RD, capable of putting up 7-25-32 in his prime, playing 18:00-22:00 a night. Of course he has issues, but so does basically every prospect.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Similar to how Reinbacher went 5th despite a lot of people viewing him ~10ish, I wonder how high we can see Mrtka go given the limited D options at the top of the draft.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

My understanding is that he was playing 25 minutes a night as a 17 year old in WHL?
He wasn't that far off .ppg as a 17 year old Dman in WHL too.

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I'll use .ppg since he played less than the others. Only 2 ahead of him are damn near generational. One is 15 and the other is 16. So he's the highest .ppg dman in the WHL that is eligible for this draft. Plus he's huge and right handed.

Seems like 4 things to me

Size
Right handedness
munches minutes
scores at a nice clip

But time will tell. If people are convinced he will suck. Great. If people are convinced it is all secondary assists. Great.

Not a hill I'll die on. I'm obviously really excited about him but I do think he's years from NHL.

No offense, but you didn’t really answer his question.

Pretty much everyone talked about as a top 15 pick, if they’re playing in junior hockey like Mrtka has, will be scoring at a decent clip. They can’t all be good scorers in the NHL.

And the same can be said for minutes played. Which first round pick in a junior league doesn’t play a lot? Heck, there are undrafted players who play a lot.

So it’s not to say he sucks or there’s not a good answer there, but I feel like this is the question that people here and NHL teams are trying to figure out. It’ll probably determine whether he’s picked like 7th or 12th.

 

[pgfan66]

I'm really high on him, I have him 9th on my list right now. I think his combination of skating, reach, and general IQ is an enticing package, and I could see him being a number 4 RD, capable of putting up 7-25-32 in his prime, playing 18:00-22:00 a night. Of course he has issues, but so does basically every prospect.

Those numbers are oddly specific lol

 

[macbowes]

Those numbers are oddly specific lol

Haha, yeah, I was going to round up to the nearest 5, but 10 goal dmen are actually quite uncommon, so I chickened out.