Proposal: - THE CASE FOR DRAFTING RADIM MRTKA | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League

Proposal: THE CASE FOR DRAFTING RADIM MRTKA

WickedWitch74

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Jan 16, 2019
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Raleigh
Or… why I don’t trust the Bruins to develop a scoring Forward.

Nearly all of our Bruins draft discussion has centered around… Centers, so this post is probably going to get some hate. Cool… let’s discuss.

Drafting is, of course, an inexact science. Teams make their lists and draft accordingly. Sometimes they make a maddening reach for a player that would likely have been available later (Zach Senyshyn) and sometimes they look very smart when they get a valuable player in later rounds (Brad Marchand).

Drafting is also only half the equation, with development being the other crucial piece. What happens between Draft Night and a player making his NHL debut varies between teams, coaches, systems and the routes they take to the pros.

Boston, under Don Sweeney, has a pretty poor record of drafting and developing impact forwards. I get the fact that the Bruins have traded away lots of picks and have rarely been in a position to draft top talent, but the players they have picked have not gone on to become impact players (top 9 Forwards) in Boston.

This could be a product of poor amateur scouting, but perhaps it is more a product of Boston being poor at developing Forwards to do what, well… Forwards should do… score.

Are they too focused on turning Forwards into two-way players that must take care of the defensive side of the game, while sacrificing some of their offensive instinct? Are they too focused on finding Patrice Bergeron 2.0 that they don’t let Forwards play to whatever strengths made them draft picks in the first place?

On the flip side Don Sweeney’s regime has been pretty successful at identifying and bringing along Defensemen. There are a few top-4 stalwarts around the league.

If we take a look at Boston picks from 2015 onwards, focusing on players that actually made it to the NHL, we see the following statistics:

Forwards: Hughes, JFK, Senyshyn, Debrusk, Frederic, Studnicka, Lauko, Beecher, Duran, Lysell, Poitras (1388 games)

Defense: Lauzon, Carlo, Zboril, Lindgren, McAvoy, Vaak, Lohrei, Brunet: (2244 games)

Forwards have played an average of 126.18 games in the NHL to this point.

Defensemen have played an average of 280.5 games in the NHL to this point.

I recognize that calculating player value this way is a bit wonky, and I wish for an NHL equivalent to baseball's WAR, but I still think it’s striking how big that gulf is.

Getting back to the development side of things… the Bruins are on the cusp of hiring a new coach with Marco Sturm and Mitch Love being finalists. I think the Front Office’s logic is to have the Bruins return to their identity as a defense-first team that is tough to play against. These two coaching candidates seem to reflect that.

This suggests to me that Forwards will continue to focus on strong two-way play and sacrificing some offense for a strong defensive game.

Maybe using that high pick on Jake OBrien or Viktor Eklund isn’t the best move. Do we trust this Bruins organization to develop this player to his fullest ability?

Maybe the right move is to draft the second best Defenseman in the draft and bulk up our stable of D-Men.

This brings me to my next point.

Boston has next to nothing in terms of Defense prospects.

With the recent focus on drafting/trading for Forwards, and Centers in particular, Boston has some interesting prospects in Dean Letourneau, Poitras, Minten, Zellers, Lysell, Locmelis.

But I saw today that the Bruins gave up on Jonathan Myrenberg, which leaves Freddy Brunet, Jackson Edwards, Loke Johanson, Michael Callahan and Ty Gallagher, That’s not great.

Adding Radim Mrtka, a 6’6” two-way Defenseman that can move the puck, skate well, and dominate in the defensive zone, might be the best path forward for this organization.
 
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Or… why I don’t trust the Bruins to develop a scoring Forward.

Nearly all of our Bruins draft discussion has centered around… Centers, so this post is probably going to get some hate. Cool… let’s discuss.

Drafting is, of course, an inexact science. Teams make their lists and draft accordingly. Sometimes they make a maddening reach for a player that would likely have been available later (Zach Senyshyn) and sometimes they look very smart when they get a valuable player in later rounds (Brad Marchand).

Drafting is also only half the equation, with development being the other crucial piece. What happens between Draft Night and a player making his NHL debut varies between teams, coaches, systems and the routes they take to the pros.

Boston, under Don Sweeney, has a pretty poor record of drafting and developing impact forwards. I get the fact that the Bruins have traded away lots of picks and have rarely been in a position to draft top talent, but the players they have picked have not gone on to become impact players (top 9 Forwards) in Boston.

This could be a product of poor amateur scouting, but perhaps it is more a product of Boston being poor at developing Forwards to do what, well… Forwards should do… score.

Are they too focused on turning Forwards into two-way players that must take care of the defensive side of the game, while sacrificing some of their offensive instinct? Are they too focused on finding Patrice Bergeron 2.0 that they don’t let Forwards play to whatever strengths made them draft picks in the first place?

On the flip side Don Sweeney’s regime has been pretty successful at identifying and bringing along Defensemen. There are a few top-4 stalwarts around the league.

If we take a look at Boston picks from 2015 onwards, focusing on players that actually made it to the NHL, we see the following statistics:

Forwards: Hughes, JFK, Senyshyn, Debrusk, Frederic, Studnicka, Lauko, Beecher, Duran, Lysell, Poitras (1388 games)

Defense: Lauzon, Carlo, Zboril, Lindgren, McAvoy, Vaak, Lohrei, Brunet: (2244 games)

Forwards have played an average of 126.18 games in the NHL to this point.

Defensemen have played an average of 280.5 games in the NHL to this point.

I recognize that calculating player value this way is a bit wonky, but I still think it’s striking how big that gulf is.

Getting back to the development side of things… the Bruins are on the cusp of hiring a new coach with Marco Sturm and Mitch Love being finalists. I think the Front Office’s logic is to have the Bruins return to their identity as a defense-first team that is tough to play against. These two coaching candidates seem to reflect that.

This suggests to me that Forwards will continue to focus on strong two-way play and sacrificing some offense for a strong defensive game.

Maybe using that high pick on Jake OBrien or Viktor Eklund isn’t the best move. Do we trust this Bruins organization to develop this player to his fullest ability?

Maybe the right move is to draft the second best Defenseman in the draft and bulk up our stable of D-Men.

This brings me to my next point.

Boston has next to nothing in terms of Defense prospects.

With the recent focus on drafting/trading for Forwards, and Centers in particular, Boston has some interesting prospects in Dean Letourneau, Poitras, Minten, Zellers, Lysell, Locmelis.

But I saw today that the Bruins gave up on Jonathan Myrenberg, which leaves Freddy Brunet, Jackson Edwards, Loke Johanson, Michael Callahan and Ty Gallagher, That’s not great.

Adding Radim Mrtka, a 6’6” two-way Defenseman that can move the puck, skate well, and dominate in the defensive zone, might be the best path forward for this organization.
You make a very compelling argument. I don't hate the idea and I DO think he's gonna be a stud defenseman in this league for a long time.
 
Even if he's the greatest defensive defenseman to play the game, they can't win games 0-0.

They need players who can put the puck in the net, and the draft is the best way to acquire those players. They cannot rely on Pasta to score them 75% of their goals.
 
If they feel he's the BPA then I'm fine with picking him. They can't pick him just because he's a defencemen if there's forwards they have ranked higher available though.
 
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This is really just an argument for firing everyone involved in player development. If you're 10 years in, and you haven't fixed a glaring weakness with scouting and developing certain types of players, it's never going to happen. They need to be able to draft and develop scoring forwards. If they can't figure out how to do it, then serious changes need to happen so they can.
 
Or… why I don’t trust the Bruins to develop a scoring Forward.

Nearly all of our Bruins draft discussion has centered around… Centers, so this post is probably going to get some hate. Cool… let’s discuss.

Drafting is, of course, an inexact science. Teams make their lists and draft accordingly. Sometimes they make a maddening reach for a player that would likely have been available later (Zach Senyshyn) and sometimes they look very smart when they get a valuable player in later rounds (Brad Marchand).

Drafting is also only half the equation, with development being the other crucial piece. What happens between Draft Night and a player making his NHL debut varies between teams, coaches, systems and the routes they take to the pros.

Boston, under Don Sweeney, has a pretty poor record of drafting and developing impact forwards. I get the fact that the Bruins have traded away lots of picks and have rarely been in a position to draft top talent, but the players they have picked have not gone on to become impact players (top 9 Forwards) in Boston.

This could be a product of poor amateur scouting, but perhaps it is more a product of Boston being poor at developing Forwards to do what, well… Forwards should do… score.

Are they too focused on turning Forwards into two-way players that must take care of the defensive side of the game, while sacrificing some of their offensive instinct? Are they too focused on finding Patrice Bergeron 2.0 that they don’t let Forwards play to whatever strengths made them draft picks in the first place?

On the flip side Don Sweeney’s regime has been pretty successful at identifying and bringing along Defensemen. There are a few top-4 stalwarts around the league.

If we take a look at Boston picks from 2015 onwards, focusing on players that actually made it to the NHL, we see the following statistics:

Forwards: Hughes, JFK, Senyshyn, Debrusk, Frederic, Studnicka, Lauko, Beecher, Duran, Lysell, Poitras (1388 games)

Defense: Lauzon, Carlo, Zboril, Lindgren, McAvoy, Vaak, Lohrei, Brunet: (2244 games)

Forwards have played an average of 126.18 games in the NHL to this point.

Defensemen have played an average of 280.5 games in the NHL to this point.

I recognize that calculating player value this way is a bit wonky, and I wish for an NHL equivalent to baseball's WAR, but I still think it’s striking how big that gulf is.

Getting back to the development side of things… the Bruins are on the cusp of hiring a new coach with Marco Sturm and Mitch Love being finalists. I think the Front Office’s logic is to have the Bruins return to their identity as a defense-first team that is tough to play against. These two coaching candidates seem to reflect that.

This suggests to me that Forwards will continue to focus on strong two-way play and sacrificing some offense for a strong defensive game.

Maybe using that high pick on Jake OBrien or Viktor Eklund isn’t the best move. Do we trust this Bruins organization to develop this player to his fullest ability?

Maybe the right move is to draft the second best Defenseman in the draft and bulk up our stable of D-Men.

This brings me to my next point.

Boston has next to nothing in terms of Defense prospects.

With the recent focus on drafting/trading for Forwards, and Centers in particular, Boston has some interesting prospects in Dean Letourneau, Poitras, Minten, Zellers, Lysell, Locmelis.

But I saw today that the Bruins gave up on Jonathan Myrenberg, which leaves Freddy Brunet, Jackson Edwards, Loke Johanson, Michael Callahan and Ty Gallagher, That’s not great.

Adding Radim Mrtka, a 6’6” two-way Defenseman that can move the puck, skate well, and dominate in the defensive zone, might be the best path forward for this organization.

I don’t know enough about any of the prospects to have a strong opinion either way (Forward or D).

But I really appreciate such a well thought out post, that provides a very different perspective.
 
If they feel he's the BPA then I'm fine with picking him. They can't pick him just because he's a defencemen if there's forwards they have ranked higher available though.
I'm seeing Mrtka #7 in a few spots, including the latest Athletic mock draft. He's right up there with O'Brien, Eklund, McQueen. Maybe he really is the BPA, and we're all guilty of trying too hard to draft that 1C.

Sure... I see that my post is more a condemnation of the Bruins development process, but since they are in charge of this year's draft, and developing this player over the next couple of years... I say they should lean into their strength and draft a Defenseman. Then spend both 2nd Round Picks on the wing.
 
I'm seeing Mrtka #7 in a few spots, including the latest Athletic mock draft. He's right up there with O'Brien, Eklund, McQueen. Maybe he really is the BPA, and we're all guilty of trying too hard to draft that 1C.

Sure... I see that my post is more a condemnation of the Bruins development process, but since they are in charge of this year's draft, and developing this player over the next couple of years... I say they should lean into their strength and draft a Defenseman. Then spend both 2nd Round Picks on the wing.
Hoping the Bs take a chance on Julius Sumpf from the Moncton team. Kid seems to always be in the right spot and can really shoot the puck.
 

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