I’m going to start by saying that Kevyn Adams has drafted well in the first round of every draft he’s been the general manager. While I wouldn’t have taken Mrtka with our first-round pick, I do want to say that if there’s an aspect of the draft that Adams deserves some credit, it has been the first round.

So, what are we getting in Radim Mrtka?

The first thing I want people to realize is that Mrtka is a traits-based pick. There are a lot of things that Mrtka cannot do or is not good at right now that the Sabres are hoping to develop. Size doesn’t grow on trees. The opportunity to take a 6’6, right-handed defenseman who has very good defensive instincts and may be able to develop into a more offensive role doesn’t come often.

What Mrtka needs to improve upon

1. Scanning and passing decisions under pressure/puck retrievals

When I scout defensemen the first thing I’m looking at is the decision process to how they make a first pass in puck retrievals, what’s their pre-scanning look like, and do they have the instincts/skill to be able to keep possession of the puck to transition the puck themselves or to a forward. This may seem counterintuitive to what you a scout, should look for ‘first’ at a defenseman, but one of the things I have found over many years is that the best defensemen don’t want to continue to play defense after they have possession of the puck. Turning the puck over to the other team and allowing them to attack again is not what generates positive analytical numbers, nor is it sustainable to be seen as a good defenseman.

What Mrtka does well is process the game well when he receives the puck going downhill. When Mrtka can see the play in front of him as he receives a puck, he makes good decisions and has good skill at moving the puck up the ice through his passing or through his skating. He joins rushes and will play through linemates to try to activate, so long as he has time to process the play.

Here’s an example of a play that happened all the time in my viewings of Mrtka. It’s a good process play in that he pre-scans, realizes he has time, and then tries to move the puck up the ice. The pass is off the mark, though, and leads to a turnover.

There are countless passes I could post here about what happens when Mrtka doesn’t scan. I’ll post one because I think it’s important: when he doesn’t scan, he puts pucks to space or pucks to covered areas that get turned over. When his back is to the play is when I’m most worried about the decisions he’s going to make. He tries to play conservatively, making sure the puck goes up the wing and not the middle, but for him to project to the role the Sabres have selected him for with the 9th overall pick, he’s going to have to be a plus player in transition.

2. Using his size to be more physical defensively

The other aspect of Mrtka that has to be molded is a more physically engaging style to the way he plays defense. Right now, despite his size and weight, he prefers to play with a stick check instead of physically separating players from the puck.

There are too many opportunities in the games I’ve watched where, if Mrtka stepped into a player to engage, he would’ve been able to stifle a possession or a transition. His physical development is going to be the lynchpin to his success as an NHLer, as he’s going to be relied upon early in his career for his play-killing ability. He’s good with his stick in transition. He is smart off the puck as a defender at suffocating space and reading play, and using his length to take away options and create turnovers.

His biggest liability as a defender is that he doesn’t have the quickest feet at his size, and he isn’t using his body to get in the way to make up for it. Either his skating takes a big leap and he’s able to play a smaller defender’s game at his size, or he’s going to have to get a mean streak and punish people who try to get by him.

Overall Thoughts

I went into tonight thinking that a Byram trade would yield us a late round 1st pick and a roster player. I was resigned to the fact that we’d probably take Radim Mrtka at 9, and then we could swing for an upside forward in the late first round. Leaving the first round tonight with just Mrtka seems like a reach. I firmly believe you do not take a defenseman in the first round if they can’t play on your powerplay. Even if Dahlin/Power get hurt, I have to imagine that there will be a better option for the powerplay than Mrtka.

He’s a defensive defenseman with size. He’s a solid block of marble right now. It’s up to the Sabres development team to carve him into the player that he could become. He is not a player coming with resounding datapoints that scream success, but rather flashes of talent and size that can’t be taught but don’t guarantee success.

I imagine he’ll be in the AHL or Czechia next year. He moved over here when he couldn’t get a minute in the men’s league in Czechia. I think another year in the WHL wouldn’t be worth it, as I don’t think he’s someone who needs powerplay time to hit their ceiling.

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