With the 9th pick of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, the Buffalo Sabres have selected Radim Mrtka from the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League (WHL)
About Radim Mrtka
Radim Mrtka has everything teams love in a defender in the modern NHL – size and mobility. At a towering 6-foot-6 and already 218 pounds, he has all the tools to become a dominant two-way presence in the NHL one day. While his skills offensively won’t be mistaken for Quinn Hughes or Cale Makar, he isn’t a slouch in that department either. He has the skating, passing and hockey IQ to join the rush and put up a good amount of production from the back end in the future.
Related: 2025 NHL Draft Tracker
Sawyer Mynio may have led the blue line before he was traded to the Calgary Hitmen, but Mrtka was right there with him as one of the Seattle Thunderbirds’ best defensemen. He ended up leading the way with three goals and 35 points in 43 games, and even posted a team-leading plus-10 in the plus/minus column despite the Thunderbirds struggling for most of the season. He also starred for Czechia at the U18 World Championship and recorded a goal and four points in five games, finishing as a top-three player in the tournament.
THW Prospect Profile Excerpt
“Mrtka is a towering defender, but his mobility isn’t affected by his size. He skates well, has the IQ at both ends of the ice to be considered an elite defender in the WHL, and is a solid contributor in special-teams situations. His puck skills are quite impressive, and his confidence with the puck on his stick was evident all season.
Related: THW’s 2025 NHL Draft Guide
“Mrtka could benefit from improving his shot and his shooting consistency. If he builds even more confidence in his shot and shoots more on entries into the offensive zone, he could elevate his offensive game even more. He will likely return to the WHL next season, regardless of what team selects him, and should be able to focus more on fine-tuning his offensive game.
“The biggest asset that Mrtka has is his defensive IQ, and it is one of, if not the main reason, teams are excited to select him if he’s available in the first round. It’s not often a tall defender has the skillset like Mrtka does, where he can skate, shoot, defend, and provide offensive production. If he continues to develop the small parts of his game that need some work, he could translate his two-way dominance to the NHL down the line and become a solid contributor at the professional level.”
Full player profile can be found here.
How This Affects the Sabres’ Plans
The Sabres have two massive pillars on their blue line in Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin, and now they add Mrtka to their future defence corps. He will bring a lot of size and smarts to the blue line and possibly partner with Power or Dahlin to form a powerful top-four pairing in the near future. The Sabres don’t have a lot of depth on the right side, and Mrtka boosts it substantially.
