Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - It wasn’t a huge shock that the Buffalo Sabres used the ninth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to select defenseman Radim Mrtka. The kid from Czechia is big, and tries to play a good all round game.
"I’m excited. It’s one of my dreams to be drafted, especially that high," said Mrtka while speaking to the local media from Los Angeles. "It’s an amazing feeling, and I’m excited to move to a new city and a new team."
Mrtka started playing in Czechia for HC Oceláři Třinec, but says he wasn’t getting a lot of minutes. That's when he came to the Western Hockey League to play for the Seattle Thunderbirds, where he played a lot more.
Mrtka says he took English in school, but when he got to Seattle, he realized his English wasn’t very good.
When asked what he will bring to the Sabres, Mrtka had an interesting answer.
"I will bring my heart, I’m a two-way player and will bring effort," he said.
When reading about Mrtka leading up to the draft, I never saw that he was a poor skater. However, Mrtka believes he needs to improve his skating, because he feels it will help him get to this level.
Mrtka is familiar with the Sabres because of one player, in particular.
"Buffalo has some amazing players, especially [Rasmus] Dahlin," he said. "He’s one of my idols, and I’m trying to play like him. So it’s going to be great to learn from him and play with him."
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We knew Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams was going to have discussions to trade the ninth overall pick, but it just didn’t happen on Friday.
"I had a lot of conversations, but my intention was to be open if there was a way to help the team now to move the pick," said Adams following the first round of the draft. "Not many first-round picks are traded, but we worked at it, and ultimately didn’t feel like we were comfortable with anything that was presented."
As far as Mrtka himself, it’s not often you get a combination like what he has.
"It’s a package that’s pretty rare," Adams said. "6-foot-6, right shot defenseman that plays a good two-way game, good with the puck, good feet, mobile, plays hard. A really, really good kid. And in my experience, it’s extremely challenging to get those types of players if you don’t draft them.
"There’s a good player there, and we project him as a top-four right-shot defenseman whenever that time comes. We’ll see, but excited about him."
Friday was also the first chance to talk to Adams about the JJ Peterka trade to the Utah Mammoth.
Adams admits when the regular season ended, his mindset was not to trade the 23-year-old.
"Our intention in the season was to sign JJ, and we had those discussions. It became apparent, to me and to our group, that it wasn’t going to work," Adams said.
The Sabres were able to get defenseman Michael Kesselring as part of the trade, and he played quite a bit last season as a top-four blue liner in Utah.
"We identified a 6-foot-5 right-shot defenseman that we think has big upside still," Adams said. "Competitive, plays hard, skates well, and for me, that was a critical piece that we needed to fill."
As for the other piece of the deal, forward Josh Doan, Adams feels he's a player that's a good, competitive, honest two-way player at a young age. He also calls him big, strong and physical.
"We think, in time, is ceiling is higher as well," he said.
"Both these guys want to be here. They’re excited, they want to be part of the solution."
Adams says he talked to Tage Thompson about both players, because they all were on the gold medal winning United States team at the 2025 World Championship in Sweden.
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Adams got the top-four right-handed shooting defenseman he wanted, but in my estimation, he now has two top-six forwards to get.
"It’s something we internally, as a staff, have spent a lot of time on," Adams said. "If you take 28 goals out of your lineup, and potentially more because JJ is still a young player, what do you do? How do you replace it? And some of it can be the internal guys, like the Jack Quinns of the world and Zach Benson just progressing. But to be honest with you, when I really boil it down, with the talent we have, we weren’t as focused about scoring goals. It’s more can we defend better? Can we be a team that’s harder to play against, defensively plays the game more responsibly? I think both of these players will help in that regard."
When Adams was asked about trading defenseman Bo Byram, he didn’t want to get pinned down.
"For me, Bo is an elite defenseman in the league right now," Adams said. "I am definitely open. If it’s the right trade that we think will help our team, we’re open to that. But in saying that, I love Bo Byram as a player and as a person. I’d be more than fine with him part of our D core."
Day 2 of the NHL Draft begins Saturday at 12 p.m.