BUFFALO – When word leaked in early March the Sabres would deal defense prospect Radim Mrtka to the St. Louis Blues if veteran defenseman Colton Parayko waived his no-trade clause, Seattle Thunderbirds coach Matt O’Dette said he and his assistants checked in on the youngster.
Their message to Mrtka, 19, was simple: control what you can control.
“He handled it really well,” O’Dette told the Times Herald. “He’s pretty, in a lot of ways, unflappable. He just kind of goes about his business and kind of shrugged off that distraction a little bit.”
The Sabres, having morphed into a legitimate Stanley Cup contender last season, shifted into full go-for-it mode as the trade deadline approached, meaning they would part with a prospect as coveted as Mrtka to land established talent.
Ultimately, Parayko, the centerpiece of the proposed transaction, nixed it, refusing to waive his no-trade clause, according to reports.
Both teams moved on. Mrtka, meanwhile, finished what was likely his final junior season in Seattle before joining the Rochester Americans.
“I would say that’s the hockey business, and you either got to be fine with it,” Mrtka said June 30 of the trade rumors following a session of development camp in LECOM Harborcenter. “… It’s just what it is with hockey, and I was just fine with it.”
The Blues, of course, likely won’t be the last team to try to pry the Czech, the ninth overall pick in 2025, away from the Sabres.
“The good news is that he’s an up-and-coming prospect that a lot of teams would be interested in,” O’Dette said.
Mrtka, who started and ended last season in the AHL, is expected to graduate to pro hockey full time in the upcoming season and play in Rochester. He does, however, have junior eligibility, so he could return in the Western Hockey League.
“It’s a great league, but nothing which I can’t handle,” Mrtka said of the AHL.
The 6-foot-6, 218-pound Mrtka stood out in Buffalo’s training camp last year, earning an extended stay and looking comfortable in NHL preseason action.
In between his stints with the Amerks – he played four games in October before rejoining Seattle – he starred for the Thunderbirds and represented Team Czechia at the World Junior Championship.
O’Dette said Mrtka, fresh off a dizzying draft year and a summer filled with camps, battled some adversity early last season, his first full campaign in North America, and needed time to find a groove.
“That caught up to him a little bit, some fatigue,” he said. “The first half of the year, I think there was some fatigue there, starting the year in Rochester, playing games there. Just kind of a whirlwind of a year for him overall with all that hockey. He played a ton of hockey, a lot of travel.”
O’Dette said in the second half Mrtka “got a little bit of a second wind and was playing much better hockey for us, really found another level to his game.”
“Which really helped us get into the playoffs,” he said.
In the postseason, O’Dette said Mrtka, who registered one goal and 34 points in 43 regular-season outings, handled heavy minutes and played “high-end hockey” in pressure-packed situations.
“I was really impressed with how he played in the playoffs,” he said.
Following those three postseason appearances with Seattle, coach Mike Leone watched Mrtka’s comfort grow during his late-season stint in Rochester. The rookie played all three games in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
“I thought he played better in the playoffs,” he told the Times Herald. “He has a lot of rare qualities that you see in a defenseman. Now it’s just he has to get stronger.”
Many of those rare qualities are on the defensive side.
“I’m not saying he’s never going to run a power play, but I don’t think we drafted him to run the first-unit power play,” Leone said. “We drafted him to be a really good defender that has the ability to kill plays, be hard in front of his own net. I think when you look at those things, traits as a defenseman, it’s the ability to shut down plays at the blue line, gap against speed surge, can he surf and kill plays? Does he have ability to end plays in the corner? His stick detail, is he boxing out?”