Seattle Thunderbirds Radim Mrtka Drafted Ninth Overall By The Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres have selected Radim Mrtka ninth overall in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. The 18-year-old right-shot defenceman was the first WHLer off the board and the second defender drafted. Listed at 6'6", 218 lbs, the 2024-25 season was Mrtka's first in the WHL.
Mrtka had a successful rookie season in the WHL. He recorded 35 points in 43 regular-season games while adding three points in six post-season games. Mrtka, who is from Czechia, is considered a two-way defenceman who projects as a top-four defender at the NHL level.
Radim Mrtka of the Seattle Thunderbirds (Photo Credit: Evan Morud/Everett Silvertips/WHL)
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CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Ducks trade goalie John Gibson to Red Wings at the NHL draft
The Detroit Red Wings acquired John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, a trade of the veteran goaltender that could start the dominos falling around the NHL with several teams looking for help in net. Detroit sent backup goalie Petr Mrazek, a 2027 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-rounder to Anaheim for Gibson, whose name has been in trade rumors for several years. No salary was retained. "John, throughout the course of his career, has been a proven starter and a good starter in the NHL," Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said on a video call with reporters. "As Anaheim has gone through their rebuilding process, I think it probably affected his play a little bit, and as their team gets better and they have a good, young goaltender in (Lukas) Dostal. John (is) looking for more opportunity to play, and we're counting on him obviously to give us quality starts and upgrade our team in net." Gibson, 31, has spent his first 12 years in the league with Anaheim. He started 28 games, compared to 49 for Dostal, last season, and he's signed for two more at a salary cap hit of $6.4 million. Ducks GM Pat Verbeek worked under Yzerman for a decade, and the two began speaking about Gibson before the trade deadline in March. Injuries derailed a move then but set the table for the western Pennsylvania native to go to Hockeytown. "We want to thank John for his time with our organization and being an integral part of the Ducks for more than a decade," Verbeek said. "It became clear John wanted a new opportunity, and after many discussions with him we felt now was the right time to make this move." Back-to-back Western Conference champion Edmonton, rebuilding Philadelphia and others are expected to pursue a goaltender this offseason, and the list of unrestricted free agents with starting experience is not long. Jake Allen, Ilya Samsonov, Anton Forsberg and Ville Husso are among the top options available. A restricted free agent is off the market after St. Louis re-signed goaltender Joel Hofer to a two-year deal worth $6.8 million. GM Doug Armstrong had warned colleagues not to think about tendering ad offer sheet for Hofer, saying earlier in the week, "You're not going to get him." A few minor trades materialized on Day 2 of the draft. Los Angeles sent 24-year-old D-man Jordan Spence to Ottawa for the 67th pick and Colorado's sixth-rounder in 2026; Buffalo dealt Connor Clifton and a second-round pick to the Penguins for Conor Timmins and Isaac Beliveau and Washington acquired Declan Chisolm from Minnesota for a swap of picks and minor-leaguer Chase Priskie. Spence scored 52 points in 150 games for Los Angeles over the past two seasons, but he was relegated to the Kings' third defensive pairing last year with the rapid growth of Brandt Clarke and the injury return of Drew Doughty — each a right-handed shooter like Spence. Kings GM Ken Holland said Spence's representatives told him Spence wanted to leave if he wouldn't have a bigger role next season. The Capitals also signed 23-year-old forward Justin Sourdif for $1.65 million over two years after sending a second-round pick to two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida for the minor leaguer with four games of NHL experience. Sourdif scored a goal in his lone call-up this past season and had 10 points in 18 games on the Charlotte Checkers' run to the American Hockey League's Calder Cup Finals. They are are hoping Sourdif, making just over the league minimum at $825,000 annually, fills a hole on their second or third line. There was no room for upward mobility for Sourdif, especially after the Panthers signed playoff MVP Sam Bennett to an eight-year, $64 million contract and could bring back winger Brad Marchand. "We see a guy that's competitive, smart, can play wing and center," Capitals GM Chris Patrick said. "In Florida it was a situation where he was getting boxed out a little bit, and they had a bunch of people calling on him, so it got to be a competitive situation. ... He's going to have a good chance here to prove that he's a good NHL player." North of the border, the Calgary Flames extended 6-foot-6 Kevin Bahl to a six-year deal worth just over $32 million, while the Winnipeg Jets shored up their blue line depth by giving Haydn Fleury $1.9 million over the next two seasons. Bahl will count $5.35 million against the salary cap through 2030-31.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
How the Canadiens' amateur scouting approach is adjusting coming out of a rebuild
MONTREAL – When the Montreal Canadiens drafted Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage in the first round of last year's draft, co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov talked about the puzzle of the prospect pool this administration has been building for three years beginning to take shape, how it had varied elements and appeared well suited to feed the big club over the coming years. Advertisement That was what allowed Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes to pull the trigger on Friday's trade for Noah Dobson: knowing the prospect pool is not perfect but deep and stable. The prospects they could have drafted with their two first-round picks, coming off a playoff berth and with a promising young core forming in Montreal, were less important than adding to that core in the form of Dobson. Up until now, the Canadiens had been attempting to draft that core and build that diversity in their pool. But the approach appears different now, especially after watching how they attacked Day 2 of the draft. Much like Hughes said the Canadiens have transitioned from rebuild to team-building mode, the amateur scouting staff has also transitioned. 'That would be the case because you don't want to create redundancy in certain elements, certain types of profiles and players,' Bobrov said Saturday after the completion of the draft. 'You're always missing a few ingredients here and there, so you look for those ingredients, but being mindful that the player still has to be the best player available when all things are equal. But if one ingredient tips the scale a little bit, that's the difference-maker in the selection. 'If you have enough of one thing, you're looking at something different. I can give you one example: we wanted more depth on the right side on defence. So, just organizational depth. You look around the NHL depth charts, and they're lacking that depth. So we wanted to increase that depth, to give you an example.' That is telling because the Canadiens just acquired Dobson, a right-shot defenceman. They have Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher in Laval, two right-shot defencemen on the verge of graduating from the AHL. Bogdan Konyushkov, a 2023 fourth-round pick playing in the KHL who will be at development camp next week, also shoots from the right side. Advertisement But when NHL depth charts are lacking right-shot defencemen, you already have some and you start hoarding them regardless – the Canadiens took three Saturday – then there is something deeper happening. It is drafting players to shore up the prospect pool, sure. But it is also drafting players to serve as trade capital down the road. The more of these players the Canadiens can draft and develop, the more trades like the one that happened Friday are facilitated. 'We did pick quite a few (defencemen), and they happen to be right-shot (defencemen), which is a rarity in the market, everybody knows that,' Bobrov said. 'When they fall in your lap, you have to strike.' After every draft, every single team says the players they drafted were far higher on their lists and they were stunned they were available. This year was no different. I mean, imagine the luck for the Columbus Blue Jackets! #CBJ GM Don Waddell just said – and later confirmed – that the first three players they selected were among the top 14 in their overall list. No. 14 Jackson SmithNo. 20 Pyotr AndreyanovNo. 76 Malte Vass — Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 28, 2025 The Canadiens were just as enthusiastic about being able to draft Russian winger Alexander Zharovsky in the second round, a pick that required the Canadiens to give up picks No. 41 and 49 to move up to 34 and take him with the second pick of the second round. 'On paper, he's a second-round pick,' director of player personnel and amateur scouting Martin Lapointe said. 'But on our list, he was a first-rounder, and we had him where we were supposed to pick. And the mandate was to draft a top-six talent. It was important to us, so we had no problem paying the price.' I mean, imagine the luck for the Montreal Canadiens! Of course, a grain of salt is required, but the Canadiens were genuinely excited to see him still on the board at the end of Day 1 and moved swiftly to get him early on Day 2. Zharovsky was a late riser who was not even listed as a prospect by NHL Central Scouting on its preliminary players to watch list last October. Advertisement 'He improved all year,' Bobrov said. 'It's no secret he wasn't rated at the beginning of the year. He came from a lower level and started emerging maybe a quarter of the way through the season, and then halfway through the season it was even better, and towards the end he was thrown into his first KHL games in the playoffs against pretty tough teams in Spartak and Yaroslavl. So the body of work and the trajectory of his improvement was very impressive.' Bobrov had a chance to meet with Zharovsky in Russia when he was part of the delegation that went to visit with Ivan Demidov in St. Petersburg in December, and he, Lapointe and special advisor to hockey operations Vincent Lecavalier met with him again recently at agent Dan Milstein's Gold Star camp in Fort Lauderdale. The fact Zharovsky was literally off the radar at the beginning of the season was an advantage, but over the past few months, the rest of the league had caught on to his ascension. Which is why the Canadiens felt it was necessary to spend those two picks to get him, a steep price. Two minutes of Alexander Zharovsky's offensive highlights from the past season. High-end puckhandling, creative problem-solving under pressure, sniping pucks past goalies from mid-range, manipulative playmaking. #2025NHLDraft — Lassi Alanen (@lassialanen) June 10, 2025 Last season, Zharovsky spent the bulk of the year playing in the NMHL, a very low-level junior league in Russia. 'The kid came from a very small town and the path is not linear,' Bobrov explained. 'He was stuck in that environment for a couple of years until he got sold to Ufa. These kids in Russia, if you're lucky you go straight into SKA or whatever. If you're unlucky, you end up in the NMHL and you try to climb your way back out. 'At the end of the season he played against (Alexander) Radulov in the KHL playoffs. That was very impactful.' Zharovsky, Milstein said, should be playing full-time in the KHL next season and is under contract with Ufa for two more years, so the Canadiens have lots of time to monitor his development. Advertisement It also helped that Zharovsky has an established relationship with Demidov, having played with him in their youth. 'We felt after the Noah Dobson trade, finding forwards, a forward or several forwards who have top-six talent would add to our depth organizationally,' Bobrov said. 'We wanted to add a lot of compete, a lot of grit to our depth in the prospect pool. But we also wanted a shot at two or three kids who can play with the top players in the world, and I think you guys have discovered one of our current players has grown up playing with Alexander Zharovsky for quite some time. So we've done our homework and we felt pretty comfortable to do what we've done.' Another player that would apply to is L.J. Mooney, a fourth-round pick who might have gone in the first round if he were four inches taller — he's 5-foot-8. But Mooney is a dynamic offensive player, he competes like crazy, is physical for a player his size and plays with a massive chip on his shoulder because of all the doubt he faces over his size, something that was (and is) also true of Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson and Sean Farrell. 'In the fourth round, you're looking for a home run,' Lapointe said. 'He's a talent. His size, we weren't worried about that.' Hoarding rare player types, seeking out market inefficiencies — these are draft traits winning teams are usually stuck clinging to because they don't have strong enough draft capital to get the sure bets. The Canadiens are not a winning team, but they were in that position this year because of the Dobson trade and still came out of the draft pretty well stacked, all things considered. And perhaps it's for the best. Because if all goes well with the big club, this scouting staff might find itself in this position at the draft more often. (Photo of the Canadiens' table at the 2024 draft: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Red Wings NHL Draft thoughts: John Gibson trade, Carter Bear's fit, what's next
DETROIT — The biggest Detroit Red Wings news on Day 2 of the 2025 NHL Draft was not any of the seven selections they made on Saturday. It was a trade that broke just before the Red Wings' first pick of the day — with Detroit acquiring veteran goaltender John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks in the first big move of Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman's offseason. Fans hope it won't be the last. But already, there's a lot to unpack from draft weekend, so let's dive right in. 1. Saturday's Gibson deal was not out of nowhere. Gibson, famously, has had his name floating in trade rumors for years now, and Yzerman revealed on the draft broadcast he's been talking to Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek about Gibson since the trade deadline. But Gibson had been dealing with injuries around the deadline, Yzerman said, which meant the timing didn't work. The two sides circled back leading up to the draft, though, and finally came to a deal, which landed Gibson in Detroit at the cost of a 2027 second-round pick, a 2026 fourth-round pick and veteran goaltender Petr Mrázek. That looks like a good price, for a couple of reasons. First, by moving Mrázek out, the deal adds only $2.15 million to Detroit's cap sheet this year. Second, the main asset (the second-round pick) is delayed until 2027 — two drafts away. If the Red Wings improve, that could be a later second-rounder. If not, and they feel they need to recoup a pick there, they'll have plenty of time to do so. Advertisement 2. Gibson looks like an upgrade for Detroit on paper, particularly if Gibson can build on a bounce-back season in 2024-25, when he put up a .911 save percentage in 29 games. Detroit will want him to play more than 29 games, of course — and so will Gibson, after being supplanted by youngster Lukáš Dostál in Anaheim. But Gibson has played 40 or more games in every other full season for the last decade, so durability should not be a significant concern. He'll be 32 later this month, so he's not necessarily prime-aged anymore, but if Gibson can tap into his talent in a legit starter role, he'll elevate Detroit in a real way. From 2014-2019, Gibson was a stud in goal for the Ducks, turning in a .921 save percentage over 236 games. Of course, 2019 was a long time ago, and last year was the first time he's finished a season above .904 since then. But those rebuilding Ducks teams were rough, and his environment in Detroit this year should be comparable to what he had this past season in Anaheim. 'We're counting on him, obviously, to give us quality starts and upgrade our team in net,' Yzerman said. It'll be interesting to see the exact division of workload between Gibson and Talbot (who played 47 games and put up a .900 save percentage last year), but again, on paper, this raises the ceiling in goal. 3. Yzerman said he has remained in contact with goaltender Alex Lyon's agent and plans to circle back with that camp. He said both sides expressed interest earlier in the offseason in Lyon coming back, and that the team will consider a third goaltender. He did say he thinks top prospect Sebastian Cossa 'needs more time in the American League, and we're counting on him to play well.' He also praised 23-year-old offseason signing Michal Postava, whom Yzerman said 'played extremely well in the Czech league.' Yzerman thinks it's realistic for Postava to play in the AHL next season. Advertisement Yzerman said the team is still in process of hiring a goaltender coach — 'the last position we intend to fill,' Yzerman said, indicating they won't seek to replace assistant coach Jay Varady — and that Phil Osaer, the team's head of goaltending scouting and development, will leave the organization 'to go into an opportunity in the business sector.' 'In all (likelihood) we'll make some tweaks to how we handle scouting the goaltenders and work in development with our prospects that aren't in Grand Rapids or Toledo,' he said. 4. Yzerman said he still expects to get a deal done with pending UFA winger Patrick Kane as free agency's opening looms on Tuesday. He said he has had conversations with Kane and his agent, Pat Brisson. 'I'm hopeful that we can get something done soon, and that's my intention,' Yzerman said. 'So, we'll see if we can't get that done shortly.' Kane has become an important piece for the Red Wings, both as a top-six winger and a key fixture of the power play, which was arguably the team's biggest strength last season. He'd be a hard player to replace, and the fit has been so good for both sides, it feels like all parties should have some incentive to get it done. 5. Yzerman was candid about the shortage of potential impact players on the free-agent market this year but said the team will look at the blue line, and will look to add a winger as well — neither of which is surprising. Asked if there was a viable trade market for defensemen, he opened his answer by saying: 'I'm not sure if viable is the right word. I'm going to look into it.' Part of the issue, it sounds like, is the state of what teams are looking for. 'When I'm talking to teams right now, everybody wants — the teams I'm talking to — they want players,' Yzerman said. 'Much like we want players. What do we have to offer? Like, I don't want to trade our core players. You trade, whatever, a young centerman for a young centerman — I'm looking to add to our team, and use our future assets for that, and right now, teams are all looking to add players to their team, kind of do the same thing (that) we're trying to do.' Advertisement He did acknowledge 'there's a couple of somewhat interesting options' but added he thinks all the teams will now turn their attention to free agency, then see what shakes out and who can accomplish what they want, who might be left still looking, and who might need to move bodies out. 6. Yzerman's appraisal of the market is revealing, though. It doesn't sound like this is an issue of Detroit cautiously hoarding prospects. Rather, it sounds like the opposite: a market that also wants to improve and isn't as interested in futures. 'When I talk to teams, you know the players they want,' Yzerman said. 'And I'm like, 'That doesn't make me better.' I want to keep these players. I want to add to it. Am I willing to trade a core player? Maybe, but it doesn't make, necessarily, sense to take any position and trade that, to create a hole at that position to fill in another one.' From the sounds of it, the scenarios to watch are either a needle-moving free agent or a trade with a team that is successful in free agency and needs to move a player off the roster for cap reasons, becoming more amenable to taking back futures. Along those lines, I continue to wonder about K'Andre Miller in New York, especially if the Rangers land top free-agent defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. If that happens, the Rangers could have a hard time affording Miller (who plays Gavrikov's same position), especially once they pay fellow RFA Will Cuylle. I'm sure there are more similar situations out there (Vegas?), but Miller's name has stuck in my head as a potential fit for a while now. 7. Gibson looks like a good addition that will help Detroit, but … obviously, making at least one more splash move would go a long way toward the Red Wings' pursuit of the playoffs next season. Within their own division, Montreal went out and added star defenseman Noah Dobson over the weekend. Ottawa made a minor addition, picking up smaller puck-mover Jordan Spence from Los Angeles. And we'll see what Toronto is able to do in the coming days. But if Detroit isn't able to make another major addition, Yzerman acknowledged one other possibility. Advertisement 'If we can't do anything, maybe we get better simply by: Marco (Kasper) takes another step, Simon (Edvinsson) takes another step, Albert (Johansson) takes another step,' Yzerman said. 'Maybe one of these young guys that played in GR last year, whoever it is, takes another step and goes on our team. … I'm going to keep trying. We will keep trying. But the worst thing I can do is make a move out of desperation or panic, and move our young players out here (in a deal) that doesn't make us any better.' 8. Yzerman said he does not expect to use a buyout at this time, though that probably could have been inferred from the fact he hasn't done so yet, with less than two days until the window closes. Perhaps that could change if the Red Wings suddenly have a pressing need for cap space, but as of now, that isn't an issue. 9. OK, onto the draft class. Detroit's first-round pick, Everett (WHL) Carter Bear, really stands out as a great fit for this pipeline. As much as the Red Wings have prioritized this profile for several years now, players like Bear show up consistently on winning rosters. He's a very skilled, smart player who can create plenty of offense. But he also doesn't need it to just be pretty offense. He will give second efforts around the net, hound pucks on the forecheck and do the little things. A future top-six that includes Bear, Kasper and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård should make Detroit much harder to play against — which they need. Add in the pure creativity and skill of Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat (legit competitors in their own rights, albeit in smaller bodies), and the two-way play of Dylan Larkin and Nate Danielson, and the future forward lineup starts to look pretty balanced. You saw how well Kasper complemented Larkin, Raymond, DeBrincat and Kane in the second half of this past season. Bear isn't quite that fast or quite as big (he's 6 feet to Kasper's 6-1), but he has more pure skill, and that same tenacity could make him a natural fit opposite Raymond or DeBrincat. Or, it could allow Detroit to form a positively menacing line of Bear, Kasper and Brandsegg-Nygård one day. His versatility is a real asset. Advertisement I'd probably rank him between Danielson and Brandsegg-Nygård among Detroit's forward prospects, with Danielson ahead because of the positional value at center, but I could see Bear having the highest NHL point totals of the three. 10. Speaking of being hard to play against, Detroit's second-round pick, Eddie Genborg, has that down. He's a 6-2 winger who moves well and profiles as a classic bottom-six banger who's very willing to get physical and play around the net. At the NHL Draft Combine, the Red Wings like to ask players which of their teammates they'd want to take to the NHL with them. 'Most of the guys on the Swedish team were saying they wanted to play with Eddie,' Draper said. 'He's a big, strong kid. He can really skate. He's physical on the forecheck. A guy that is really tough to play against, and we just really liked the intensity that he's able to bring.' Yes, this is a familiar refrain from Detroit. But it's for a reason. 'You look at the teams that were able to be successful and go on a run, obviously had guys that could skate, they had guys that were hard to play against, they had responsible hockey players,' Draper said. 'And we think that's what Eddie's going to bring for us.' 11. One of the more interesting picks of the day was one of Detroit's two fourth-rounders, Michael Svrcek. Svrcek was part of a Slovak team that put a scare into Team USA in the bronze-medal game at the Under-18 World Championship, with Svrcek scoring twice late in the second period to take a lead on the Americans before ultimately falling in overtime. Unsurprisingly, Detroit liked his skating, his competitiveness and his puck skills. 'He plays a lot bigger than he is,' Draper said of the 5-10 forward who plays for Brynäs in Sweden, where he put up a point-per-game in the J20 league and got into 27 SHL games between the regular season and playoffs. That's impressive for a young player drafted in the fourth round. Advertisement 12. Another member of that Slovak U18 team was goaltender Michal Pradel, whom the Red Wings also picked in the third round. Pradel stands 6-4 and played last year in the USHL with Tri-City, where he had an .899 save percentage in his first season, but he posted a .914 at the U18 Worlds, second only to Canada's Jack Ivankovic among goalies who played more than two games at the event. 13. Detroit also took two players out of the prep ranks in this class, using a fourth-round pick on Minnesota high-school player Brent Solomon and a sixth-rounder on Grayden Robertson-Palmer from Massachusetts. Taking prep players can be a challenge because it's a different level of competition compared to major junior leagues, college or Europe, but Draper talked about the need to focus on projection in doing so. It will likely be a longer path for both, but with Robertson-Palmer, Detroit is pleased that he's going to play for Gardner MacDougall at QMJHL Moncton (which went to the Memorial Cup last year). And for Solomon, who did get some run in the USHL as well, Draper emphasized his shot. 'The one thing that certainly stood out for us right away is the release,' he said. 'The way he shoots the puck. He's got very good offensive zone instincts and just kind of a knack for scoring. The way he shoots the puck at the level he plays, you know, it's natural. And that's something that we were excited about to add. 14. Detroit's sixth-rounder, Will Murphy, is a 6-4 LHD out of the QMJHL whom Draper described as a 'big, stay-at-home defenseman.' 'The physicality and toughness, it's something that we felt, at the time, with where we were at, we wanted to bring it into the organization,' Draper said. 'Our Quebec scout, Ross (Yates) and Corey (Crocker) in the Maritimes, really knew this player. He's a character kid, he's the type of teammate that will do everything he can to stick up for his teammates.' Advertisement 15. And finally, fifth-round pick Nikita Tyurin is a smaller left-shot defenseman out of Russia who had a KHL appearance this season at age 17. Draper said Detroit's Russia scout Nikolai Vakourov emphasized Tyurin's playoff performance and was excited about him as a prospect. 'Good skater, good hockey sense, good with the puck, good first-pass defenseman,' Draper said. 'And when you're sitting there … in the later rounds, and you have one of the area scouts that is excited about a player, that's what I want to hear.'
