{"id":772204,"date":"2026-07-01T14:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772204\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T14:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:04:09","slug":"sabres-arent-only-team-that-loves-radim-mrtkas-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772204\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabres aren’t only team that loves Radim Mrtka’s potential."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The Sabres face questions in free agency. Here are some answers<\/a><\/p>\n

“For him, he already looks like he has a bigger frame,” Leone said. “It’s really important for him to have an offseason where he can really train and get stronger. (Going) to the AHL was a big jump for him.”<\/p>\n

Mrtka has had two consistent seasons in Seattle (three goals, 32 assists, 35 points and 1-33-34). He had one assist in eight regular-season games with Rochester and one helper in the three-game first-round series against eventual champion Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Aside here: It’s maddening in 2026 that the AHL still doesn’t provide time on ice figures for individual players. It would be especially notable to see how much young defensemen are playing).<\/p>\n

Leone noted how two of Mrtka’s late-season contests in the regular season were against the 54-win Providence Bruins. And the Amerks then advanced to a winner-take-all Game 3 showdown at Toronto before being eliminated by the Marlies.<\/p>\n

“It was really good to put him in those games, high-stakes environment in the playoffs,” Leone said. “For him to play that series, go through the emotion, have a chance to be in ‘Game 7,’ that environment I thought was really good for him.”<\/p>\n

\"Buffalo<\/p>\n

Radim Mrtka shoots during development camp at the LECOM Harborcenter Monday, June 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

Joshua Bessex\/Buffalo News<\/p>\n

Leone noted how Mrtka got more comfortable during each game of the series and didn’t look out of place.<\/p>\n

“The things that will make his path to the NHL will be to move the puck quick, to be a really good defender, shut down plays,” Leone said. “His transitional gapping against speed will be really important and so will his ability to kill plays in the corner and be hard to play against in the netfront.”<\/p>\n

While in Seattle, Mrtka played against Daxon Rudolph, the Sabres’ No. 1 choice on Friday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He’s an amazing player. I remember when I played against him in Seattle … I was like, ‘Oh, this guy is good,’ ” Mrtka said. “Then I looked at his numbers and knew this guy had an amazing season. It’s crazy to have such a player like that on the team here and I’m sure he’s going to get even better at (Denver) university next season.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sabres face questions in free agency. Here are some answers “For him, he already looks like he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,366741,6581,589,25054,286234,575,366738,366739,366737,286236,286239,366740,85,286235],"class_list":["post-772204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bn-soc","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-ice-hockey","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-national-hockey-league-teams","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-seasons","tag-nhl-team-seasons","tag-radim-mrtka","tag-seasons-in-american-ice-hockey","tag-seasons-in-canadian-ice-hockey","tag-seasons-in-ice-hockey","tag-sports","tag-top-tier-ice-hockey-leagues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}