In a famous myth, all misfortunes befell humanity following a burst of curiosity from the beautiful Pandora who, disobedient, decided to open the cursed box, the only thing that was forbidden to her…
But what had the Gods placed in said box in addition to all the evils that would haunt us for millennia?
Hope!
So, after having “disobeyed” during the first 15 games of the season, hope is pretty much just what Flanelle had left in order to achieve his humble goal established at the start of training camp: to be in the %$%$$@#%# mix!
At the lowest point of this descent into the hell of the CH, wisdom still asked us to leave hope somewhere in our very pessimistic analysis of last November 9:
“It would take quite a turnaround for the Habs to position themselves “in the mix” for a playoff spot or a draft pick outside the top-10 as many anticipated, at least before Patrik’s injury Wool.
Of course, if this same Laine returns in fairly good shape in December, stays in the lineup until April and scores around twenty goals in 50 games, the CH could start playing for .500, or around that.
But now Laine has returned in fairly good shape at the very beginning of December, Carrier has stabilized the defense, Montembeault is playing like a goalkeeper worthy of the top-10 and St-Louis’ concepts all seem to be well integrated by his well-established flock. in their proverbial “good chairs”.
And the partial results of the races? The Canadian is playing for .692 with Laine in the lineup and .714 since Carrier’s arrival!
In short, it’s okay ben, despite the small defeat against the Hawks last night.
So, on this January 4, at three points series, the CH is officially in the “m” word. He has now proven that he can beat (very) big clubs and the end of the season promises to be more and more exciting for the fan who is a little tired of seeing his team lose and playing matches for form.
If the CH continues this momentum and continues to play for more than .500 until the break of the 4 Nations Tournament, we could even see a race for the playoffs in due form!
It seems like forever since we’ve experienced this, tse both feet in the slush in March and with a heart filled with hope in April!
We forget the top-5, but not the draft!
But that doesn’t mean we should forget about the 2025 draft! Oh no! Especially not with two choices that should normally end up in the top-20, especially not in this last year of reconstruction!
If the CH hits two home runs in the middle of the first round, that could be more than enough to complete the bases of an aspiring club.
For comparison purposes, imagine if, in 2015, the Bruins, rather than turning to Zboril, Debrusk and Senyshyn, had instead drafted two players in Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor and Thomas Chabot when they had the 13e14eet 15e choice!
They probably would have added at least two Stanley Cups…
This year again, good players will remain on the hunt for CH recruiters if they were to speak twice between the 10e and the 20e rang.
Radim Mrtka: remember this name
I plan to give you a first top-20 from the draft in February, but today I’m going to focus instead on a player who has intrigued me for several weeks and whom I finally had the time to analyze.
I’m talking about Radim Mrtka, a tall right-handed defender, 6’6, 216 lbs… at 17 years old!
A fairly interesting profile in the context of the Canadian, we agree… A profile which could easily swing the scales to 225, 230 lbs at maturity…
Recently transferred to the miserable Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL, Mrkta does not play for the powerful Czechs at the WJC (still a little too “green” for the coaches’ taste? Lots of big size, depth and experience on defense?), but he was there at Hlinka-Gretzky last summer and, even if he is still relatively far from the finished product, we could already see quite a hockey player!
#1 defender for his country, he played extensively at five-on-five and on PP1 and PK1.
Style-wise, don’t take this literally, but he looks like a mix of Vladimir Malakhov (right-handed!) and Tyler Myers.
Mrtka has a Malakhov-style wrist shot, dry, precise and effortless. Very mobile in all directions, his skating is both fluid and compact and also reminiscent of that of the dark Russian, a fan of alpine skiing in his spare time…
And of course, as a big, mobile right-hander who takes up space and can impose himself physically, he reminds us of Myers, chosen 12th overall in 2008, with more than 1,000 games under his belt and 380 career points…
Does he compare himself to Reinbacher?
At first glance it seems maybe there is a little more offensive at Mrtka than at Reinbacher. Czech seems have a little more creativity and initiative, he shows greater confidence (poise) with the puck and has a better wrist shot than the Austrian.
Here it is, this shot, at the under-17 championship in November 2023:
For a 6’6 guy, Mrtka is very agile on his skates and excels at escaping the pressure exerted by the opponent in his zone.
He is also an excellent passer capable of a clean, diligent and precise first pass, a few well-targeted bombs and lots of small, very well calculated distributions.
That said, Reinbacher is perhaps a little better defensively thanks to his superior sense of the game, he is also a little more punishing physically, but at 17 years old, we will not draw any conclusions from Mrtka, who has everything even a rather frightening defensive potential, thanks to his range and his skating…
In short, we don’t see a big gap between him and the Austrian and he is very clever who can predict who will have the best career in the NHL.
Two defenders worthy of the top-4 every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
For those interested, here is a more complete and very accurate detailed analysis of Mrtka’s game from the site neutralzone.com.
A Hensler, lui?
Would Mrtka even be better than the American Logan Hensler, often placed ahead of him on the various lists?
I would say that his general potential, his famous ceiling, is indeed higher. In my opinion, in five years, the Czech will clearly be ahead of Hensler, rather limited offensively.
Without doing a great analysis of Hensler, the three matches I have seen of him in the NCAA so far, as well as all the matches of the last U18 (where Cole Hutson stole the show) and the few minutes he was offered at the CMJ still in progress, did not impress me.
Superb skating, a few interesting climbs here and there, pretty good defensively, but his sense of the game remains just okay. Very uncreative. Very predictable player. Rather average passer and a very ordinary throw.
Running two hares at once? Why not!
So if he is so good, why would Mrtka still be available between 10e and the 20e rang?
This “photo” was taken at the beginning of January, when Mrtka only has 13 games (and already 11 points!) under his belt in the WHL after playing around twenty games in different leagues in the Czech Republic in the fall.
Often playing more than 25 minutes with Seattle, where he seems to be given as much responsibility as Sawyer Mynio, recalled to replace Matthew Schaefer by Junior Team Canada, Mrtka is likely to be on a very upward slope in the coming months.
The picture that recruiters will take next spring after the U18 (Seattle should not take part in the playoffs) could actually see him move up inside the top-10, having been 12th on Bob McKenzie’s pre-season list.
In short, at the rate things are going both for Mrtka and for our reinvigorated Habs, it could very well be that the Czech “comes out” too early in June for Montreal recruiters. After all, if a much less interesting talent like Anton Silayev was drafted 10th overall last year…
But Mrtka remains a name to remember, because in addition to hoping for the series, we also have the right to hope for certain…hopes!
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