Sabres sign Radim Mrtka to His ELC

[Brawndo]

Per Sabres PR

 

[LGR4GM]

I have never wanted to see a 1st round pick spend 1 more year2 in jrs and then at least 2 years in the AHL so bad in my life. They need to let him develop over a long period of time so he can really turn into a good player. I think his development is behind because of the role he had in Czechia and that he needs lots of coaching and development at lower leagues to build up all those flashes of skills he has.

[dudacek]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I have never wanted to see a 1st round pick spend 1 more year2 in jrs and then at least 2 years in the AHL so bad in my life. They need to let him develop over a long period of time so he can really turn into a good player. I think his development is behind because of the role he had in Czechia and that he needs lots of coaching and development at lower leagues to build up all those flashes of skills he has.

He really has a ton of potential if he is developed right, but he so much needs to be developed right.

[Taro T]

35 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Per Sabres PR

 

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of guys signing this year that might've waited a year or 2 to do so to get their ELCs set up under the current CBA/MOU rather than the next one.

Need to look at it closer, and maybe misread it (didn't have time to look thoroughly at it) but it looks like the days of being able to earn an extra $3MM in ELC bonuses is coming to an end.  (Again, might've totally misread that; went over it quickly, but it looks like they're scaling back performance bonuses on ELCs.)

[Indabuff]

MR. T !!!

[inkman]

Hopefully he doesn’t Slide a Long Way Down to find any Black Balloons.  
 

[DarthEbriate]

The good news is... (I think) he can still qualify for two contract slide years (one for sure). The bad news is...  Kesselring is a RFA next summer and Timmins could be as well and our GM will still be 'Ol No-Blockers.

[French Collection]

Just now, DarthEbriate said:

The good news is... (I think) he can still qualify for two contract slide years (one for sure). The bad news is...  Kesselring is a RFA next summer and Timmins could be as well and our GM will still be 'Ol No-Blockers.

He is already dreaming of his twin towers manning the blue line. He has Jack and Sam’s tandem bike all shined up.

[Mr. MVP]

29 minutes ago, Indabuff said:

MR. T !!!

Mr. *****. 

Just now, Mr. MVP said:

Mr. *****. 

Wait.  You can’t say “come” on here? 

[DarthEbriate]

2 minutes ago, French Collection said:

He is already dreaming of his twin towers manning the blue line. He has Jack and Sam’s tandem bike all shined up.

Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. I can make that work in some manner in the future.

[Eleven]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I have never wanted to see a 1st round pick spend 1 more year2 in jrs and then at least 2 years in the AHL so bad in my life. They need to let him develop over a long period of time so he can really turn into a good player. I think his development is behind because of the role he had in Czechia and that he needs lots of coaching and development at lower leagues to build up all those flashes of skills he has.

Well, the Byram signing buys the Sabres 2 of those 3 years of time.

[kas23]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I have never wanted to see a 1st round pick spend 1 more year2 in jrs and then at least 2 years in the AHL so bad in my life. They need to let him develop over a long period of time so he can really turn into a good player. I think his development is behind because of the role he had in Czechia and that he needs lots of coaching and development at lower leagues to build up all those flashes of skills he has.

Do we even know why we had to sign him then? If he’s not going to be in Rochester, what was the rush to sign him? I don’t know anything about the pros and cons to this. 

[LGR4GM]

6 minutes ago, kas23 said:

Do we even know why we had to sign him then? If he’s not going to be in Rochester, what was the rush to sign him? I don’t know anything about the pros and cons to this. 

We didn't have to but there's no cons to signing him. His ELC will slide this year and next year if he isn't in Buffalo (which he shouldn't be) and so it just is more housekeeping than anything. 

[Taro T]

45 minutes ago, kas23 said:

Do we even know why we had to sign him then? If he’s not going to be in Rochester, what was the rush to sign him? I don’t know anything about the pros and cons to this. 

Because as @LGR4GM mentioned, it's the way things are done and there is literally no downside to it.

Have to look closer at the new CBA MOU, but ELCs might have fewer/lower bonus opportunities to them.  (There were changes made, haven't had a chance to look closely at what they are.)  So, the player might've had a big incentive to get this inked before September 2026.

The contract is for close to (if not actually at) the rookie max and also has $1MM in performance bonuses.  Nothing particularly out of the ordinary to see for a 1st round draft pick.

So much for the in-draft memes claiming he didn't want to be a Sabre.

[GoPuckYourself]

See you in possibly 3 years, hopefully the AHL coaches will be better at developing you as we don’t need another Power here.

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

See you in possibly 3 years, hopefully the AHL coaches will be better at developing you as we don’t need another Power here.

The Amerks coaches seem to be better at teaching defensive play than the Sabres coaches are.  Since we apparently can't replace Wilford, maybe we could demote him and swap him for Prospal or whomever it is that runs the D down there?

[Huckleberry]

4 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

See you in possibly 3 years, hopefully the AHL coaches will be better at developing you as we don’t need another Power here.

He is not that bad 🙃 - Really should see improvement of him with Kessering ( if they don't put him with Dahlin).

[LGR4GM]

24 minutes ago, Taro T said:

The Amerks coaches seem to be better at teaching defensive play than the Sabres coaches are.  Since we apparently can't replace Wilford, maybe we could demote him and swap him for Prospal or whomever it is that runs the D down there?

Nathan Paetsch 

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Nathan Paetsch 

A guy with middling size and decent skills that stayed in the NHL for a handful of years but kept playing for about a decade after that.  Would 100% rather take a chance on him than on running Wilford back.

Would prefer an actual experienced NHL coach, but am willing to settle.

[pi2000]

he can't play NCAA now

thought that would be a good path for him at his size to play against 22, 23 year olds instead of junior age players

so now it's probably 1 more year of junior then AHL

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I have never wanted to see a 1st round pick spend 1 more year2 in jrs and then at least 2 years in the AHL so bad in my life. They need to let him develop over a long period of time so he can really turn into a good player. I think his development is behind because of the role he had in Czechia and that he needs lots of coaching and development at lower leagues to build up all those flashes of skills he has.

I agree with this 100% but also know that unless things change I'm sure the Sabres are thinking he will come in and take Byram's spot in 2 more years. 

[DarthEbriate]

51 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

he can't play NCAA now

thought that would be a good path for him at his size to play against 22, 23 year olds instead of junior age players

so now it's probably 1 more year of junior then AHL

The NCAA distinction is important because now his access to money is Rochester. I definitely think we're seeing:

25 Seattle -> 26 Rochester -> 27 Buffalo (definitely more than just a 2-game look), and then one more season (2028-29) remaining before RFA.

[JP51]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

We didn't have to but there's no cons to signing him. His ELC will slide this year and next year if he isn't in Buffalo (which he shouldn't be) and so it just is more housekeeping than anything. 

Ok another question because you know more about this stuff...  I have seen this with Levi, Grigorenko, etc... they sometimes let these kids play a few games in the NHL... I think the number maybe is 9 and they can still remain in Jr??  But from an ELC standpoint does that burn a year... 

[DarthEbriate]

10 minutes ago, JP51 said:

Ok another question because you know more about this stuff...  I have seen this with Levi, Grigorenko, etc... they sometimes let these kids play a few games in the NHL... I think the number maybe is 9 and they can still remain in Jr??  But from an ELC standpoint does that burn a year... 

9 NHL games or fewer and the contract slides. If they dress for game 10, the ELC year counts. While they're still 18 or 19 years old.

[JP51]

7 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

9 NHL games or fewer and the contract slides. If they dress for game 10, the ELC year counts. While they're still 18 or 19 years old.

Thank you!