The National Hockey League (NHL) held it’s annual Entry Draft on Friday and Saturday with three Seattle Thunderbirds being selected over the course of seven rounds from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Radim Mrtka, Braeden Cootes and Ashton Cumby each heard their names called in L.A. over the two-day event, including a pair of players selected in the opening round on Friday with rounds 2-7 taking place on Saturday.
Mrtka, a towering 6’6” defender from Czechia, was taken 9th overall by the Buffalo Sabres and marked the highest a T-Bird player has been selected since 2022 when Kevin Korchinski was taken 7th overall to Chicago. After beginning the season in his home country, Mrtka made the move to North America and landed in Seattle where he would finish as the team’s top scorer from the blueline with three goals and 35 points in his 43 games with the T-Birds.
The captain of the Thunderbirds this season, Cootes was taken not much longer after his teammate as he went 15th overall to the Vancouver Canucks. In his second season with the T-Birds, the Sherwood Park, Alberta native was Seattle’s leading scorer at over a point-per-game clip with 26 goals and 63 points in 60 games played. The 6’0”, 185-pound forward also represented his country and captained the Under-18 Canadian squad where he posted 12 points in seven games in earning a gold medal in Dallas, Texas.
Cumby was selected on the second day of the Draft, taken in the 6th round, 162nd overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. Also in his second season with the T-Birds, the 6’5”, 215-pound defender from Bonnyville, Alberta, had a career-high 13 points from the backend this season while making his presence felt on the ice with 102 penalty minutes this season.
