James Richmond had a big ask for Porter Martone at the end of last season. Actually, he put it to the entire Martone family. “I was begging them not to let him on the ice for [about] six weeks,” says the general manager and coach of the Brampton Steelheads.
For the second consecutive winter, Martone had played a full OHL season complete with some playoff action, then been part of Canada’s squad at the U-18 World Championship. Last spring, he wore the ‘C’ for the Canadian team that won U-18 gold in Finland. All that high-level hockey takes a toll — especially on a player who’s so involved in every game — so Richmond was steadfast with his rest request, even if he knew it would be a hard sell.
Martone obliged, though, and as the ice freeze-out wore on, the coach got enthusiastic updates from the player about there being less and less time remaining before he could lace up. “I’d say, ‘How does it feel [to be off]?’” Richmond recalls, “and he’d say, ‘It feels really good, but I want to get skating!’”
Martone, of course, eventually did get back on the ice. And when he wasn’t firing pucks, he was in the gym, strengthening the six-foot-two, 208-pound frame that’s a huge calling card for the right winger. The results have been plain to see this season, as Martone has taken an already-fantastic junior career to the next level, vaulting himself into the conversation to be the first-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Chatter about that event is about to pick up, with the first-ever CHL-USA Prospects Challenge set to go this week in London on Tuesday and continue in Oshawa the next night. Martone will captain the CHL entry. After that, Canada’s World Junior Championship selection camp is right around the corner for a tournament being played in Ottawa, about a three-hour drive northeast from Martone’s hometown of Peterborough, Ont. It’s a busy time for a kid who loves being on the ice — and who’s awfully tough to miss when he’s out there. “Porter Martone is a big package,” Richmond says. “He’s got size, he’s got speed, he’s got skill, he’s got toughness.”
Martone screamed out of the gate this fall with 15 goals and 31 points in his first 13 contests. Early in November, though, an injury-depleted Steelheads crew went 0-for-the-weekend, losing three lopsided tilts to Ottawa, Kingston and Brantford. Martone was held off the scoresheet in the two games he played and missed the middle one versus Kingston entirely because he was suspended for a checking-from-behind major the night before in Ottawa.
In the aftermath of those defeats, Martone was in Richmond’s office telling the coach how disappointed he was in his own play. Richmond acknowledged it wasn’t a banner showing, but reminded Martone even the very best players in every high-level league hit potholes. The next time out, Martone recorded four assists in a 5-2 win over Barrie.
“I want to be the best I can be every time I step on that ice,” says the young man who turned 18 just before Halloween. “I’m very hard on myself and I think that’s a good thing. I want to push myself to the limits. You can always get better, and you can always improve on things.”
Martone has been doing just that since he joined the Steelheads franchise — which moved from Mississauga to Brampton ahead of this season — under somewhat unique circumstances nearly three years ago. After being taken fifth overall by the Sarnia Sting in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection, Martone was shipped mid-season to the Steelheads by a Sting squad loading up on veterans for a championship run. Suddenly, he was a 16-year-old on the move again just months after getting acclimated to a new city and league. “At that time, it was really difficult,” Martone recalls. “But looking back, I think it’s the best thing that could have happened in my hockey career.”
That’s because Martone landed on a team that was retooling and giving all kinds of opportunities to younger players like himself. After netting six goals in 29 outings with Sarnia, Martone scored 13 times in 32 games with the Steelheads and helped push the upstart squad into the playoffs. “He just loved to come to the rink and he loved competing and he got more of an opportunity because we went really, really young,” Richmond says. “He grabbed hold of it, and he’s been going ever since.”
In what’s been a bit of a theme in his hockey career, Martone was handed the Steelheads ‘C’ ahead of this campaign. He’s a leader off the ice and on it, where he plays in every situation for Brampton. “If he didn’t, he’d be screaming and yelling [at me],” Richmond says with a laugh.
If the checking-from-behind suspension didn’t already give it away: yes, Martone is the kind of big man who plays on the edge. That’s certainly a big reason why you see drool pooling around NHL bottom-feeders who figure to be in the mix to draft a player regularly compared to Brady and Matthew Tkachuk.
“I feel like I’m a big, powerful forward who has very good IQ and can see the ice very well,” Martone says. “I like making an impact on the game in different [ways]. I think, when the going gets tough in the playoffs, [it brings the best] out of me as a hard player to play against [who can also] create offence.”
While Richmond understands the similarities to the Tkachuks, his take has always been that Martone reminds him of another Peterborough product, Corey Perry. Beyond having a little nasty to sprinkle on their do-it-all games, Richmond notes Martone and the 2011 NHL MVP even kind of look the same out there. “[Perry has] a long, lanky body; Porter’s got a long, lanky body.”
Richmond points out that Perry has won every team title there is to claim in hockey, including the 2005 Memorial Cup title with the London Knights. Martone would certainly love to follow suit while still wearing the Steelheads logo that feels like it’s been tattooed on his heart from the moment he was traded.
“I kind of got brought into a brotherhood with the Steelheads organization,” he says. “I’ve been with these guys two-and-a-half years and I feel like I’ve known them my entire life. I think we have a very good group. We’re learning a lot this year. We’ve been through some ups and downs, so we’re battling adversity. When we have a full group and we’re healthy, we’re going to be a hard team to beat. I think we have a great group and definitely a championship contender.”
Of course, Perry also won gold at the WJC for Canada, and Martone — all things being equal — figures to get that chance in a month’s time with the Red and White. He may even line up with his regular linemate in Brampton, Carson Rehkopf. And, in all likelihood, the Canadian crew will face American James Hagens, the Boston College centre also squarely in the mix to go No. 1 at the next NHL draft.
Internal and external expectations are high, but so is the excitement level over what could occur in the next few weeks and months. “I’ve been told by other people and my parents to just really enjoy this year,” Martone says. “It’s once-in-a-lifetime to be in your NHL draft year. It’s going to be cool playing [in the first Prospect Challenge], and with World Juniors coming around, I’ve obviously dreamed of playing for Team Canada and winning the gold medal since I was a little kid.”
If he does, it’ll just be another reason NHL clubs are falling over themselves to be the next team Martone one day captains.
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