It’s an open secret that the Montreal Canadiens would like to add a snarling forward to their core of players, as Elliotte Friedman reported at the start of the season. Unless Patrik Laine wakes up the team for good, the CH could move on from the regrettable decision to ignore Brady Tkachuk in 2018 by drafting Porter Martone this summer. But that will require luck, a lot of lottery luck.
During their November rankings, two experts, Corey Pronman and Craig Button, had a little surprise in store for us by dethroning James Hagens. At the top of their list: Martone, a 6-foot-3, 208-pound wallflower with silken hands who leads the OHL with 54 points, including 21 goals, in just 26 games.
Lists that Martone has seen come and go, of course. “A teenager is always on social networks,” the young center player eloquently recalls.
In a few months, Button and Pronman may have been visionaries. Martone looks like the player the typical “hockey man” would create in a lab. His sense of the game is at a high level. He can score goals. He is powerful. He plays with passion. He can “peck”. And he was captain everywhere he went. Will he be an NHL captain? There’s a good chance.
“I think that will be the case,” predicts James Richmond, his head coach with the Brampton Steelheads.
Just last Wednesday, Martone scored a goal with all the flamboyance that characterizes him. The young man mocked a roofer before scoring with a shot between his legs and listening to the crowd.
“If you can do it, do it! encourages Richmond. I think it’s the sixth goal he’s scored between his legs.”
The coach had no problem with the celebration, too. If you like beige players, Partone just isn’t your guy.
“He has passion. When he scores, he will celebrate. When he is cursed, he will fight. And he still talks on the ice. He is in front of the other team’s net. In front of the other team’s bench. He’s like Corey Perry. And his teammates love him,” boasts the Steelheads pilot.
Photo provided by BRAMPTON STEELHEADS
His nimble hands around the net, also worthy of Perry, Martone developed them playing lacrosse competitively until the age of 15.
“That’s where my skills come from in restricted areas,” says Martone, whose Italian-sounding last name goes back to his father’s origins. I played at the highest level possible during my teenage years.”
A funny fight
Who is the most dominant forward in Ontario this season? The fight is hot between Martone and the exceptional player Michael Misa, of the Saginaw Spirit.
We could have believed in a fierce rivalry between the two players when they threw down the gloves on November 30… a few days after playing in the same trio during the clash between the best major junior prospects Canadian and those of the United States.
However, this is not the case. The two men skated together during the summer. They are good friends. Martone’s coach didn’t particularly like this sight.
“It wasn’t really a fight,” he says. They were wearing oven mitts! I said to Porter, “What are you doing?! If you throw down the gloves, you have to defend yourself.” He replies, “He wasn’t going to hit me!” But you never know. At the highest level, when you engage in combat, you have to try to hurt the guy. I wasn’t too happy.”
Martone laughs when he is told about his coach’s tirade.
“I didn’t manage to hold on to him properly so we just fell together,” he defends himself. I just wanted to give my team an advantage and we won the match. We are good friends off the ice, but on the ice, I would say I don’t have many friends…”
The third Tkachuk
The fight between the two young attackers was no match, but Martone seems to have a head start on his friend Misa in the race for first place in the draft if the invitation from Team Canada is anything to go by. junior handed it to him for his selection camp.
When a prospect with this talent behaves on the ice as if he were the third Tkachuk brother, we understand Canada’s leaders want to observe him very closely.
“My game is inspired by Tkachuk and Perry,” confirms Martone. Three rough guys with a very high skill level. Me, I’m a big power forward with a hockey intelligence quotient that is very high. I’m a threat everywhere on the ice and I’m constantly trying to gain an advantage from my team, whether it’s by creating plays, scoring a goal or making a big check. I’m a competitor.”
Photo provided by BRAMPTON STEELHEADS
He has more than one string to his bow and he himself cannot tell you whether he is a maverick or a playmaker. A duality corroborated by his trainer.
“Porter can make passes that other players don’t see and when it’s time to finish plays, he has a great look; he can change the angle of his shot, Richmond points out. He will play on the first two lines in the NHL.
But above all, selecting Martone, whether for Team Canada or in the draft, is a choice for culture. The “C” is not sewn on his sweaters by chance.
“Whether it’s with a guy on the first line or the fourth line, he loves being with his teammates and talking about his teammates, praise Richmond. He is passionate with everyone. He loves hockey and he loves people who gravitate towards hockey.
“He has a passion for game and a level of competition that are quite unique, so he will overcome any obstacle in his path to the NHL. When you combine that with his individual skills, you end up with a very high-end player.”
