2025 NHL Draft: Lose a ton for Porter Martone

[Juxtaposer]

Martone is much better defensively than Smith, full stop. He's a better skater than Smith too, full stop. Don't get it twisted.

 

[Sharksfan66]

Martone is much better defensively than Smith, full stop. He's a better skater than Smith too, full stop. Don't get it twisted.

It's funny that you say this because I was just listening to a podcast today where the scouts compared Martone's play away from the puck to Smith, I believe. I'll see if I can dig it up for interaction here.

 

[Juxtaposer]

It's funny that you say this because I was just listening to a podcast today where the scouts compared Martone's play away from the puck to Smith, I believe. I'll see if I can dig it up for interaction here.

I am wildly curious who is making this claim. Martone is certainly no Selke candidate and he isn't a high-energy puck-retriever, so he's like Smith in that regard, but simply by being bigger and stronger and faster and knowing where the defensive zone is (love Will, but he's very bad defensively) he is competent defensively. I'd project him as average defensively for a winger.

I have no idea who is bringing up notorious defensive zero Brady Tkachuk in this thread as someone we should be pursuing, but if you don't like Martone I don't see how you can like Brady. Brady is slow, poor defensively, and has effort and consistency issues. Martone has no flaws that Brady doesn't either.

If all of your players are hard-nosed puck-hounds like Eklund and Celebrini, you have a very boring and simplistic team. Toffoli is usually the guy lurking high in the zone while Celebrini and Eklund forecheck and that combo of guys works well. Replace Toffoli with Martone and it's even better.

 

[hohosaregood]

Make a reasonable case the one dimensional power winger who has never made the playoffs, doesn't make his linemates better and plays zero defense is a difference maker, I'm always welcome to having my mind changed

it's always so weird when players are prematurely proclaimed to be playoff warriors. it really is more likely that he's a guy who won't be able to keep his emotions under control and just take so many stupid penalties.

 

[Sharksfan66]

I am wildly curious who is making this claim. Martone is certainly no Selke candidate and he isn't a high-energy puck-retriever, so he's like Smith in that regard, but simply by being bigger and stronger and faster and knowing where the defensive zone is (love Will, but he's very bad defensively) he is competent defensively. I'd project him as average defensively for a winger.

I have no idea who is bringing up notorious defensive zero Brady Tkachuk in this thread as someone we should be pursuing, but if you don't like Martone I don't see how you can like Brady. Brady is slow, poor defensively, and has effort and consistency issues. Martone has no flaws that Brady doesn't either.

If all of your players are hard-nosed puck-hounds like Eklund and Celebrini, you have a very boring and simplistic team. Toffoli is usually the guy lurking high in the zone while Celebrini and Eklund forecheck and that combo of guys works well. Replace Toffoli with Martone and it's even better.

Gosh, I was out for a run and had a few different draft related podcasts come on so I can't remember off hand which it was. I know there were multiple people on it because one guy said, he's not as bad as Smith and they kind of laughed at that point, but I believe the base comparison was around how he tends to fly the zone and cheat for offense and doesn't seem super engaged when he doesn't have the puck on his stick.

I'm not looking for a seek winning winger at 3/4, but *if* Martone is cheating for offense, I wonder how much his ability to put up points will translate to the NHL. Do you have any concerns about that? Or do you see him as more of a Brady Tkachuk player? That comparison is an intersting one, as Brady has never really moved the needle for me, outside the 4 Nations tourney.


Edit: here's the first podcast I listened to today and I was shocked at how negative McCagg was about Martone, though I just reskimmed it and I don't think that's where the Smith comparison came from.

 

[Grinner]

A couple of people comparing Martone's engagement away from the puck to Smith in here, so this isn't to you specifically, but I guess I'd ask everyone, do we want more of that in our top 6?

I really like Smith and believe his exceptional talent will make up for it, but I don't think it's a good idea to grab another player like that and it doesn't seem like a Grier pick to me aside from the whole size thing. Grier loves his guys with a motor and with the way Martone and Hagens are falling, it wouldn't shock me to see him go for someone else if we land at 3.

A lot of time to go before the draft, but the idea that Martone or Hagens is our consolation prize if we land at 3 seems hasty to me at this point.

Grier was the only one I read who praised Smiths work habits/ motor.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Gosh, I was out for a run and had a few different draft related podcasts come on so I can't remember off hand which it was. I know there were multiple people on it because one guy said, he's not as bad as Smith and they kind of laughed at that point, but I believe the base comparison was around how he tends to fly the zone and cheat for offense and doesn't seem super engaged when he doesn't have the puck on his stick.

I'm not looking for a seek winning winger at 3/4, but *if* Martone is cheating for offense, I wonder how much his ability to put up points will translate to the NHL. Do you have any concerns about that? Or do you see him as more of a Brady Tkachuk player? That comparison is an intersting one, as Brady has never really moved the needle for me, outside the 4 Nations tourney.


Edit: here's the first podcast I listened to today and I was shocked at how negative McCagg was about Martone, though I just reskimmed it and I don't think that's where the Smith comparison came from.

I totally get the reservations, Martone is far from a perfect player, but he's really f***ing good. Everyone cheats for offense at the CHL level, it's just the reality of the league. I don't doubt your memory, I just don't personally agree with the assessment. I'm not huge on him for the same reasons that I have never been a huge fan of Brady Tkachuk either. But all you can do is take the best player available, and at #3 it's either Hagens or Martone, pick your poison.

McCagg is a hot-take artist. I think he has Frondell ranked #3, which I absolutely cannot abide.

 

[ThePlanet]

Here's a great idea:

Let's go out and aquire someone like Yashin. Bet it would only cost us a first, a prospect, and an energy forward.

Friggin Milburys.

 

[Crewouse]

I totally get the reservations, Martone is far from a perfect player, but he's really f***ing good. Everyone cheats for offense at the CHL level, it's just the reality of the league. I don't doubt your memory, I just don't personally agree with the assessment. I'm not huge on him for the same reasons that I have never been a huge fan of Brady Tkachuk either. But all you can do is take the best player available, and at #3 it's either Hagens or Martone, pick your poison.

McCagg is a hot-take artist. I think he has Frondell ranked #3, which I absolutely cannot abide.

Where would you rank smol Eky?

 

[Juxtaposer]

Where would you rank smol Eky?

#5. With the acknowledgement that he's not the player we need.

 

[coooldude]

Unless Martone has character issues in the interviews, which would be surprising considering his many captaincies, I think Sharks take him at #3 happily. Sure, maybe he's only a Brady Tkachuk, but that gives us a pretty big potential trade piece in the future as Grier tries to assemble a winner (step 1 don't suck <-- we are still here, step 2 fringe playoffs, step 3 build actual winner).

Of course it would be awesome to land Misa or Schaefer, but odds are we end up with Martone and it's not as big a drop as people are saying. I'd be stoked. He's probably as big a piece as Smith.

 

[Cas]

Unless Martone has character issues in the interviews, which would be surprising considering his many captaincies, I think Sharks take him at #3 happily. Sure, maybe he's only a Brady Tkachuk, but that gives us a pretty big potential trade piece in the future as Grier tries to assemble a winner (step 1 don't suck <-- we are still here, step 2 fringe playoffs, step 3 build actual winner).

Of course it would be awesome to land Misa or Schaefer, but odds are we end up with Martone and it's not as big a drop as people are saying. I'd be stoked. He's probably as big a piece as Smith.

Drafting Brady Tkachuk would be a huge win, even if I don't think he's an especially great player and gets far more attention than he merits.

Yes, is prefer to draft Makar or Hedman or Barkov by way of Schaefer or Misa, and I'd be annoyed if we passed up on those in favor of Tkachuk, but if we're picking #3, getting Tkachuk by way of Martone would be a huge success.

Right now, my only disappointment will be if we lose the lotteries and fall to #3, but as long as we get a good player out of that, I'll be ok.

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

Brady Tkachuk is absolutely a difference maker. Not so as much as his brother, but I think if you compare Celebrini vs Barkov, Mack will top off as far more of one than Barkov so that would be a perfect balance. They don't need to rush, but if they don't get 1/2OA to get a legit top pair D or for sure 2C+, they will get a player with a similar outlook as Smith and it's not ideal to have that. Hording young players just hoping they develop is how you become Buffalo.

This is literally the opposite of what Buffalo did. They traded futures for proven players (E. Kane, ROR, Lehner, etc.) to supplant their young core (Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, etc.) and then traded those young core players themselves at the ages of 25/25/26.

 

[coooldude]

I already posted a few stats like these in the thread on everyone's guesses for total points this season, but figured I'd share here (or in the Warsofsky thread but that one turned pretty ugly).

Beating another top team on the road led me to some basic analysis. Sharks are remarkably consistent in point% across situations.

• Tankathon: 0.331 points % overall
• My analysis:
• 11 1-goal games won, 21 1-goal games lost... Plus, additional 7 games ending in ENG's that were NHL "close games" AKA one-goal difference prior to ENG's starting... equals...
• 39 total games out of 62 that were "close games" (nearly 2/3!!!) and in those close games, we have a points% of 0.400.
• Versus current Playoff Teams, we have a points% of 0.360 and a win% of 0.300
• Versus current Top Teams (non-wildcard PO), we have a points% of 0.350 and a win% of 0.29
• Versus Top Teams @ Home, we have a points% of 0.36 and a win% of 0.36
• Versus Top Teams @ Away, we have a points% of 0.35 and a win% of 0.23

From my POV, this highlights our potential and our immaturity.

• We have a team that basically plays lots of close games and is in games -- this is definitively better than last year and over 3/4 through the season, it's kind of inarguable at this point that we are far better off this year than last -- whether roster, coaching, or whatever.
• However, the team seems to play down/up to opponents. We beat/lose to the best teams at a similar rate that we beat/lose to the worst teams. Good that we can play good teams! Bad that we don't play better vs bad teams, and we need to play better vs everyone.