2025 NHL Draft: Lose a ton for Porter Martone

[TheBeard]

Maybe you bust his confidence whereas he'd do better after another full year in the AHL.

The NHL game is gonna be faster and stronger than he’s accustomed to no matter how much development he gets.

If it doesn’t work out and it’s doing more harm than good, then send him down. But give him enough time where it looks like he’s not going to acclimate anytime soon before making the decision.

 

[Surfer Dude]

The irony of this thread title is the sharks has a good chance of taking martone with the 3rd pick if they miss on 1st lol. Good thread title in hindsight hopefully reverse jinx.

 

[coooldude]

The irony of this thread title is the sharks has a good chance of taking martone with the 3rd pick if they miss on 1st lol. Good thread title in hindsight hopefully reverse jinx.

As designed! Kinda!

 

[timorous me]

Luca isn’t gonna make or break our season.

Regarding Dick, jumping from the OHl to The NHL is much bigger a learning curve than the AHL.

Luca’s presence could very well have a positive effect on the team around him in that we don’t know what he is as opposed to Thrun or Vlasic or Liljigren or Ruuta where we absolutely know they do much more harm than good. This team’s D needs a massive overhaul and there will be a fair amount of new guys on it. I’d give a bump up to the guy who’s played with many of the guys who will be on the team, whether from their time in the A or his brief stint in the NHL.

Will Smith looked like a fish out of water and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking it’s going to kill his confidence. Even with the constant demotions and “maintenance days”. He ultimately came out of it much stronger than if he’d never made the team.

Of course that learning curve is steeper, but in the case of Dickinson, who has the physical tools to probably be able to handle it (we can see in the first nine games), it's the ONLY option for him and his development. With Luca, there is another option. And it's not like he dominated at the AHL level on all fronts to be deserving of a major role in the NHL next season.

And with Will Smith, first off, we're talking about a forward who could much more easily be sheltered. But we're also talking about a star prospect, the #4 pick in his draft, not a fourth round pick. What he showed, effectively, as the season went on, was why his pedigree was real.

I'm with you on not wanting to bring in another Rutta, and not wanting to see much of Vlasic on the ice. Thrun probably is what he is, but he's still young, so I don't want to write him off completely yet (but I would rather see Dickinson on the third pair next year than him, let's put it that way). Liljegren is different; he's actually a decent player, so while he is what he is, that's someone who will help the team WAY more than Cagnoni next season.

I'm just wildly confused by what you want out of next season. Is it just throw the kids to the wolves and tank hard? Or do you want those veteran/young established player additions to help the team be more competitive? Because this argument for Cagnoni in a top-four role leans way toward the former.

 

[StanleyCup2035]

The irony of this thread title is the sharks has a good chance of taking martone with the 3rd pick if they miss on 1st lol. Good thread title in hindsight hopefully reverse jinx.

My pleasure! We better win the lottery or it's the last draft thread I'm making...

 

[vortexx]

Mrtka with a nice goal at the U18 vs USA. My hot take is he is going to be picked top 5. GM's going to drool over a 6'6 RHD that has mobility, plays good defense and apparently has some offense to his game. Scouts are going to love the potential of this kid.

 

[Jargon]

Not to bring another Bay Area prospect into this, but he's the Sharks version of Wade Meckler - surprisingly successful at every stop, extremely likeable, and very easy to latch on to from a "hope" perspective despite any legitimate concerns as a prospect.

Regardless of how unlikely he is to pan out, I'm irrationally optimistic about Cags and whether he'll ultimately be able to make it. There's a known and acknowledged gap between the likelihood of those two outcomes, but I don't really care when it comes to him haha

Yeah, feel the same. It’s easy to cheer for an underdog but Cags is the particular underdog who has consistently proved his critics wrong. I don’t know if he can do it at the NHL level but I sure as hell am cheering for him.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Mrtka with a nice goal at the U18 vs USA. My hot take is he is going to be picked top 5. GM's going to drool over a 6'6 RHD that has mobility, plays good defense and apparently has some offense to his game. Scouts are going to love the potential of this kid.

If the Sharks are going to reach for anyone outside the top four with a 3rd overall pick, it’s probably Mrtka.

 

[Friday]

Mrtka with a nice goal at the U18 vs USA. My hot take is he is going to be picked top 5. GM's going to drool over a 6'6 RHD that has mobility, plays good defense and apparently has some offense to his game. Scouts are going to love the potential of this kid.

That's honestly wild for a 6'6 guy

 

[gaucholoco3]

Mrtka with a nice goal at the U18 vs USA. My hot take is he is going to be picked top 5. GM's going to drool over a 6'6 RHD that has mobility, plays good defense and apparently has some offense to his game. Scouts are going to love the potential of this kid.

Yeah. I can see why. RHD are at such a premium and 6’6” RHD that can also skate are the types of players GMs drool over.

 

[Hangemhigh]

Mrtka with a nice goal at the U18 vs USA. My hot take is he is going to be picked top 5. GM's going to drool over a 6'6 RHD that has mobility, plays good defense and apparently has some offense to his game. Scouts are going to love the potential of this kid.

If the Sharks don't get the 1st pick, I hope they trade down for a package that gets the Mrtka, even though he has a weird name.

 

[Grinner]

Mrtka with a nice goal at the U18 vs USA. My hot take is he is going to be picked top 5. GM's going to drool over a 6'6 RHD that has mobility, plays good defense and apparently has some offense to his game. Scouts are going to love the potential of this kid.

Top 5 seems to high

 

[coooldude]

Top 5 seems to high

5-10 seems like a slam dunk though.

 

[Grinner]

5-10 seems like a slam dunk though.

Hmm
Not sure I'd call it a slam dunk. But, it's very possible in this draft. I have little doubt he'll be either the 2nd or 3rd defenseman taken

 

[Gecklund]

Mrtka with a nice goal at the U18 vs USA. My hot take is he is going to be picked top 5. GM's going to drool over a 6'6 RHD that has mobility, plays good defense and apparently has some offense to his game. Scouts are going to love the potential of this kid.

I really really like Mrtka and I think I could see the argument taking him as early as 4 but also then in my mind you’re passing on Hagens or Martone and I don’t think any of the teams that pick around then would do it.

 

[Hodge]

Mrtka is ranked 5th among NA skaters by Central Scouting so I don't think you can trade down very far and still guarantee a chance at him. If he's the guy, we should just take him 2nd or 3rd overall.

 

[Jargon]

Mrtka is ranked 5th among NA skaters by Central Scouting so I don't think you can trade down very far and still guarantee a chance at him. If he's the guy, we should just take him 2nd or 3rd overall.

I like the potential but it feels really risky with him. Riskier, arguably, than grabbing Martone, Frondell or Misa.

 

[Barrie22]

I mean, it would also probably lead to a lot of losses—don't you want to see something like 70 points out of this team next season? Good luck with that in this scenario!

Beyond what else has been said, I'd much rather see Dickinson (in a limited role) getting a shot next year instead of Cagnoni. I do think Cagnoni can afford to develop more in the AHL, for sure—he'll be playing against grown-ass men, even if they're not the best of the best, and for him, just getting comfortable with that is important. Dickinson can't do that next year unless he's in the NHL, and he already has the physical capacity to hang better, so why not?

The other thing with Cagnoni playing next season in the NHL, and important minutes at that, is how it affects the development of others around him. Grier may have traded guys away this season, but he still did some work to make the defense and top six...not terrible, until trades and injuries took their toll. And that helped guys like Celebrini, Smith, Eklund, Mukhamadullin, Graf, and others. Even if we're bringing in vets on short-term deals, it can have cascading benefits no matter if they're part of the long-term future or not.

I could care less about points or wins next season or even the one after. Thse next 2 seasons needs to be 100% development of the graduating junior players. Sone of which needs to be in the nhl and can't be done in the AHL due to players ages and the leagues they are coming from.

 

[gaucholoco3]

I like the potential but it feels really risky with him. Riskier, arguably, than grabbing Martone, Frondell or Misa.

I actually see him as very low risk. RHD that are 6’6” with plus skating are a virtual lock to play top 4 minutes. Yes he might not have a top pairing ceiling but imagine how much a Dickinson - Mrtka pairing would shrink the ice for the opposing team. I think that pairing could easily be a Stanley Cup caliber top pairing.

 

[GRANdSharks]

I actually see him as very low risk. RHD that are 6’6” with plus skating are a virtual lock to play top 4 minutes. Yes he might not have a top pairing ceiling but imagine how much a Dickinson - Mrtka pairing would shrink the ice for the opposing team. I think that pairing could easily be a Stanley Cup caliber top pairing.

I agree with most of this, not campaigning for Mrtka at 3 but he is at least for me a sure bet to play top 4 mins in NHL, combine that with the skating size and right shot imo he is pretty much a lock for top 10.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

With Grier's comments last week "Other than Schaefer it's really forward heavy at the top" do you think he would take Mrtka at 3?

 

[vortexx]

With Grier's comments last week "Other than Schaefer it's really forward heavy at the top" do you think he would take Mrtka at 3?

Doubt it, I think Grier’s choice at #3 will be between Martone and Frondell.

 

[Jargon]

Doubt it, I think Grier’s choice at #3 will be between Martone and Frondell.

Agreed.

I am fairly certain he is going to either trade the Dallas 1st for a defenseman or he’s going to trade it with a 2nd to get a higher pick. Maybe if we’re very lucky that ends up being Mrtka (seems unlikely) or Hensler (would be ideal).

 

[Sturminator]

Doubt it, I think Grier’s choice at #3 will be between Martone and Frondell.

Which is why it will be Martone if the Sharks end up 3rd overall.

 

[Juxtaposer]

With Grier's comments last week "Other than Schaefer it's really forward heavy at the top" do you think he would take Mrtka at 3?

I don't. Mrtka belongs in the 7-10 range, not top-3.

Pronman came out with a mock today, no lottery. Schaefer and Fiddler is basically the dream draft for us. Had Martone falling to 7, which is the only real nugget of "maybe he knows something" I got from it.