You want to bet me on that? He’s not generational.
Byfield, Perfetti, Clarke, Quinn, Rossi, Drysdale, Hayton all spent time in the AHL. You’re telling me Martone is a better prospect than Byfield? Perfetti had an 111-point draft season.
You also have to factor the prospect depth of the team drafting him. All the current shit teams have been shit for a while and are loaded at wing with either blue chips or depth. He’s not going to be gifted a regular shift because of where he was drafted. Martone is a late birthday, so he will get his nine games next season, go back to the OHL for 2025-26, and like Quinn play most, if not all, of his draft+2 in the AHL.
BTW, Martone just had a horrible game against Ottawa (an average team). Turnovers galore, more lazy backchecking, and a dirty (and dumb) hit in a close game that got him kicked out and suspended.
I think Martone exhibits better offensive tools right now than Byfield showed in his draft year. I really do. I'd have him much higher than Perfetti too, but let's focus on Byfield.
Simply put, I like Martone's puck-protection more, he's more aggressive and physical on the forecheck, he's also better than Byfield was in his draft year when making plays off of badly-placed passes, an underrated skill to have for sure.
But the two main reasons why I believe that Porter Martone's offensive skills trump those that Byfield showed throughout 2019-2020 are the elite-level shot and release Martone has, as well as his higher Hockey IQ.
Watch Byfield in his draft year play, and you'll see a player that possesses an even stronger blend of size/skating/strength than Martone has, which is really saying something. If you watch further you'll see that Byfield in 2020 liked to carry the puck a lot, challenge defenders with his puck-handling, extend plays with his tremendous reach/size/skating, and then either pass to create high-danger scoring chances, or cycle with his team and get set-up himself.
A lot of the toolset that Byfield showed was high-end, and the way it came together coherently was a sight to behold, but I'd argue that aside from the physical aspects there wasn't much to Byfield's offensive game back then that tracked to be elite by NHL standards.
If you then watch Martone play the differences will be even clearer. Martone is a versatile offensive player and CAN be a a primary puck-handler if you want him to. But that's not his best skillset, and you won't get the best out of him this way.
The best part of Martone's game is the off-puck offensive play, and how he's an ELITE puck-support type of offensive player that is also extremely versatile with the puck on his stick, very physically-punishing along the boards, and a massive threat to score anytime he's on the ice.
Pair Martone with a good primary puck-handler at the NHL level (a guy like Leo Carlsson for example if Anaheim drafts him) and chances are that Martone will do extremely well for you, help out with possession, be a daunting netfront presence, bring goalscoring, physical play, you name it.
And that more defined offensive game of his makes me rate Martone higher on a pure offensive standpoint than Byfield in his draft year.
I genuinely think that Martone could end up being a Corey Perry-esque player in the NHL, and that to me is a player you take VERY high in the draft.
But Byfield being so young for his draft year, vs. Martone being an October birthday, and possessing such an incredibly rare blend of size/skating/athleticism while also projecting to be a center at the NHL level (and much better defensively than Martone) would probably make me rank him ever-so-slightly ahead of Martone if we look purely at prospect status.
On another note, while I agree with everything you've just said regarding the timeline for Martone to reach the NHL and what will most likely happen after the draft for him, I also think the one game sample size you've used is quite disingenuous.
Even HHOFers have nights where they play horribly nevermind an 18 year-old in the OHL.
EDIT: Forgot this was the Hagens thread for a solid minute (more than that, but I ain't admitting to more than the minute).
I like Hagens less than Martone, but anyone of the top 4 (Martone, Hagens, Schaefer, and Misa in that order for me) would be an amazing pick for the Canadiens.
