2025 NHL Draft Diary: Porter Martone

Porter Martone, a forward with Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League, will file a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2025 NHL Draft. The 17-year-old right wing (6-foot-3, 196 pounds), who was born in Peterborough, Ontario, is a projected first-round selection. He has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in five games while serving as captain this season. Martone also captained Canada to a gold medal win with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in seven games at the 2024 IIHF World Under-18 Championship in May. His initial diary comes two weeks into the OHL season.

Hello hockey fans.

I'm glad I'll be able to share some monthly thoughts with you in a draft diary for NHL.com this season. For my October entry, here's some background and thoughts on the season.

I grew up in a hockey family. My dad (Mike Martone) played in Peterborough where he met my mom, and he continued and played a bit of a pro career. He got me and my sister into hockey and we have been skating ever since we were 2 or 3 years old.

I talk to my dad about hockey but feel it's a bit different because he was more of a shutdown defenseman when he played. He does watch hockey, so I listen to his advice. He's more there as a role model, just being there for me when I'm struggling and trying to shape me into being a better human.

I feel I'm a big power forward who sees the ice very well and can score from different areas on the ice. I also like to be a hard player to play against and make it hard on other teams. I think I play a similar style to a couple players NHL players. I take pieces of Corey Perry's game and Matthew and Brady Tkachuk. I kind of try to use what they do in my game.

It was an honor to be named captain of Brampton on Sept. 27. As captain, I think being one of the hardest workers and going out there and trying to help your team win every night is important. I want to also be a good guy in the room and try to make everyone's day around me better. I want to put a smile on everyone's face because I feel like, if you do that in the room to help the vibe, that's how you win games.

I feel like we have a very strong group in Brampton, and we set our expectations very high at the start of the season. Those expectations are to be the last team standing and win everything. I don't know if there's pressure; I think we know we have a team to do it and I think it's just our mentality to bring it every day, day in and day out.

I haven't really set personal goals for myself. I definitely want to be drafted as high as I can, but I think I'm just more focused on team success, trying to come out every night, win games and go on a deep playoff run. I think if that happens, that'll help the individual success for everyone in our room.

My current linemates are Angus MacDonell and Carson Rehkopf. I feel like we're a really strong line. MacDonell is a hard worker. He's good in the corners and he can score goals. He's very good in front and sees the ice very well. Rehkopf, as you know, scored 52 goals last season so he's a pure goal scorer, but that's not all. He's a well-rounded, 200-foot player who can see the ice so well and look for people around the net.

Outside of hockey, our family has a cottage near Peterborough, so in the offseason I'm there almost every weekend on the water. There's a lot of water sports, four-wheeling, and I just like being outdoors and hanging out with family.

As far as the 2025 NHL Draft goes, hopefully I can have a good year, but success is built and achieved through team success and how far we go. We need to be focused if we want to hopefully go on a deep playoff run so we just need to continue winning games.

Thanks for reading this month. I'll provide an update in November.