Brady Martin NHL 2025 Draft Profile

Player	Position	Handedness	Height	Weight
Brady Martin	C	Right	6’0″	174 lbs

Brady Martin was born on March 16, 2007, and grew up in the Waterloo Wolves minor hockey system. It was with the Wolves that the centre first got on scouts’ radars for the 2021–22 season, where he played up a year with the U16 team, still posting 42 points across 27 games.

Come the following season, the young forward found himself in the top five conversation for the 2023 OHL priority draft after the promising prospect went over a goal a game and over two points per game in the 2022–23 season.

This led to him getting selected third overall by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the 2023 OHL draft. Martin went on to make his debut with the Greyhounds the following season.

In his rookie year, as a 16-year-old, he posted a respectable 0.539 points per game and appeared for Canada Red at the U17 championship that season.

As a 17-year-old, he has proven to be a force on the ice and the scoresheet, posting 72 points across 57 games, while appearing for a sequel with Team Canada, this time with their U18 squad. This has led to the Elmira, Ontario product being in the conversation as a high selection in the upcoming NHL draft.

Martin’s on-ice production

Year	Draft Relative	League	Team	GP	G	A	P
2021–22	D-3	ALLIANCE U16	Waterloo Wolves U16 AAA	27	21	21	42
2022–23	D-2	ALLIANCE U16	Waterloo Wolves U16 AAA	23	27	29	56
2023–24	D-1	OHL	Soo Greyhounds	52	10	18	28
		WHC-17	Canada Red U17	7	2	1	3
2024–25	D+0	OHL	Soo Greyhounds	57	33	39	72
		WJC-18	Canada U18	6	1	8	9

Martin has built a strong case to be a first-round selection in the NHL draft.

Martin’s strengths

What type of game does he play?

Martin is a dependable, high-workload forward for the Greyhounds. Brady Martin plays a heavy two-way forward’s game, with elements of playmaking. His game is routinely highlighted by his high energy compete level, strong physicality, smart two-way senses, and quality puck skills.

Compete level

Martin is an absolute workhorse every shift that he’s on the ice. He also plays big minutes, reaching the 30-minute mark on a regular basis. This compete level is most evident in defensive transition, where he shows a high-end motor, lateral dangerous angles of attack, and pressure exertion and awareness.

Martin plays an extremely active role on the forecheck. This role shows a high intensity level, absolute relentlessness on the puck carrier with high frequency stick checks, and high levels of defensive pressure.

So much defensive pressure is generated on his forecheck that he regularly forces opponents into turnovers and generates higher-paced chances because of this, which hints at high-end play disruption, situational awareness, and quality play anticipation.

Often, opponents don’t even get to leave their own zone as the 2007-born forwards’ pre-scans, lane awareness/play anticipation, and motor blend seamlessly to disrupt an opponent’s breakout before it even begins.

That being said, there are also very few shifts in which Martin is not getting involved in the play. This aptitude on the forecheck also translates to defensive zone play, as Martin shows quality play engagement, play awareness, and quality spatial and situational awareness.

This situational awareness also blends well with his compete, as it forms a quality element of risk awareness and assessment in Martin’s defensive zone play.

Physicality

Besides his compete level, the next thing that scouts notice with Martin is his physicality, with its high frequency, his grit, and his growing muscle mass. All of these elements translate very well to the NHL level.

In transition and zone play, Martin is a wrecking ball, as he rarely avoids or doesn’t follow through with his checks. This is best exemplified by his three hits per game. This physicality also mitigates opponent chances and helps slow the pace down in favour of his team.

The OHL products’ physicality and relentlessness are a momentum killer for opponents trying to rush the zone.

In the defensive zone, he shows high-end grit, toughness, and physical involvement, particularly along the boards and when blocking passing and shot lanes. On average, he blocks 1.03 shots per game.

The aforementioned play engagement meshes with his physical elements nicely. This is exemplified by his 20 or more board battles per game.

In offensive transition, he shows decent hit absorption, as he often remains on his feet. He does need some more minor growth, as he struggles to gain body leverage in attacking plays off the wall.

His 6’0″ frame helps his body positioning and aggressiveness be even more effective and efficient.

Senses

The Canadian forward stands out for his high-level senses, defined by his hockey IQ, play processing, and both offensive and defensive instincts, which should elevate his game to the next level.

No matter where the draft-eligible Martin is, he shows good play awareness.

In the defensive zone, he shows good lane awareness, risk assessment, and defensive positioning, which hints at good defensive awareness. His play anticipation in the defensive zone allows him to often be steps ahead of everyone else in terms of positioning, risk mitigation, and spatial management.

Throughout the season, Martin showed quality defensive instincts and know-how, best articulated by his 1.62 chances against saved per game. This also shows that he has no issues with confidence, play reading, and play engagement in all three zones.

His previously mentioned combination of physicality, compete, and defensive senses also helps explain why the Elmira product starts 25 percent of shifts in the defensive zone, and gets 1:52 of penalty kill time per game.

In offensive transition, he shows advanced positioning that routinely makes him an option with good lane recognition and lane creation throughout the offensive breakout. This leads to effective and efficient zone entries and consistent offensive pressure for his Greyhounds.

One of the elements that allows Martin to generate quick offensive pressure is his play awareness and his ability to generate and create high-danger plays. This contributes to his 0.89 chances per game and a 12% conversion rate on them.

He plays a thinker’s game, as his high hockey IQ consistently manipulates space in the zone and opens up more options and passing lanes as the game goes on, which points to quality offensive instincts.

Puck skills

Speaking of passing, one of his shining offensive tools is his puck skills, particularly his passing ability, handling, and vision. With this spatial manipulation, especially in zone play and on the power play, Martin is a capable facilitator with high-quality vision.

The first-year-eligible Martin consistently looks for the smart and offensive decision, which oozes of stable decision-making. This capable decision making and passing aptitude generates 24 passes per game, with an 84% passing accuracy. This might seem low, but he often is not at fault for pass misreads.

One of the stats that best communicates his passing vision is the fact that he contributes 1.51 passes to the slot per game, which then generate a quality scoring chance for his teammate. He’s also able to locate those dangerous cross-crease passes, which further shows his puck skills poise.

He does need minor improvements in puck protection and often forgets that teammates aren’t a step or two ahead like himself. This can lead to centring passes to no one and the occasional turnover after a hit against. Needs some minor growth in pressure absorption, too, to be more effective on offence.

Martin’s areas of improvement

Skating

Martin’s skating is not bad, but there is plenty of room for improvement that could make his transition, compete, and positioning game even more effective.

The main shortcomings for the Greyhounds forward are some posture issues—narrow base, shorter extension, stiffer stride recovery—which produce a more limited top speed. This is particularly noticeable in his lateral acceleration, separation speed in transition, and overall agility.

These issues reduce the effectiveness of his overall transitional game.

Improvements in speed and agility will address some of the issues he faces. Largely, his lack of body leverage on zone entries. It will also improve his breakaway effectiveness, further amplifying his route creation/forechecking ability with cleaner pivots.

Additionally, with more skating aptitude, Martin could further his puck protection mechanics and more effectively generate and create space for himself.

These are issues that a skating coach can work out, so the likelihood of growth here is high.

Shooting

The second identifiable issue is his shooting tendencies. These shortcomings are often found in his shot selection, finishing, and release point.

These issues sound crazy for a player who scored 33 goals in a season, but he could have had so many more with the sheer number of chances he creates. First, he often rushes his selection, leading to frequently weak backhands, weak push leverage, and below-average shot deception.

This all contributes to his problems with offensive finishing.

One of the best examples of this rushed shooting and limited finishing is the fact that despite his six shots a game, he only has 53% accuracy on those shots. Even then, he still has a 0.46 goals expected. Imagine what that number could be.

These shooting issues also play into his skating. A majority of his chances and shots come off of high-pace transition plays, where he has limited time and creativity. Defenders are consistently disrupting him due to his limited separation speed.

Other notable minor issues include his face-off performance—sitting at 46%—which is largely due to his high centre of gravity and limited quickdraw speed on the dot.

These problems, if not addressed, will only amplify at the higher levels.

Martin’s comparables

NHL comparable: Troy Terry, Anaheim Ducks

Shades of Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota Wild.

Fit with the Flames

With the current state of the Calgary Flames’ prospect pipeline, Martin would add a needed dose of high-end two-way compete and physicality that could complement the offensively driven players of the future for the organization.

Summary

Brady Martin plays a game that would entice a lot of old-school teams, with his big hit mentality mixed in with a high effort level and capable senses in all three zones that blend with quality vision. Moderately held back by skating, shooting, and some other refining elements.

It would be naive to expect a prospect to be polished this early in his hockey journey. Whoever gets Martin is looking at a normal(ish) timeframe of probably three or so years before he is NHL-ready, but for many NHL teams, that’s an acceptable risk. Martin would be a safe pick for any team.

Risk: 2/5

Reward: 3.5/5

Projection: Likely a middle-six forward, with a top-nine floor.

What do you think about Brady Martin? Would you like to see the Calgary Flames draft him? Let us know in the comments.

Check out all of The Win Column’s individual player profiles of selected 2025 NHL Draft prospects:

Matthew Schaefer | Michael Misa | James Hagens | Porter Martone | Anton Frondell | Victor Eklund | Roger McQueen | Caleb Desnoyers | Jackson Smith | Jake O’Brien | Carter Bear | Radim Mrtka | Lynden Lakovic