Flyers draft: Heavy hitter Brady Martin could be their pick at No. 6. He has a work ethic forged on a farm.

Brady Martin answered the phone last week. Was he at the rink, keeping his legs loose before he is selected in the NHL draft on Friday? Or maybe home, relaxing after a week of interviews and physical tests at the NHL scouting combine?

Nope.

“I’m actually sitting outside an auction right now,” the projected top-10 draft pick said. Yep, Martin was selling some of his cows just days before being drafted.

During the COVID pandemic, the center didn’t have much to do. Martin, the middle son of Sheryl and Terry Martin, who also have a daughter, and his brothers invested their money in beef cows. He was selling some of his cows on this day.

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“We usually buy a cow, and usually have a calf with it,” Martin explained to The Inquirer. “We raise up the baby calf, and then once it’s big enough to sell, we’ll take it to the butcher or the auction, and then someone else will buy it, or we’ll butcher it and keep it for our own meat. Depends on what the price is looking at.”

Raising cows isn’t something new to Martin. Known for his hitting and physical game on the ice, he gets his strength from his family’s dairy farm, helping to raise and maintain 250 cattle, 4,000 pigs, and 60,000 chickens. They have a lot of land — technically two farms — outside of Elmira, Ontario, near the hometown of former Flyer Darryl Sittler, and they grow wheat, corn, beans, ryegrass, and hay to feed their animals before selling the excess.

When the now 18-year-old Martin was younger and not training as much, his days would start at 6 a.m. doing chores for the next 2½ hours before having breakfast. After getting his fill, he’d return to the beef barn for more chores until 10 a.m. Some of his responsibilities included feeding the cows and baby calves, making sure they had dry bedding to lie on, and ensuring the herd was healthy.

During the hockey season, he was part of a co-op and in school part-time. So, he would work most of the day, until about 5:30 p.m., before practice at 7 p.m. “That was kind of my day, and after practice, come home, watch some hockey, and then do it all over again the next day,” he said.

“I’m not working much anymore,” he added. “I’ll get up and still do the chores around 6 before anything. I’ll get up and I’ll do the chores, and then I’ll go work out and skate, and usually have that done by midafternoon. Then I have my day to go back to the barn and do whatever. … Kind of used to working hard and working a full day.”

Farming has been part of the Martin family for generations, and he plans on taking over the farm when his hockey days are over. It is this background, as a member of the Mennonite community in Canada, that has helped him build a strong work ethic akin to the blue-collar values of Philly.

And it is at No. 6 that the Flyers could snag this highly touted prospect. This past season, the centerman put up 33 goals and 72 points in 57 regular-season games for the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. An alternate captain, he had a team-best eight power-play goals before adding another four points (two goals, two assists) in five playoff games. He then went to Texas and put up 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in seven games for the gold-medal winning Canadians at the U18 World Championship.

“It does not take long to find out why scouts love him so much, because he is the hardest hitter in the draft,” FloHockey NHL draft analyst Chris Peters said. “He hurts people because of how hard he hits. He’s not doing it maliciously; he’s just that devastating of a body checker. But then, he can also score, and he’s got hands, he’s got the ability.

“Does he have the offensive upside of some of these other guys that we are talking about, like [Jake] O’Brien, [James] Hagens, [Porter] Martone? Probably not, but he does have that well-rounded capability to be defensive, to make you know that he’s there. There is still a huge value placed on that competitive element of his game. He comes by it naturally, too. Grew up on a farm, raised on a farm. … There’s a work ethic to the kid. There’s a character to the kid. And on top of it, he is this fearsome player.”

When asked about being called a “wrecking ball on skates” by draft analysts, Martin replied quietly and modestly with a “Yeah” and a laugh.

“I love the physical part of the game, and just a big part of my game for sure,” he said. “Yeah, to be offensively skilled and compete and work hard like that, to have that tool in my toolbox is good. To be on a hit, know when to hit, I know I enjoy it, too. So yeah, it’s a big part of my game.”

At 6 feet and 187 pounds, the pivot is “not a behemoth,” as NHL draft analyst Scott Wheeler said at the combine in Buffalo. “But he is probably pound-for-pound, one of the strongest players in this draft, and just an absolute terror.”

That’s a pretty good thing when you compare your game to NHL menaces — but also point producers — Matthew Knies, Tom Wilson, Zach Hyman, and Sam Bennett. The latter was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff MVP while leading the Florida Panthers to their second straight Stanley Cup over Hyman’s Edmonton Oilers, Martin’s favorite team.

Sounds like his work ethic and style would fit perfectly in Philly.

“Brady Martin is one of one in this class,” Wheeler said. “He is the most competitive forward in this class. He is arguably the most competitive player in this class. I would say that him and Kashawn Aitcheson are the fiercest competitors in this age group. He is the most physical forward in this class. He hits and hurts guys. He dominates guys physically in terms of just his intensity, the way that he goes after guys, and finishes his checks.

“So there’s that piece of it, which every team loves, the throwback player, and then on top of that, he’s very skilled. He’s got this sort of quick-twitch hands, and he can make plays, and he’s got an NHL shot.”

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Martin met with the Flyers and was one of three players known to have had dinner with the team in Buffalo. He said they talked for a while, it was casual and, fittingly, they took him for a steak. Flyers hockey is “kind of the hockey I play, so I think it’d be a perfect fit for me,” he added.

It may be, considering the Flyers are always searching for guys who already come with a “high compete” level. It was the edict under former coach John Tortorella, and it’s fair to say Rick Tocchet leans the same way. And of course, at No. 6, the expectation is that if the Flyers take a center, he’ll be the future linemate of Matvei Michkov.

“I think it would be good,” Martin said of pairing with the Russian star winger. “I think he’s a skilled player, and he’s one of the best players this year on that team. And, yeah, it’d be cool to play with him and, if I get the opportunity, I think it could work, get him pucks, and make room on the ice for him.”

When asked what he loves the most about hockey, the kid who started skating at 3 and “wasn’t very good” when he started said it was “being part of a team” and “when you win at the end, it’s even more fun [because] you get to enjoy the moment with your peers and your teammates who you’ve played all season with.”

Who is Brady Martin? He’s a banger with high skill who puts the team above himself. Which is why he will not be in Los Angeles to hear his name called on Friday. He will be home in Ontario, surrounded by family and friends, as his community throws a party, too.

“I could have went to LA, but I really enjoy my family and hockey season playing in the Soo, I don’t really get to see them much,” he said. “So to be at home and experience that with them is what I’ve always wanted to do, and to have a couple of my buddies and my peers on my side, and cousins and stuff, it’ll be pretty special.”

And after celebrating? There will be chores to do in the morning.