NHL Combine Notebook - 07.06.25

BUFFALO — The 2025 NHL Scouting Combine drew to a close Saturday with the annual series of fitness tests at LECOM HarborCenter, as well as the chance for many of the 90 attendees to meet with regional and national media ahead of the NHL Draft later this month.

We've compiled a few Saturday tidbits for this edition of the NHL Combine Notebook!

Who's Who In The Zoo?

Def Leppard and Martin Garrix are among the musical artists who have tracks about them, but animals were the hot topic among interviewees on fitness testing day.

Over the course of the week, the 90 attendees at the NHL Combine were asked which animal they would choose to be on and off the ice.

The responses varied wildly.

One player - Milton Gastrin - told reporters that he chose to be a cat, simply because he has one at home (trivia fans, his pet’s name is Mojito).

Roger McQueen said he would choose to be a horse, because they’re good with people and can do lots of jobs, while Jackson Smith chose a goldfish, because of their lack of long-term memory and his own ability to brush off mistakes.

Will Horcoff - who broke the Combine record Saturday with a 124.75 inch horizontal jump - said he'd be a silverback gorilla on the ice, because they're mean, but also leaders.

The strange interview questions are an annual point of discussion on Combine media day, though after 2024’s stunner - one club reportedly asked players to divulge their Uber rating - this year’s list of head-scratchers was a bit more muted.

Farmer Brady

Brady Martin is a big part of his family’s business in Elmira, Ont.

Their dairy farm features 250 cattle, 4,000 pigs and 60,000 chickens, meaning there’s no shortage of work to go around.

Martin, the No. 11-ranked North American skater ahead of this month’s draft, has used his farmwork as his training ground, both in terms of gaining strength and developing his hard-work mentality.

“I just work on the farm. I obviously train a bit, I haven’t gotten too into hockey training,” he said Saturday. “I’m more just farm strong, is what they call it.

“That’s kinda how I grew up, I put on a lot of strength and muscle.”

On the ice, the hard-hitting centre had the same work ethic, putting up 72 points over a breakout season with the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

He even answered the infamous animal question, admitting he considers himself a parrot off the ice.

“I kinda chirp a lot, I guess, pretty talkative,” he said through a wide grin.

Martin will be back to choring next week, and while he comes by his work honestly, he says there’s one particular farm task that ranks beneath all others.

“Stone picking,” said the 18-year-old. “(You) drive up and down the field, pick stones - they’re big boulders, some of them you can’t even lift - that’s a tough chore.

“We do a bunch of crops, and harvest and stuff, and when we want to chop the crops off, we can’t have stones in there, they’ll break the equipment. Would rather pick ‘em early than spend thousands of dollars on equipment.”

But for now, he’s crossing his fingers that the list of to-dos on his list hasn’t grown exponentially during his time here at the Combine.

“I hope not,” he chuckled.

“I’m hoping my brothers kinda took that part over, but we’ll see, I guess.”

Listen And Learn

Radim Mrtka moved across an ocean to pursue his hockey dream.

The Czech blueliner started the 2024-25 season at home, but made a mid-season move to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds.

That move paid off. He comes into the draft ranked No. 5 among North American skaters (second among defencemen), after putting up 35 points in 42 games in the Pacific Northwest.

More impressive still, his command of the English language.

Mrtka held serve with the media Saturday and executed answer after answer flawlessly, despite the fact he’s only been immersed in the language for a handful of months.

“I had English in school, but when I arrived, I couldn’t understand and when I speak, nobody could understand me,” he explained. “I was lucky I had a Czech guy on my team, he helped me a lot from the start.

“It got so much better through the year.”

Mrtka - who still has two years of schooling to complete - says he fast-tracked his own English learning by listening.

To coaches, teammates, anyone around him.

“I just listened and learned,” he said. “I didn’t have any lessons, just some pages where I could take a look at (the language).”

And that proficiency didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.

“His English got so much better as the year went on,” Seattle captain Braeden Cootes said Saturday. “He fit in perfectly with our group in Seattle, he was a massive part of our team getting into the playoffs.

“Unreal player, even better person.”