Jeremy Martin turns opportunity into productivity
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
Jeremy Martin identifies Oct. 17, 2025, as the day that changed the trajectory of his hockey career.
That was when the Flint Firebirds dealt the then 18-year-old (2007 birth year) winger to the Soo Greyhounds for 17-year-old (2008) winger Brady T. Smith. It was an exchange of former first-round OHL draft choices, with the Hounds surrendering a year of eligibility.
Having turned 19 last month, Martin has blossomed into one of the Soo’s best players and a member of its top line, alongside centre Brady Martin and winger Marco Mignosa.
“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey,” said the Ajax, Ont., native, who finished the regular season with 26 goals in 54 games in a Greyhounds uniform and 29 overall.
He’s been a standout winning battles, playing down low, providing physicality, opening space for teammates and shooting the puck.
Smith, meantime, finished with a 10-8-18 regular season stat line and, so far, owns a 2-2-4 in four Flint playoff contests.
“The trade has really meant a lot to me,” Martin continued. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here. I love the organization and all the guys are great.”
After his 29-14-43 season, Martin had two goals and three assists, along with a plus-minus of plus-5, in the Soo’s first-round playoff series against the London Knights.
The Greyhounds are set to open their best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal against the Kitchener Rangers on Friday (7 p.m.) at the Aud.
Game 2 is slated for Sunday (7 p.m.), also in Kitchener, before play shifts to GFL Memorial Gardens for Games 3-4 on Tuesday and Thursday of next week (both at 7:07 p.m.).
Meanwhile, after opening this season with a natural hat trick in Flint’s season opener, Martin had one assist over his next six games. He also had a feeling he could be traded.
Once he learned he was about to leave for Sault Ste. Marie, he quickly realized he had “a great opportunity.”
That opinion developed after talking with former Firebirds teammate Connor Clattenburg, who’d previously spent a season and a half with the Hounds.
Martin explained how Clattenburg “told me he loved his time here. He loved Deaner as a head coach and the group of guys they have here.”
And it was John Dean who wound up playing a major role in Martin’s uptick.
The six-foot-one, 190-pounder, spoke of how tough Dean was on him early on, but how that helped him develop.
And while he has nothing bad to say about the Flint organization, things just clicked for him after donning the red and white.
“I’ve really enjoy playing under him,” Martin said of Dean. “He was hard on me, but he also gave me a lot of confidence. He was trying to shape me into a player and trying to get everything out of me. With his help, I kept progressing.”
So much so, he earned a spot alongside the Soo’s most dangerous forwards.
Jeremy Martin spoke of Mignosa and Brady Martin as smart, creative players, who also work hard.
While the club continues to seek more secondary scoring, the top line has become the bellwether to whatever postseason success the Greyhounds have had to date.
Mignosa (4-6-10), Brady Martin (2-5-7) and Jeremy Martin (2-3-5) have combined for 22 points so far. The trio failed to register a point in both the third and fourth games (a Greyhounds loss) of the London series. But they combined for nine points in the Hounds series-clinching, 4-0 victory in Game 5 last Friday.
“He’s a strong body who goes to the front of the net. He’s very good protecting the puck and he’s got a great shot,” Brady Martin said of Jeremy. “If you give him the puck in a dangerous spot, he’ll put it in.”
The captain also called the third-year winger a great asset to the line.
“Miggy and I both love playing with him,” Brady Martin said.
Mignosa, at left wing, and Jeremy Martin, on the right side, have both excelled playing their off wings.
“He brings a lot of energy, he wins a lot of battles and he goes to the paint a lot,” Mignosa, the club’s top scorer in the regular season (35-54-89), said of his fellow winger. “He creates a lot of room for us and he’s a great player.”
While his linemates are both NHL-drafted players, Jeremy Martin was bypassed in last year’s draft. But Dean has repeatedly spoken of how the Hounds forward deserves to hear his name called this June.
“It would be awesome to get drafted,” Martin said. “But I’m more focused on what we’re doing as a team. We showed in the London series we can play with anyone. Our goal is to get to the Memorial Cup.”
Should the Soo-Kitchener series go to a fifth game, it’s scheduled for Apr. 17 in Kitchener (7 p.m.).
Game 6, if needed, would be played in the Sault on Apr. 19 (7:07 p.m.).
And should a seventh game be required, it would be played in Kitchener on Apr. 21 (7 p.m.).
