Brady Martin is a Canadian center in the Nashville Predators organization, taken fifth overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, and he had eight points in his first five games at the 2026 World Juniors. Brady Martin then left the semifinal against Czechia on 4 January 2026 with a shoulder injury and did not play again for five weeks. He grew up working on his family’s dairy farm in southwestern Ontario, and watched his own draft from a television bolted to a tractor bucket.
| Fast facts: Brady Martin | |
|---|---|
| Current team | Milwaukee Admirals, AHL, No. 28 |
| Position | Center |
| Shoots | Right |
| Born | 16 March 2007, Kitchener, Ontario, per the NHL’s player register |
| Height / weight | 6’0″ (183 cm), listed from 184 to 193 lbs depending on the source |
| Drafted | 2025, first round, fifth overall, Nashville Predators |
| Contract status | Three-year entry-level deal signed 20 August 2025, running through 2028-29, cap hit $1,006,667, per PuckPedia |
| World Juniors | Canada, 2026, bronze medal. No. 28, six games, four goals and four assists |
| Jersey | 28 in Milwaukee and with Canada at the 2026 World Juniors, 44 in Nashville |
What happened to Brady Martin at the 2026 World Juniors?
Brady Martin left the semifinal against Czechia on 4 January 2026 in the first period with what was reported as an apparent shoulder injury, and missed the bronze medal game the next day. He was seen holding his right arm on the bench and wore a sling afterward. Soo Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said the injury was not season-ending but that Martin would be out “a couple of weeks for sure”. He returned to the Greyhounds on 8 February, five weeks later.
Hockey Canada’s tournament roster lists him at No. 28, and he scored all eight points in the first five games: a goal and an assist in the 7-5 opener against Czechia, three assists against Denmark, two goals against Finland and one in the quarterfinal against Slovakia. He played on a line with Michael Hage and Gavin McKenna from the first pre-tournament game, scoring twice, until the injury. Canada beat Finland 6-3 for bronze without him.
Dale Hunter, who coached Canada at that tournament, called him “a hard-nosed player, but with skill” who “goes to the net, and he’s hard to play against.”
Will Brady Martin play at the 2027 World Juniors?
As of 31 October 2026, there is no answer, because Canada has not named a selection camp roster. The 2027 tournament runs from 26 December 2026 to 5 January 2027 in Edmonton and Red Deer. Our World Juniors guide has the full schedule and the groups.
What is settled: Martin is age-eligible; he attended Canada’s World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, Ontario, in late July 2026, and NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale named him in September 2026 as one of six players Canada could ice who were drafted inside the top 10. The open question is his club. AHL players must be released to the tournament voluntarily, and nobody from Nashville or Milwaukee has said publicly whether he will be. Daily Faceoff projected him in Canada’s first line with Cole Reschny and Dima Zhilkin, while hedging that it assumes he is not in the NHL.
What are Brady Martin’s career stats?
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL | 52 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 40 |
| 2024-25 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL | 57 | 33 | 39 | 72 | 68 |
| 2024-25 | Canada U18 | U18 Worlds | 7 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 29 |
| 2025-26 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL | 24 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 37 |
| 2025-26 | Nashville Predators | NHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025-26 | Canada U20 | World Juniors | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
Completed seasons. He captained the Greyhounds in 2025-26, won gold with Canada at the 2025 U18 Worlds and was named to that tournament’s media all-star team, scoring twice in the 7-0 final against Sweden.
Why is Brady Martin playing in the AHL?
Nashville assigned Martin to the Milwaukee Admirals on 26 September 2026, and head coach Andrew Brunette said the reason was positional, not developmental. “He’s been a center-ice man, and we’re pretty full in the center position right now,” Brunette said, adding that “especially as a young player here, we don’t want to stunt his development.”
Martin had already played three NHL games in October 2025, all at home in Bridgestone Arena, and picked up an assist against Utah in the second. He averaged 11:25 of ice time across those three games. Nashville then returned him to the Greyhounds, where he scored 10 points in 10 playoff games. The channels and streams for every Predators game are in our guide to how to watch the Nashville Predators.
What is Brady Martin’s contract?
Martin signed a three-year entry-level contract with Nashville on 20 August 2025. PuckPedia lists an annual cap hit of $1,006,667 through 2028-29, with performance bonuses of up to $1,500,000 a season and a minor-league salary of $85,000. He is waiver-exempt and becomes a restricted free agent in 2029.
Where is Brady Martin from?
Martin is from Elmira, Ontario, a town of a few thousand people northwest of Waterloo, and his family runs a dairy farm there. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in October 2026 that the farm is called Creek Edge Farms and milks roughly 250 cows.
The farm is also where he watched the 2025 draft. Rather than travel to the first decentralized draft in Los Angeles, Martin stayed home with about 100 guests, a big-screen television mounted on a tractor bucket and coffee served out of a pickup bed, as NHL.com described it. Shea Weber read out the pick. “I just wanted to be home with my friends and family,” Martin told The Tennessean. “There’s still work to do with the animals and stuff.”
What number does Brady Martin wear?
Martin wears No. 28 for the Milwaukee Admirals, the same number he wore for Canada at the 2026 World Juniors, and No. 44 in Nashville. He also wore 28 with the Soo Greyhounds.
When was Brady Martin born?
Martin was born on 16 March 2007.
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