Hockey Team Auction Flops With Zero Bids After Ridiculous Price Tag

It’s not a surprise when fans learn that teams, in fact, are businesses.

They want to make money, especially in the postseason when tensions are highest.

And that rings true even for teams that aren’t in the playoffs or in the same league, as long as there are connections to players doing well in those playoffs.

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Meet the Brampton Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League, one of the most prominent junior leagues in North America.

19-year-old Porter Martone of Canada is crushing it in the playoffs for the Philadelphia Flyers and is one of the leading stories of the postseason thus far, helping the Flyers defeat their in-state rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in round one.

Martone used to be a part of the Steelheads back in his amateur days, and Brampton thought they could ride the hype train by auctioning off a former game-worn helmet of the budding star.

Brampton proudly held an auction for the helmet, listing it at $1,000 and waiting for bids from Steelheads, Flyers, and hockey fans in general.

After almost a week on the market, the attempt to jump on the Martone bandwagon has backfired for the junior hockey club.

The current price for the game-worn item still sits at $1,000, as not a single soul has attempted to bid.

And possibly even worse, fans have begun to take notice of the embarrassing posed auction, wondering why they would start with such a high price for something that isn’t even autographed.

Brampton might need Martone to score a hat trick in the second round or go on to win the Stanley Cup if they are hoping to find a buyer for what is turning into the most overpriced hockey helmet in history.

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This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 7:08 PM.