The first round of the NHL draft is complete. After months of mocking, guessing, rumors, and conjecture, the Philadelphia Flyers finally have their guys. General manager Daniel Briere had a busy night. Let's take a look at each pick and see what this means for the organization moving forward.
Sixth Overall Pick: Porter Martone
This one is kind of a head-scratcher. Stats-wise, it's a slam dunk pick. Martone had 37 goals this year with the Brampton Steelheads, with 61 assists. He's 6'3" and 203 lbs; a great size for a right winger. He's been compared to Miiko Rantanen, and based on Rantanen's stats in the playoffs this year for Dallas (9G, 13A), I'll take it. Heck, the kid even said he was a fan of the Flyers and Claude Giroux as a youngster.
However, the Flyers are overloaded at right wing right now. Does that mean someone is out? Will Martone play this year, or will it be a season or two before he makes his presence felt in Philly? Not sure. Everyone thought they were going with a center, and Briere threw us a curveball. Of course, he did that last year with Jett Luchanko, and that pick looks like a steal right now.
Martone also has some experience with some of the Flyers' roster already. He played in two games for Team Canada in the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Also on that roster were Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Tyson Foerster. Not a bad group of guys to get to know.
Twelfth Overall Pick: Jack Nesbitt
Briere then swung a big trade with the interstate rival Pittsburgh Penguins. Trading the 22nd and 31st overall picks, the Flyers selected the 6'4", 185 lbs. behemoth that is Jack Nesbitt to add at center. I guess for Briere and new coach Rick Tocchet, size matters. He's one of the biggest centers in Flyers' history since the good old days of Eric Lindros, Keith Primeau, and Rod Brind'Amour, although it might be nice to see him add some size to his frame and bulk up a bit. However, I don't want to see him do that without losing any of his speed.
Nesbitt scored 25 goals with 39 assists with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. He could end up being a solid center for the Flyers. Having Nesbitt, Luchanko, Zegras, Noah Cates, and Sean Couturier forming the center of our lines for the rest of the decade would be great.
The question will be, was he worth two first-round picks? Since the Flyers could use another young stud at center, the answer would appear to be yes. However, if the Flyers passed up the chance for a beast at defense or goalie later on, who knows what the opinions will say.
The bigger question is, could he have been available at #22? We'll never know. Nesbitt was projected to go in the 20s. Then again, Victor Eklund was supposed to be a top 10 pick and fell to 16th. Also, Carter Bear seems to have been a higher-rated prospect. Detroit snagged him with the next pick. Will he pan out better than Nesbitt? We'll see.
Likewise, we don't know what else Briere has up his sleeve right now. He's been holding his cards close to his chest well since the season ended. We don't know who the Flyers may target as a free agent or may swing a trade for. A lot can happen between now and the end of summer.
So far, this draft is looking fairly strong. Granted, there have been some perplexing moves. But as I said earlier, a lot of people were confused by drafting Luchanko, and now most of those voices seem to be fairly silent.
I'd give them both a B+ solely because of the questions surrounding the choices. I will have to defer to the real hockey experts, like Briere and Keith Jones, since they know more about the game than I pretend to. Much like with Luchanko, they might see or know something that we don't.
Let's see how day two pans out.