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Porter Martone already has a fascinating connection to Flyers history

The Flyers’ newest top prospect, Porter Martone, comes to the team with a direct connection to a trade that the organization made back in 1995 — over a decade before he was born.
ByKevin Lagowski|
Jun 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Porter Martone is selected as the sixth overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Jun 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Porter Martone is selected as the sixth overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The entire Philadelphia Flyers organization and their fans are extremely excited about first-round selection Porter Martone, whom they hope will become one of the centerpieces of the franchise as it attempts to end a long playoff drought and re-establish itself as a true contender in the coming years.

But, while Martone is a shiny new toy for fans to hang their hopes on, he also comes with a crazy connection to Flyers history, namely the 1990s. And that’s because Martone’s new boss, Flyers general manager Danny Briere, AND Martone’s father Mike were BOTH selected with draft picks that originally belonged to the Flyers which they had previously traded away for — wait for it — Pat Falloon!

Porter Martone already has Flyers roots….sort of

Yes, that would be the same Pat Falloon who was the first draft pick in San Jose Sharks history, when he went second overall in 1991 right after a fellow named Eric Lindros and one pick before another Hall of Famer, Scott Niedermayer. Falloon played in parts of the first five seasons in Sharks history, some of which were horrendous, and he put up 76 goals and 162 points in 258 games for the club. Then, on November 16, 1995, the Flyers came calling.

To procure Falloon’s services, the Flyers traded their first-round and fourth-round picks in the 1996 draft. The Flyers also traded a player, Martin Špaňhel, who ended up playing 10 NHL games years later for the Blue Jackets, a club that didn’t exist at the time of the trade. But it was the picks that became interesting.

As pointed out by X user Kevin Ferguson, the two picks that the Flyers traded away ended up being used on Danny Briere and Mike Martone. And it’s all the result of a very convoluted situation. Immediately after acquiring them, the Sharks traded both picks, Špaňhel, and another player to Buffalo.

The Sabres made another deal with the Jets on February 15, 1996 that included the Flyers’ original first rounder. The Jets moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes at the conclusion of the season, thus it was the Phoenix Coyotes who ended up using the 24th overall pick of the 1996 draft on Danny Briere. Meanwhile, the Sabres held onto the fourth-rounder originally belonging to the Flyers, using it to draft Porter’s dad, Mike, 106th overall.

I told you it was confusing.

Flyers fans are well-acquainted with Briere’s career, but the elder Martone never got a chance to play in the NHL, lacing up mostly in the ECHL before hanging up the skates at age 29 in 2006 when his son Porter was months away from entering a world where he would become a Flyers draft pick 19 years later.

As for Falloon, he appeared in parts of three seasons with the Flyers, scoring 38 goals and amassing 83 points in 144 regular season games. He also added six goals and nine points in 26 playoff games with the Flyers, including their run to the 1997 Stanley Cup Final. During his time with the Flyers, Falloon was derided for his lack of conditioning and the underperformance that came with it, helping to contribute to perhaps the meanest nickname in NHL history, Fat Balloon.

The Flyers traded him to Ottawa in 1998 along with Vinny Proposal and a draft pick for Alexandre Daigle, since the team seemingly decided that they wanted a shot at breathing life into every 1990’s draft bust. From Ottawa, Falloon also had stops in Edmonton and Pittsburgh, finishing his career with 146 goals and 325 points in 575 regular season games. Not objectively terrible, but pretty bad given his draft status and the success of the players taken around him.

The universe works in mysterious ways like this sometimes. The distant memory of Falloon never really comes up anymore, but now suddenly finds itself in our consciousness thanks to a strange sequence of events 30 years ago that would end up having direct ties to a Flyers’ 2025 first-round draft pick. Martone's new GM and his dad already share one link, an let’s hope they share another soon — celebrating a Stanley Cup with him.

At the very least, let's hope we don’t have another Pat Falloon on our hands.

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