On June 27th, 2025, the Philadelphia Flyers found themselves salivating in their seats as they saw 6'23", 210 lb. Porter Martone still available on the draft board for their 6th pick. Although the most glaring need for the Flyers heading into the 2025 draft was to bolster the center position, a power forward at the wing position is never something to scoff at.
In fact, most NHL analysts feel it behooves teams to draft the most skilled available player, regardless of position. So, Danny Briere and Keith Jones wasted no time in making their decision on who would be donning the orange and black in the coming years. Soon enough, Martone (the then 18-year-old) became a Philadelphia Flyer, a pick that exuberated nearly every Flyers fan. Heck, the kid even grew up with a poster of beloved former Flyer, Claude Giroux, in his bedroom.
After attending the Flyers' rookie camp, Martone impressed, but didn't exactly dominate in the way that other prospects, such as Alex Bump, did. At the conclusion of rookie camp, the Flyers and Martone's camp appeared to mutually agree that Martone had already dominated the OHL and likely wouldn't benefit from another year spent playing against 16- and 17-year-olds, as he had already played three years for the Brampton Steelheads. After all, he notched 98 points (37 G, 61 A) in 57 regular-season games and 9 points (4 G, 5 A) in six playoff games.
As mentioned previously, it became apparent after rookie camp that he wasn't completely prepared to make the Flyers' NHL roster at the start of training camp in August. Although he was physically capable of holding his own in the NHL, his skating and speed of decision-making with the puck required some fine-tuning. So, both parties agreed that the NCAA route would be a favorable next step for the Peterborough, Ontario native. On July 22nd, Porter committed to play for the Division 1 powerhouse, the Michigan State University Spartans of the NCAA. To say the least, he's proven he can not only compete with elite NCAA talent but truly thrive.
Martone has found himself in the mix as one of the best freshmen in NCAA hockey thus far. He was recently edged out of the top spot in goals by Justin Poirier, but overall, he is second amongst all freshmen with 10 goals through 14 games, bringing his point total to 19 with his 9 assists.
His 19 points are second behind Quinnipiac's Ethan Wyttenbach, who has 22. His 1.36 points-per-game is also second to Wyttenbach. What's arguably the most enthralling about these stats is that three of his goals have come on the power play and three have been game-winning goals. It's even more impressive that he leads the Spartans in scoring as a freshman.
Although NCAA domination doesn't directly equal NHL success, there has been a positive association between the two for many NHL prospects throughout the league (Ryan Leonard, Jeremy Swayman, Macklin Celebrini, Owen Power, etc). Current Flyers Cam York (University of Michigan), Trevor Zegras (Boston University), and Bobby Brink (University of Denver) have also journeyed through the NCAA before solidifying their roles on the Flyers' NHL roster.
As many NHL and prospect analysts have predicted, it does seem that Martone will most definitely be a Philadelphia Flyer come October of 2026. With that being said, the Flyers' brass will need to decide which winger(s) they're willing to part with the make room for Martone and potentially Alex Bump or Denver Barkey of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.