Setting Expectations for Porter Martone in Remainder of 2025-26
The Philadelphia Flyers have reinforcements on the way while they desperately cling to narrow hope in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Porter Martone will play the final nine games of…
The Philadelphia Flyers have reinforcements on the way while they desperately cling to narrow hope in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Porter Martone will play the final nine games of the NHL regular season.
While the Flyers consider the reigning sixth-overall pick a foundational piece of their rebuild, what kind of immediate performance should they expect from a 19-year-old diving headfirst into a pool of the top players in the world at a critical time of the season?
Porter Martone
Martone scored 25 goals and added 25 assists in 35 NCAA games for Michigan State this season. He signed his entry-level contract abruptly after the Spartans lost in the Elite Eight to Wisconsin on March 28.
Martone adds size along the wing at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds to a relatively small Flyers roster. The organization hopes he’ll develop into a power-play weapon as the type of strong winger in tight areas they’ve lacked since trading Wayne Simmonds in 2019.
He praised Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale for pushing him to play a physical game in high-danger areas.
“I think I just really found my identity as a player and who I need to be to be successful. I think Coach Nightingale really forced on me to play below the hashmarks, play in front of the net. Another thing he told me when I got there – it’s the truth – if I want to play at the NHL level, I’m going to have to play at a faster pace. I’m going to have to get faster.”
-Porter Martone
Photo by Brad Rempel/Getty ImagesNHL teams have increasingly begun to prefer top draft picks to play American college hockey rather than in Canadian junior leagues. The lighter NCAA game schedule allows for additional practice time for skill development and more impactful off-ice training.
Martone estimated that he bulked up with an extra 12 pounds of muscle and decreased his body fat by 3% during his freshman season. The manageable proximity at Michigan State also allowed him to ease into relationships in the Flyers organization. Former NHL stars John LeClair and Patrick Sharp were among his contacts throughout the college season.
When Martone captained Team Canada at the World Juniors over the holidays, he also showed off the edge and intensity that characterizes the playing style of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He spoke about harnessing the intensity as a professional.
“I learned how to kind of be on that fine line. I don’t want to be in the penalty box the whole game because I think I’m more valuable on the ice… I’ve got to play with my emotion, but you just can’t go over that line. You’ve got to be a hard player to play against, but it’s got to be at the proper times.”
-Porter Martone
Expectations with the Flyers in 2025-26
Whether intentionally or not, Rick Tocchet set a high bar for Porter Martone with lofty player comparisons immediately after the Flyers selected him in the 2025 NHL Draft. The first-year Flyers head coach joined the 97.5 The Fanatic broadcast from the organization’s Atlantic City headquarters during the decentralized draft.
“Corey Perry, (Matthew) Tkachuk, I was told. If he can get to that standard, you've got yourself a guy that can play. Just watch the way he plays. He's always around the net. He's got a hell of a shot... We're excited about having that type of character on our team.”
Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesThe pair of Stanley Cup champion wingers might fit as long-term comparables. Martone, though, will start smaller by supplanting Carl Grundstrom or Garrett Wilson in the lineup during their last-second playoff push.
Martone’s most obvious impact in the final nine regular-season games could come on Philadelphia’s 32nd-ranked power play. While the unit has improved recently generating more scoring chances, the PECO power outage has handcuffed the Flyers the past five seasons.
Danny Briere tempered expectations by shifting focus to the value of playing meaningful NHL games in Martone's long-term development. The Flyers shouldn’t expect an immediate superstar. However, there’s precedent for NCAA players impacting the Stanley Cup Playoffs on entry-level deals in the same season they finished their college careers.
Cale Makar famously hit the ground running for the Colorado Avalanche in 2019, and Chris Kreider leapt from Boston College to the playoff-bound New York Rangers in 2012. More recently, however, the promising Zeev Buium underwhelmingly debuted in four playoff games for the Minnesota Wild last year.
Flyers fans looking for a familiar name can gush over the idea of Rod Brind’Amour with the St. Louis Blues back in 1989. “Rod the Bod” certainly set a physical precedent for an NCAA player benefitting from some time in the gym.
