Flyers’ Porter Martone going to Michigan State could be the best outcome for all involved

While patience is a virtue, it doesn’t mean it’s easy to have, particularly when your hockey team has asked for a lot of it lately as it continues to traverse through a painful rebuild.

It’s human nature to want to play with a shiny new toy right away, but sometimes you appreciate and enjoy that toy more when the gifter makes you wait for a birthday or special occasion to open it.

But paying fans, who haven’t been treated to very good hockey for the better part of a decade now, unsurprisingly are about done waiting. They want their shiny toy now in the form of seeing their team ice the best and most exciting lineup possible.

» READ MORE: First-round pick Porter Martone chooses Michigan State over trying to make Flyers out of camp

That brings us to the Flyers and top prospect Porter Martone. The winger, who was selected No. 6 overall in last month’s draft, announced Monday that he will attend Michigan State in the fall, forgoing a chance to compete for an NHL spot at training camp in September.

If he were to not make the Flyers, Martone wouldn’t have been eligible to play in the American Hockey League and would have been forced to return to juniors, a rule that could be tweaked for 2026-27.

Martone’s decision, which the Flyers say was the player’s to make, brought disappointment — and even some dread — to certain corners of the team’s fan base. But while the move will require another year of patience, and fans may worry about a Cutter Gauthier 2.0 situation, Martone going the NCAA route could be the best-case scenario for the player, the team, his development, and the Flyers’ timeline.

Why? First and foremost, Martone, who only turns 19 in October, probably isn’t as NHL-ready as most fans want to believe. In a 2025 draft that might not have a single player crack an NHL opening-night lineup, Martone was the sixth pick, and he plays right wing, the Flyers’ deepest position. The team already has Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov, Bobby Brink, Owen Tippett, and Tyson Foerster as options there.

While Martone remains a bit of a unicorn, given the expansive toolbox of elite playmaking ability, goal-scoring touch, and hockey sense he possesses at 6-foot-3, 208 pounds, he still needs to get stronger and could benefit from continuing to improve his skating before making the NHL jump.

Martone also hardly dominated the Flyers’ recent development camp, à la Alex Bump, further indication that he probably could use another year of development.

» READ MORE: Here’s how the Flyers’ forward lines could look with the addition of Trevor Zegras and Tyson Foerster’s injury

“I think he’s a player that, he’s always looking around, learning,” said assistant general manager Brent Flahr at the conclusion of development camp. “I think the pace of his game is going to have to pick up, but you see the hands, the vision, the ability to make plays that very few guys, even on our big team, can make. There’s a process. He’s a young guy. We’ve going to be patient, but we’ll see what he can do.”

Ultimately, Martone’s camp, likely with significant input from the Flyers, decided that he wasn’t quite ready, which probably is the most prudent call.

Martone making and sticking with an NHL team in his draft year would have been an ever-rarer exception to the rule, as Connor Bedard, Zach Benson, Cole Sillinger, Alexis Lafrenière, and Kirby Dach are the only five players over the past six drafts to stick with their NHL team after coming directly from North American junior hockey.

Only Bedard (61 points) was a consistent point producer as a rookie among that group, adding further credence to prioritizing caution. Jett Luchanko, who played four games for the Flyers last season before returning to Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League, was the only junior hockey product from the 2024 class on an opening-night roster last season.

The NCAA route also probably is best from a competition standpoint, as Martone dominated the OHL last year with Brampton to the tune of 98 points (37 goals, 61 assists) in 57 games. The former Steelheads captain realistically had accomplished all he could have at that level as a top-10 scorer in the league. The jump to the NCAA, where he will play against older and stronger competition in a more structured and physical setting, should serve him well in the long run.

The NCAA traditionally provides a tougher brand of hockey, and Martone, who doesn’t shy away from that, will be tested in ways he wasn’t consistently in the OHL.

Given that this is the first year since an NCAA-CHL rule change granted Canadian junior players college eligibility, the NCAA should be really strong, with the arrival of prospects like Penn State’s Gavin McKenna, the assumed top pick in next year’s draft, and others like Jackson Smith (Penn State), Cole Reschny (North Dakota), Keaton Verhoeff (North Dakota), and Malcolm Spence (Michigan).

» READ MORE: Penn State hockey coach Guy Gadowsky on landing top NHL prospect Gavin McKenna: ‘This is a huge thing’

Adding muscle and getting stronger will be one of the biggest focus areas when it comes to Martone’s development, and the college schedule and subsequent down time should afford him more time in the gym, where he will have access to elite facilities and strength and conditioning personnel at a program the size of Michigan State’s.

There, he will join up with fellow Flyers draft pick Shane Vansaghi, as well as high-profile incoming freshmen Cayden Lidstrom, Ryker Lee, and Eric Nilson, to form one of the nation’s top young nuclei next season.

From Martone’s perspective, he will be handsomely compensated through name, image, and likeness, and be a pseudo big man on campus in East Lansing, a role reigning Hobey Baker winner Isaac Howard relished and just vacated.

Finally, making this decision now protects the teenager and the team from the optics of him showing up to training camp and potentially struggling or looking out of place with the NHL regulars. It insulates him a bit from a tough fan base.

With him no longer attending camp, there will be no added pressure to make the team or worries about him losing his confidence if he makes the team and then struggles out of the gate.

There’s also no rush, as general manager Danny Brière and president Keith Jones have said from the start, that 2026-27 probably is the season that the Flyers will be looking to make a significant jump and become a real player again on the ice and in free agency.

“As much as we want him to play,” Flahr said recently, “we’ve just got to make sure we do what’s best for him.”