Top prospect Porter Martone ‘can’t wait’ to play for the Flyers. But first, he has a couple of championships to win

Porter Martone just wrapped up his first semester at Michigan State as a general studies major. So what was the best course he took? “Personal finance,” the 19-year-old freshman said.

Well, that’s not a bad one to master, considering the winger is going to be raking in the big bucks soon if he keeps up his stellar play on the ice.

Selected sixth overall by the Flyers in the 2025 NHL draft, Martone is now lighting up college hockey. His 11 goals are tied for the second-most by a freshman.

In 16 games for the third-ranked Spartans (12-4-0), Martone has 20 points, and is tied with Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Zam Plante, the son of former Flyers forward Derek Plante, for 17th in the country in points per game (1.25) .

» READ MORE: Flyers winger Porter Martone named Canada’s captain for the upcoming World Juniors

“I think my season has gone really well. I think it was definitely an adjustment going to college hockey ... [and] I feel like I’ve matured a lot as a person,” he told The Inquirer last week via Zoom while attending Hockey Canada’s World Junior camp in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

“You’re living on your own now, you learn how to cook your own meals, you’ve got to manage your classes, practices, like lots of different things, so I think that’s been great.”

“And then I think overall, just me really getting in the weight room, I think I’ve noticed a big difference on the ice, just be able to sustain energy throughout the whole game and be effective three periods instead of maybe only two last year, and I think just becoming more of a power forward that I need to be.”

It was quite a shift for Martone to select the college hockey route. He famously opened the start of Flyers development camp five days after he was drafted, stating: “I want to give it my all and try to earn my spot in the opening-night roster.” But 21 days later, he announced he was heading to East Lansing, Mich.

“It was really hard,” he said of the decision, “just because you obviously want to go to NHL training camp and try to maybe make the NHL. And it’s tough because the CHL and Brampton [of the Ontario Hockey League] did so much for me — and I can’t thank them [enough] for my development — but in kind of sitting down with the Flyers and my agents and my parents, I thought this was the kind of the next step in my hockey journey.

“I feel like this is going to help me be the best player when I am in my prime, 5 to 10 years down the road.”

Flyers fans should like the idea of him thinking ahead. And, yes, while he is committed and focused on helping the Spartans win their first national championship since 2007, he is open to swapping green for orange in April.

But for now, his feet are firmly planted at Michigan State, where fellow 2025 draftee Shane Vansaghi, now a sophomore, did persuade him a little bit to go. Martone also made a couple of visits to the campus and met with coach Adam Nightingale. He liked the culture and thought that Will Morlock, the director of athletic performance for hockey, was a “game-changer.”

» READ MORE: Flyers Q&A: Brent Flahr dishes on prospects Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, and more

Michigan State felt like home.

“[Nightingale] was telling me that nothing is going to be given to you, and I think that’s big in my family, you’ve got to work for things, so I really trusted his process,” Martone said.

“... And a big thing [Morlock] says, we have all these expensive machines, but it’s kind of the work you put in. So I think just Michigan State is very blue collar and hardworking, and that’s something that me and my family kind of strive to be ever since I was a little kid.”

Blue collar, hardworking. Martone is already sounding like a Philadelphian.

Aside from his hard work on the ice, Martone has spent much of his first few months at Michigan State putting in the work at the gym. Facing players older than him — “those guys are so strong, and they’ve got man strength,” he said — he has dropped body fat and, while he’s “not working out to become a bodybuilder,” he has gained around eight pounds of muscle.

Martone, who is listed as 6-foot-3, 210 pounds by MSU, is building his body to sustain a grueling 82-game NHL schedule, and, hopefully, beyond. He feels like he’s becoming a 200-foot player while being reliable all over the ice, but if the Spartans need a goal or a big play offensively, he can do that, too. And he is working on his speed and power.

“His biggest challenge, and what we’ve talked about, is his pace,” Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said. “He was a really good junior, obviously, but he could slow things down all the time and kind of do what he wanted.

“In the college game, he’s playing against older kids, bigger, stronger, faster, and the way they practice, the way they play games, it’s all out and all full speed. So I think it’s forcing him to move his feet.

“Obviously, you can’t teach the brain he has, the skill set he has, and the size and whatnot. I think even he’s the first one to tell you, he’s in better shape. He’s playing faster. And I think it’ll really help him adjust to the pro game faster.”

Flahr called Martone a quick study with a high hockey IQ that “has the ability to process the game at the level that a lot of guys can’t.” This season, Martone has been working on his footwork and speed on and off the ice by doing jumping and sprinting drills. He speaks often with the Flyers director of player development Riley Armstrong.

» READ MORE: 2026 World Juniors: Porter Martone and Gavin McKenna headline why Flyers fans should watch the tournament

“I think probably every weekend there’s almost been a Flyers development guy there at one of our games,” he said, name-checking Armstrong, John LeClair, and Chris Stewart as attendees. “... I do video with Riles a lot, almost every week after my weekends, and kind of just fine-tune some things, see some things that they want me to improve. They’ve been really good with me and kind of always very straightforward with what they want to see from me.

“They’re a very good development staff, trying to add different things to my game, but also let me play it and be the player I am.”

The player Martone is, and developing into, is a power forward on the right wing. Armstrong and Martone chat about building his overall offensive game and being more powerful with his skating. But they also delve into the specifics.

“It’s a lot of wall play; as a winger in the NHL, that’s huge,” Martone disclosed. “Offensive zone, when you’re creating space for yourself behind the net, picking pucks off the wall, and then overall, just neutral zone, just playing with pace through the middle of the ice. Be a hard player for defenders to stop off the rush as well.”

That will also come in handy as he dons the maple leaf for the third time in a year beginning on Dec. 26. Hockey Canada usually skews with an older roster, but Martone will actually be playing at the World Juniors for the second time in his short career. Last year, Canada, which also had Flyers prospects Jett Lucahnko, Oliver Bonk, and Carson Bjarnason on the roster, lost in the quarterfinals in Ottawa.

“I feel like just on my case, but kind of all of Canada has a bit of unfinished business, and we kind of want to come back and really show what we can do,” said Martone, who will be playing alongside Luchanko and will serve as the team’s captain.

He will face Finland’s Max Westergård and Heikki Ruohonen, who will wear an “A,” Group B action, and in the playoffs could see Sweden captain, Jack Berglund, and his friend Vansaghi, who will be suiting up for Team USA.

But Martone has also represented Canada on the men’s world championship stage, skating alongside Tyson Foerster, Travis Sanheim, and Travis Konecny last year.

“Oh yeah, I was all in,” Konecny said in November when asked if Flyers brass checked in with him about possibly drafting Martone.

“I said, ‘That’s a guy you can work with, that’s a guy that’s going to compete, that’s a guy that’s willing to learn, become a pro, play the right way,’” Konecny added. “You don’t really always get that information before the draft. And then on top of that, I mean, I think he can develop into a really special player.”

» READ MORE: Flyers Q&A: Brent Flahr talks Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Jack Berglund, and the 2026 NHL draft

While he waits to permanently join them in a locker room, Martone tunes in and watches “almost every game” the Flyers play. He also sees the orange and black jerseys at his games. “I’m excited to wear that jersey myself,” he said.

So, does it make him hungry to get there?

“Obviously, when you watch them, you just kind of can’t wait till you’re there and you want to help them any way you can. And definitely, watching the games, you dream of that day when you do get to play your first NHL game and join the Philadelphia Flyers. So when that day comes, you know, I’ll be super excited.”

“It is cool to see the support of the fan base,” he added. “And I know the Flyers fans are very passionate. ... I can’t wait to play in front of them.”