Flyers Q&A: Player development chief Riley Armstrong talks Porter Martone, surprising prospects, and more

With the hiring of Danny Brière as general manager and Keith Jones as president in May 2023, the Flyers began a self-proclaimed “New Era of Orange,” vowing to prioritize the future with the ultimate goal of building a consistent Stanley Cup contender.

While the Flyers are still a ways away from reaching that lofty aim, the organization’s key decision makers, much to their credit, have largely stayed true to their word. That patience and restraint amid the team’s rebuild is starting to bear fruit and paving the way for what looks to be a bright future for the organization.

» READ MORE: Flyers prospects Jack Berglund, Heikki Ruohonen shine at World Junior Summer Showcase

Want proof? Look no further than the Flyers’ prospect pool, which has gone from one of the league’s most barren to a consensus top-10 system in the NHL in the matter of three drafts. And that doesn’t even take into account the presence of budding 20-year-old superstar Matvei Michkov, who no longer qualifies as a prospect, having completed his rookie season.

But there’s a big divide between drafting and acquiring top prospects on paper and developing them into NHL players. That’s where Riley Armstrong, the Flyers’ director of player development, and his staff come in. With so many young players in the system, including nine from the most recent draft, the next few years will be a critical period in terms of the long-term success of the organization.

On the heels of June’s draft and last month’s development camp, Armstrong joined our Jackie Spiegel on the latest episode of Flyers Gameday Central to discuss his role with the organization, the team’s top prospects, and much more.

A: I think you wear quite a [few] hats. You obviously manage a lot of prospects, players, some staff members as well, and kind of have your hands in all different sorts of pots around the organization. I think the biggest thing that we do is, once a player is drafted, having us kind of build that relationship between the player and the Flyers ... Get to know him a little bit more, so that when they do decide to turn pro, they’re very comfortable with how we run things. ....

I think a lot of people think, “Oh, they just do, like, skill development. They’re just on the ice.” And I think the biggest part of the development is how they grow up and mature away from the rink. And that’s being able to walk into an NHL locker room, how they handle money ... finding apartments, kind of settling into their new home that doesn’t have a billet mom or dad there to cook them dinner at night or have all this stuff ready.

A: So we’re on the ice whenever we can. If we even travel out to see a player, a lot of the college teams or junior teams allow us to pop on the ice during their practices. It’s kind of whatever the coach allows or wants, and we work on certain things that we feel that the player needs as an individual, but also what the player needs to be a Flyer.

» READ MORE: Flyers development camp: Alex Bump dominates, preaching patience with Porter Martone and Jack Nesbitt, and other takeaways

A: You coach three, four, maybe five years in one spot, and then you’re pretty much hired to be fired, and you move on to the next team ... but I felt on the management side, you have a little bit longer life when it comes to being with one team. ... But I’d definitely love to be a GM one day, and [we’ll] kind of see what happens.

A: He’s continued to put the work in and make huge strides every offseason. ... They’re just not little strides. They’re big strides. I would never say, ‘Yeah, I think he’s going to make the Flyers,’ but it’s going to come down to what type of training camp he has. I definitely know he’s a confident kid. We talk a lot, and I obviously want him to make the team. I want a lot of guys to make the team, but there’s a lot of jobs to be earned.

A: He’s very smart. His hockey IQ, his playmaking ability, I think, is through the roof. You see him skating, he like floats on the ice, two or three strides and he’s at max speed.

I think the one thing that’s going to separate him is once he finds that scoring touch and getting a few different habits of where to shoot the puck or how to beat an NHL goalie, I think that’s going to take his game to the next level, and that’s something that he’s aware of. ... I think over time, he’s going to become, hopefully, a top-six centerman.

A: It all depended on what Porter and his agent and his family wanted to do. I’ve said a couple of times, I thought it was a very mature decision. I think a lot of kids want to go and try and make the NHL team and sign their contract and put money in the bank. ... [In contrast], he was saying [in interviews] about where is he going to be at in five years, and how this is going to affect him five years from now, when the Flyers are in contention for a Stanley Cup. So I think it was a great decision on his side. ...

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

I think in Porter’s case, whatever amount of points he put up last year, like close to 100 in 50 games or something like that, right? [He had 98 points in 57 games.] What else was he going to do at the junior level? So I think this is like a great stepping stone in his development path of being able to go and play against 24-year-olds, 23-year-olds, and guys that are stronger [in the NCAA]. I also think it allows him to spend more time in the gym like we talked about earlier.

A: I think Bonk is going to adjust to the pace of the game in the American League. I think he [and Denver Barkey] played on a very good team in London [Ontario], where you’re able to go back and break a puck out with ease, and play 30 minutes a night, and, you know, maybe not even break a sweat. I think that’s going to be a change for him, heading into this year where the pace is going to pick up. ...

Guys are going to forecheck a lot quicker and harder, finish checks on him. But I do think his brain is high-end ... and I think he’s going to be able to adjust pretty quickly once you get him in that environment.

A: I think we’re in a great spot. Maybe the one side we’re lacking at [would be the] left side, but you can always find some left-shooting D-men. We’re loaded up on the right side, with Bonk and [Spencer] Gil and [Austin] Moline and [Carter] Amico. So we have a lot coming in there.

But I do think the guys that we do have with [Egor] Zamula and [Cam] York and [Jamie] Drysdale, they’re very young, and I don’t think a lot of people realize how young they are. And when you look at a player, when they get into their prime is like 27-28, and they’re just 22-23 and have a lot of growth still ahead of them. I’m excited to see all these young guys where they’re at in five years, and how good they are going to be. And I think they know it too, and each year they’re slowly getting better and better and still learning.

A: I think [Nikita] Grebenkin has a chance. He has high-end hockey IQ, he’s smart. I think he played pretty well when we got him in that Toronto trade. He definitely helped us with the Phantoms down the stretch there and then into the playoffs. I really do think he has a good shot.

A: I think Noah Powell is another guy going back to college again at [Arizona State]. He’s done a lot of work in the summertime. He’s excited about the finish to the season that he had, with Oshawa losing in the OHL final. He played way more games last year. I think he got better as the year went on. ... I think there’s a lot of potential there, a little bit of work and some grind to his game, and I think once he gets into the lineup, I think he’s going to bring a lot that the Flyers fans are going to like.