{"id":371490,"date":"2025-12-26T16:28:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T16:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/371490\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T16:28:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T16:28:09","slug":"flyers-prospect-porter-martone-is-ready-for-his-moment-at-world-juniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/371490\/","title":{"rendered":"Flyers prospect Porter Martone is ready for his moment at World Juniors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Porter Martone<\/a> just wrapped up his first semester at Michigan State as a general studies major. So what was the best course he took? \u201cPersonal finance,\u201d the 19-year-old freshman said. <\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Selected sixth overall<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n

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<\/a> in the country in points per game (1.25) .<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Flyers winger Porter Martone named Canada\u2019s captain for the upcoming World Juniors<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think my season has gone really well. I think it was definitely an adjustment going to college hockey … [and] I feel like I\u2019ve matured a lot as a person,\u201d he told The Inquirer last week via Zoom while attending Hockey Canada\u2019s World Junior camp in Niagara Falls, Ontario.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re living on your own now, you learn how to cook your own meals, you\u2019ve got to manage your classes, practices, like lots of different things, so I think that\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I think overall, just me really getting in the weight room, I think I\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to school<\/p>\n

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: \u201cI want to give it my all and try to earn my spot in the opening-night roster.\u201d But 21 days later, he announced<\/a> he was heading to East Lansing, Mich.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really hard,\u201d he said of the decision, \u201cjust because you obviously want to go to NHL training camp and try to maybe make the NHL. And it\u2019s tough because the CHL and Brampton [of the Ontario Hockey League] did so much for me \u2014 and I can\u2019t thank them [enough] for my development \u2014 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cgame-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Flyers Q&A: Brent Flahr dishes on prospects Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, and more<\/a><\/p>\n

Michigan State felt like home.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Nightingale] was telling me that nothing is going to be given to you, and I think that\u2019s big in my family, you\u2019ve got to work for things, so I really trusted his process,\u201d Martone said.<\/p>\n

\u201c… And a big thing [Morlock] says, we have all these expensive machines, but it\u2019s kind of the work you put in. So I think just Michigan State is very blue collar and hardworking, and that\u2019s something that me and my family kind of strive to be ever since I was a little kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue collar, hardworking. Martone is already sounding like a Philadelphian.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. Facing players older than him \u2014 \u201cthose guys are so strong, and they\u2019ve got man strength,\u201d he said \u2014 he has dropped body fat and, while he\u2019s \u201cnot working out to become a bodybuilder,\u201d he has gained around eight pounds of muscle.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis biggest challenge, and what we\u2019ve talked about, is his pace,\u201d Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said. \u201cHe was a really good junior, obviously, but he could slow things down all the time and kind of do what he wanted. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the college game, he\u2019s playing against older kids, bigger, stronger, faster, and the way they practice, the way they play games, it\u2019s all out and all full speed. So I think it\u2019s forcing him to move his feet. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, you can\u2019t teach the brain he has, the skill set he has, and the size and whatnot. I think even he\u2019s the first one to tell you, he\u2019s in better shape. He\u2019s playing faster. And I think it\u2019ll really help him adjust to the pro game faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flahr called Martone a quick study with a high hockey IQ that \u201chas the ability to process the game at the level that a lot of guys can\u2019t.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: 2026 World Juniors: Porter Martone and Gavin McKenna headline why Flyers fans should watch the tournament<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think probably every weekend there\u2019s almost been a Flyers development guy there at one of our games,\u201d he said, name-checking Armstrong, John LeClair, and Chris Stewart as attendees. \u201c… 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\u2019ve been really good with me and kind of always very straightforward with what they want to see from me. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power forward<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of wall play; as a winger in the NHL, that\u2019s huge,\u201d Martone disclosed. \u201cOffensive zone, when you\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d said Martone, who will be playing alongside Luchanko and will serve as the team\u2019s captain.<\/p>\n

He will face Finland\u2019s Max Westerg\u00e5rd and Heikki Ruohonen, who will wear an \u201cA,\u201d 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. <\/p>\n

But Martone has also represented Canada on the men\u2019s world championship stage, skating alongside Tyson Foerster<\/a>, Travis Sanheim<\/a>, and Travis Konecny<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, I was all in,\u201d Konecny said in November when asked if Flyers brass checked in with him about possibly drafting Martone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018That\u2019s a guy you can work with, that\u2019s a guy that\u2019s going to compete, that\u2019s a guy that\u2019s willing to learn, become a pro, play the right way,\u2019\u201d Konecny added. \u201cYou don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Flyers Q&A: Brent Flahr talks Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Jack Berglund, and the 2026 NHL draft<\/a><\/p>\n

While he waits to permanently join them in a locker room, Martone tunes in and watches \u201calmost every game\u201d the Flyers play. He also sees the orange and black jerseys at his games. \u201cI\u2019m excited to wear that jersey myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So, does it make him hungry to get there?<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, when you watch them, you just kind of can\u2019t wait till you\u2019re 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\u2019ll be super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is cool to see the support of the fan base,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd I know the Flyers fans are very passionate. … I can\u2019t wait to play in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Porter Martone just wrapped up his first semester at Michigan State as a general studies major. So what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,182236,99],"class_list":["post-371490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-porter-martone-prospect-michigan-state-world-juniors-canada-power-forward","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}