It turns out there won’t be any drama surrounding highly touted right winger Porter Martone at the Philadelphia Flyers’ training camp this fall.
Martone, selected sixth overall in the recent NHL draft, won’t be competing for a Flyers roster spot this year because he committed to Michigan State on Monday.
He has the Flyers’ blessing.
“We are very supportive of the decision made by Porter and excited to see him developing into a Flyer very soon,” GM Danny Briere said on Tuesday night.
“Very soon” means he could sign an entry-level deal with the Flyers before the upcoming NHL season ends.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Martone, 18, spent one year at Michigan State and then joined the Flyers.
At Michigan State, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Martone will be teammates with Flyers prospect Shane Vansaghi – another plus for the Flyers because they could be on the same line and develop some chemistry that might have a carryover effect down the road.
Vansaghi, a 6-foot-3, 212-pound winger called ‘The Truck,’ was drafted by the Flyers in the second round (48th overall) last month.
In any event, Martone changed plans after the Flyers’ recent development camp, when he said his goal was to play a “full season” in the NHL in 2025-26. He said at the time if Flyers management thinks differently, he would talk with his agent.
He will now bypass the Flyers’ training camp and be at Michigan State.
Flyers assistant GM Brent Flahr, who heads the Flyers’ draft room, loves Martone’s maturity as a player and his ability to make plays but recently said “the pace of his game is going to have to pick up.”
An Ontario native, Martone’s learning curve will progress in the NCAA, where he will play against bigger and stronger competition than he faced in juniors.
With Brampton in the OHL this past season, Martone had 98 points (37 goals, 61 assists) and 74 penalty minutes in 57 games with the Steelheads.
Michigan State won its second consecutive Big Ten championship last season but was eliminated by Cornell in the first round of the NCAA men’s hockey tournament.
The Spartans are loaded with NHL prospects and are expected to be a contender for the national title next season, with Martone in the middle of things.
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