Porter Martone is fully committed to making the Flyers next season. (Photo: Kirby Lee, Imagn Images)
Top Philadelphia Flyers prospect Porter Martone has been praised a ton for his move to the NCAA with Michigan State University, but nobody fully knew why he made that decision. Until now.
Martone, 18, has been practicing with Canada ahead of this week's World Junior Summer Showcase in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in preparation of his last World Junior Championships push, and he also took a moment to detail his decision to go the NCAA route for FloHockey.
"For me, I always want to play in the NHL next year and, after development camp, kind of sat down and weighed the pros and cons of everything," Martone explained. "I think going to Michigan State is the next step in my hockey journey. I think it's going to help me develop into a full player, get some more time in the gym. I really like the culture they have there, the coaching staff, but with that said, it was not an easy decision to leave Brampton.
"It was probably one of the hardest decisions I had to make in my young hockey career, but, for me, I think I went out on good terms with Brampton and, for me, it's a next step to go to Michigan State and I'm going to go try to win a national championship."
The Flyers' 2025 No. 6 overall pick will be teaming up with fellow Flyers prospect Shane Vansaghi, top 2024 draft pick Cayden Lindstrom, star goalie prospect Trey Augustine, and draft classmates Ryker Lee and Eric Nilson, among others.
Overall, Martone is now a big part of a pretty loaded squad and expected to compete for that aforementioned national championship.
After that, it'll be time for an entry-level contract with the Flyers and the NHL journey ahead.
"I think they got a really good team already, and I think I'm just going to be able to add to that," Martone added. "They're back-to-back Big10 champions, they haven't really got over the hump to win a championship, so I want to go out there and just try help out any way I can. I think it's going to be a really good year for my development and kind of put me in that next step to make the NHL."
Martone, Lindstrom, fellow Flyers prospect Spencer Gill, and Canada will kick off their Summer Showcase campaign with a Canada White vs. Canada Red matchup at 5:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday before roster cuts and a subsequent Canada vs. Finland matchup on Wednesday, also at 5:30 p.m. EST.
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