It’s happened. The Philadelphia Flyers have signed top prospect Porter Martone and he’s coming to make his NHL debut soon. But, who will he play with during that debut?
Martone is possibly the most NHL-ready prospect we’ve seen in a while, so he doesn’t need to be carefully placed in the league as a newborn baby is laid down on their crib. But, his debut shouldn’t be necessarily reckless and just throwing him into the lion’s den to see if he can manage to not get torn to shreds within the first couple of minutes.
So, who are some players that he could be partnered with in this debut to really make the most out of it? The connections that we might just see spark on day one and potentially lead somewhere. Obviously, he can’t be on a line with all three of these players, but these are just pairings that we could see work right off the bat or at least for the rest of the season.
Noah Cates
It might just be the fact that Noah Cates has been producing some offense as of late, but having the steady hand of also one of the best defensive center on the Flyers be there for Martone to fully dive into the NHL for the first time, feels right. It’s not the most electric option, as that would be putting him with playmaker Trevor Zegras to really supercharge the potential to make an impact in his first game, but putting Martone on the wing of someone who is so detail-oriented and thoughtful about the game, could really be something.
Plus, with Cates not being the primary offensive driver on any forward line he’s a part of, this would theoretically give Martone the room to do some of the puck work and let him get a handle of what it’s like to try to score with the much higher pace of an NHL defense trying to prevent you from doing anything in their zone.
It feels like we would find more about Martone’s early days in the NHL if Cates was his center, compared to anyone else the Flyers could provide him down the middle.
Owen Tippett
Another fun little connection we could see flourishing is Martone on the opposite wing of Owen Tippett. Now, it would be probably ideal for head coach Rick Tocchet to let the Flyers top prospect start his career on his natural right wing, and then go from there. Which means that Tippett would be heading back to the left wing, a place where he has been a whole lot but during this incredibly hot streak he’s been on, he’s been on his natural right.
It’s ultimately tough, but in our little world it is more favorable to move Tippett back to the left wing, even if he’s been red-hot, compared to creating a fiasco by sending Michkov to the left wing again just to make room for someone else.
Given that, with Tippett on one side and Martone on the other (and maybe someone like Zegras in the middle, since Tocchet loves the Zegras-Tippett connection as of late) there is a whole lot of opportunity to put points on the board. Two big-bodied wingers that could certainly get physical and potentially pose threats from anywhere in the zone with a wicked shot, would just be so nice to see. There are other wingers that could potentially be more of an accent on Martone’s game, but having a player who is on such a heater could be beneficial to let the 19-year-old ease into a supporting role while also looking for some opportunities to contribute.
Travis Konecny
This would just be fun. It would also involve Konecny moving to the left side, which is certainly less common than Tippett going over there, but having two Ontario boys out there running wild and getting involved in post-whistle scrums, is just something we need to see.
Konecny and Martone together might be the most annoying duo to play against. Maybe the top prospect won’t immediately be as comfortable mucking it up and getting involved in scrums as he’s just starting to make his NHL dreams come true, but give it a couple games and Martone will happily be grabbing someone by the collar of their jersey as Konecny mouths off to someone much larger than him.
It’s just something that immediately could work and it wouldn’t be limiting Martone’s ceiling offensively at all. Having Konecny on the opposite wing, someone who has been there and done that, could prove to be more of a fit than another hotshot young winger. There would be less risk involved and we all know head coaches would like to avoid risk as much as possible, but also not preventing any offense from that potential line. It could even be a partnership we see heading into next season, to be honest.
Obviously just seeing Martone in the Flyers lineup is good enough. We named three players who are currently on three different forward lines for the team so it’s basically just saying anywhere in the Flyers’ top nine works for us, but seeing potential partnerships really start to develop as the 19-year-old gets in the lineup for the last handful of games is another wrinkle to this late-season excitement.
