While the Flyers try to cling to their playoff lives, Michigan State and Porter Martone are licking their wounds. The heavily favored Spartans were upset in the semi-finals of the Big Ten Championship by a 13-20-2 Ohio State team, losing in overtime and ending their bid for a conference championship.
With 24 goals and 47 points, Martone leads his team in both categories, while also providing a leadership factor and physical play that can’t be measured. How long he’ll be tied up with the Spartans largely depends on how deep Martone can take his team.
In fact, with the Frozen Four taking place on April 9-11, there’s a chance Martone only gets to play one or two games, if MSU goes all the way to the National Championship. But as it stands, there are fans and members of the organization who will be anticipating the arrival of the Flyers 2025 first rounder with bated breath, especially if the team is still somewhat close to a playoff position late and he can add to a potential push.
But there has been a lot of discussion, especially this season, around the glut of wingers that the Flyers currently possess on their roster. Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, and Matvei Michkov are all names that will be pieces of the franchise for years to come. Trevor Zegras has become the team’s top scorer, and the way that Denver Barkey and now Alex Bump have looked this season, it’s hard to imagine a world where they aren’t mainstays now too.
While Foerster remains out for the time being, that still leaves six wingers on the Flyers roster who will be playing the majority of their games in the top-9 for much of the rest of the season. Adding Martone only clouds the mix further, but it’ll be crucial for the coaching staff to get an idea of where the big winger can fit in, before he truly gets his rookie season underway in 2026-27.
Who does it make most sense for Porter Martone to play with?
When Martone jumps into the NHL, you’re going to want to put him with play drivers that are able to take advantage of his natural playmaking ability, and keep him fed with enough offensive chances so that he doesn’t get stuck forechecking fruitlessly for the majority of his offensive zone time. While I would like to see Martone next to Trevor Zegras as his center just to see what they could, the general demeanor surrounding Zegras playing center makes it improbable that they would put him alongside a 19-year-old. That probability only shrinks when you consider that he’s already been playing with youngsters like Nikita Grebenkin or Denver Barkey on his left. On top of that, the Zegras-Owen Tippett connection has also been electrifying in its own right, so it can stay together for the time being.
That leaves two other centers as viable options for Martone, those being Christian Dvorak and Noah Cates. Sean Couturier has simply not shown enough offensive ability this year to put him alongside the organization’s top forward prospect, and at the moment, his game is more suited to killing penalties and playing a more defense-centric role at 5-on-5.
Dvorak has played the majority of the season as the team’s de-facto number one center, averaging the third-most minutes of any Flyers forward, and playing all three situations on a nightly basis. Cates has remained his usual steady self, averaging just under a minute less time-on-ice than Couturier, but outproducing him by a decent margin, and on pace to finish with just a bit over half a point per game on the year.
Dvorak has played a lot of time with Travis Konecny on his right side as part of the “top” line, and moving Martone to his off-wing right out of the gates would be a bit asinine. It’s hard to imagine a world where Konecny doesn’t continue to be the Flyers’ minutes leader on forward, and that makes it unlikely that Martone would be able to supplant him as first-line right wing right out of the gates.
That leaves Cates as the logical answer to start with, and with Rick Tocchet’s propensity to value a complete 200 foot game from every player on the roster, it makes sense to stick the young debutant alongside one of your more defensively responsible centermen. It is the sweet spot of compromise between the extremes of Zegras and Couturier.
The left wing is a bit more complicated, Bump currently occupies the spot next to Dvorak and Konecny on the top line, and has looked electric in spurts. Grebenkin sits alongside Zegras and Tippett, after having some good outings and being elevated from the fourth line, and Denver Barkey sits with Cates and Matvei Michkov. The fourth line does not matter to Porter Martone.
Inserting Martone on the right immediately creates a log jam, with Konecny, Tippett, and Michkov all already being there. The player who has already been sent over to play the left side at times this season is Michkov, and if Martone comes to the NHL this year, he’ll likely have to flip-flop again. Michkov not playing on his preferred wing has been a sticking point for a certain sub-section of fans this season, and it’s not unfounded, but looking at the facts and what Tocchet has already chosen to do in the past, you have to assume that he’s interested in doing it again.
But more importantly, with Michkov back on the left, you’re able to do this:
In this potential configuration, Flyers fans would have the opportunity to end what has been an exceedingly boring season with their team’s two top young talents playing opposite one another. The playmaking potential of those two players together is absolutely off the charts, and it has the ability to thrive even without some sort of elite offensive center between them.
There is a potential opportunity to grow an on-ice relationship between two of the organization’s most important young players, albeit in a short time span, that could continue into camp next year.
And for the fanbase, the potential of a Michkov-to-Martone game-winning goal late in the season would be a welcome sight. Building some goodwill and positive emotions late on in the season could help things take off running next year, when the team will truly be on the clock.
