Flyers select winger Porter Martone with the No. 6 pick in the 2025 NHL draft

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 27, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The chips started falling in front of them on Friday night as five teams forced the Flyers to cross off name after name on their 2025 NHL draft board.

And after all the conjecture and debate, and despite assistant Brent Flahr saying at his pre-draft press conference that, “We are well aware of our own needs,” — meaning the lack of a high-end center — the Flyers took who they thought was “the best player on our board.”

That player was Brampton Steelheads winger Porter Martone, who had an additional meeting with the Flyers this week in Voorhees, and talked with the brass on Friday morning.

“I think on fit, Martone is a great fit for the Flyers. He adds size to the organization when they need it,” The Athletic’s NHL draft analyst Scott Wheeler told The Philadelphia Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine. “He’s got legit, dynamic skill for a 6-foot-3, 205-pound forward. He’s been a leader, he’s worn the ‘C’ for Hockey Canada [the gold medal-winning squad at U18s], all of that. But I do wonder whether they’ve got enough right-shot wingers and, just like taking Jett Luchanko a year ago, whether the priority is still to build through the middle.”

Martone was considered the top winger in this draft class, and with the addition of Trevor Zegras on Monday — and the intention of, at least to start, having him down the middle — the Flyers have appeared to have shifted gears.

“I think Porter, obviously, the size is a big component,” FloHockey NHL draft analyst Chris Peters told The Inquirer in Buffalo at the scouting combine. “He is a power forward, but he probably could stand to be more physical. He is physical — it’s not that he’s not — it’s just, I think that at his size, he’s going to be forced to play a certain way.

“But I think that, at his heart, he’s a playmaker. He’s more of a skill, hockey sense, passing, scoring kind of player, which I think is a great thing and why a lot of teams are very interested in him. … I think that he does a lot of things well. Very mature.”

Martone is coming off a 37-goal and 98-point season in 57 regular-season games for Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League. It tied Jake O’Brien for seventh on the OHL scoring charts. He added nine points (four goals, five assists) in six playoff games.

The winger also has some direct ties to the Orange and Black. Martone happened to billet with the same family that Owen Tippett did in junior, and the Flyers forward swings by for dinner sometimes when he’s in the area. Martone was also teammates with Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim and Tyson Foerster for Canada at the recent World Championships.

“One day, Travis Konecny took me golfing in Sweden,” Martone said. “Foerster’s very great, kind of around my age, I sat beside him in the room. And then, [Travis] Sanheim, too. They’re all unbelievable people. And one thing I could tell is what it means to be a Flyer. And they really value that. They’re very tight, tight, tight people, and they really enjoy playing for the Flyers.”

And he has been to the Wells Fargo Center.

“I went to Philly, I was 8 years old, for a hockey tournament,” he told The Inquirer in Buffalo. “It was my birthday time, so me and my dad went to the Flyers game. My name was up on the Videotron for my birthday. It was amazing to go see the Flyers and to be able to watch a game at the arena.”

Now his name will be on the scoreboard as a member of the Flyers.