Porter Martone has already built a reputation as one of the more engaging personalities in the Philadelphia Flyers locker room, and the 19-year-old rookie showed why again this past week in Chicago.
At the NHLPA Rookie Showcase, Martone sat down with ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and told the kind of story that only gets better the farther you get from it. It came from his draft year, during the OHL Cup Finals, when he felt like he was playing the biggest game of his life.
“My draft year, we're in the OHL Cup Finals. It's like the biggest game of my life at that point.
This is like the Stanley Cup for me at this age. And I think we were losing 2-1.
Our D-man broke a stick, and as he skated back, they got a breakaway,” Martone explained to Kaplan.
Then came the moment he’d probably rather forget.
“So I tried to huck my stick from the bench to give to our defenseman and it lands in the other guy's skates and trips him, and they kicked me out of the game. I played five shifts and I don't know why I did it.
I remember I was bawling my eyes out because it's like the biggest day of my life. And we ended up losing too, so it kind of made it worse.”
Martone, the 2025 No. 6 overall pick, has the kind of presence that makes stories like that land. He’s already captained his country at the international junior level, and his communication and confidence come through easily on and off the ice.
The game he was talking about ended with more than just his own ejection. Draft classmate Michael Misa went off for three goals and five points, setting a new standard by topping Connor McDavid’s previous mark of 19 points with 20 in seven games. Martone had seven goals and 15 points himself at that stage, including a goal in the game, before being sent off in the second period.
Now four years removed from that moment and with 10 games of Stanley Cup playoff experience already on his résumé, Martone can probably file that one away as the worst hockey moment of his life and move on.
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