Latest news with #PhiladelphiaFlyers
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Flyers Wrap: Porter Martone Off to College, What's Next?
Just as everyone expected, top Philadelphia Flyers prospect Porter Martone has elected to go the college route, committing to Michigan State on Monday. But, what's next?
New York Times
12 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Flyers support top prospect Porter Martone's decision to attend Michigan State
Riley Armstrong already has the dates lodged in his brain. On Oct. 17 and 18, the Michigan State Spartans will face off against the Boston University Terriers at Agganis Arena in Boston, in a pair of games that will feature a whole bunch a Philadelphia Flyers prospects. That includes their top prospect Porter Martone, selected sixth overall by the Flyers in last month's draft, and who declared on Monday that he'll be attending Michigan State in the fall. He'll join fellow 2025 Flyers draft pick Shane Vansaghi on the Spartans, who that weekend will visit 2025 second-round picks Carter Amico and Jack Murtagh and 2021 seventh-round pick Owen McLaughlin on the Terriers. 'That's like half of our pool right there,' Armstrong, the Flyers' director of player development, joked on Tuesday. A post shared by PM94 (@portermartone94) Martone joining Michigan State made headlines earlier this week not only because of his pedigree, but he could just as easily have returned to his junior club, OHL Brampton, where he posted 37 goals and 98 points in 57 games last season. Going the college route will also prevent him from taking part in Flyers training camp in September, where he might have had an outside shot at making the team. That's now off the table. Advertisement But the Flyers are seemingly on board with Martone's decision. They were kept in the loop throughout the decision-making process, although general manager Daniel Briere indicated that they were also careful not to interfere too much, either. 'It was Porter and his family and his agent making the decision,' Briere told The Athletic on Tuesday. 'The cool part is we were involved in the process. They included us. We had long discussions. It's not like we told him one way or the other. We shared kind of the positives and the negatives of each side. They made the decision. So we told him we'd be very supportive of whatever the decision would be. It's not like there's a wrong or right answer here.' Said Armstrong: 'It was up to him and his family and his agent on the decision that he made, and we supported whatever he wanted to do.' Armstrong also pointed out what is thought by many to be the biggest benefit of playing in college: going against players who are older and more physically developed than those still in the Canadian junior ranks, while allowing plenty of time for off-ice work in the middle of the week as games are almost exclusively on weekends. 'I think from a strength standpoint, you get more time in the gym,' Armstrong said. 'You don't play as many games, and when you do play those games, he's not playing against 16 and 17-year-olds; he's going to play against 20-, 21-, 22-(year-olds) that are more mature. 'I felt it was a very mature decision for Porter to look at his career in the big picture, and not with this small lens (and say) this is going to help me five years from now. So I'm really excited about that, about his mindset that he had.' From a Flyers standpoint, though, Briere admitted that he's slightly disappointed that Martone, 18, won't be immediately experiencing his first NHL training camp. Depending on whether Tyson Foerster is healthy enough to start the season after developing an infection in his arm — the Flyers are still hopeful Foerster will be OK, but remain uncertain whether that will be the case — the door might have been open for Martone to stake his claim as a top-nine winger on opening night. Advertisement At the same time, Briere echoed Armstrong in suggesting that Martone attending Michigan State could potentially further his development. 'Going that direction and taking a year, a step up going from playing against 16-to-19 year olds, and now facing 19-to-24 year olds, it's going to be a little tougher for him,' Briere said. 'Guys that are a little bit more developed … it's kind of a stepping stone. We feel it could be the right decision, as well.' And, no, Briere isn't at all concerned about a repeat of the situation the Flyers found themselves in with Cutter Gauthier, when the Boston College product who was the fifth-overall pick of the Flyers in 2022 spurned the organization, forcing a trade. 'There's no worries about that,' Briere said. 'The biggest difference is the communication between our camp and (Martone's) camp, which wasn't there in the previous experience (with Gauthier).' That communication with Martone will remain consistent, according to Briere. That's something that Armstrong spearheads, with his player development staff that also includes Patrick Sharp, John LeClair, Sam Morin and Chris Stewart. Martone can expect a text message every Monday, according to Armstrong, who makes a point to do that with all of the organization's prospects on the first day of every week throughout the season. 'Riley has a big say in that. He's going to spend a lot of time — him and his staff and the rest of his group, they're all going to take turns,' Briere said. 'There's constant communication with all parties involved.' Briere continued: 'The important part for us, and we told (Martone), is we care about what Porter Martone is going to be in three, five, seven years from now. That's the most important part.'
New York Times
20 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Flyers may or may not be better next season, but they should at least be more interesting
Travis Konecny is cognizant of the plan. Prior to the Philadelphia Flyers' moderately eventful 2025 offseason, the team's best player for the past few years acknowledged that this thing is still a work in progress. In Konecny's final media conference on the day he cleaned out his locker for the summer on April 18, the winger was asked how far he believes the team is from a postseason berth. And while Konecny was hopeful then that 'they're not that far from playoffs … depending on what happens this summer,' he also knows that the 2025-26 season will still be considered a transitional one for the organization that he's committed to for eight more seasons. Advertisement 'I would say, being a consistent contender … two years (away)?' Konecny continued. 'We've still got a young team; we've still got guys developing. But I think all of the pieces we have right now, we're capable of getting in, for sure.' We'll see about that, because there remains a pretty decent chance that the Flyers still won't be all that dangerous next season. This is, after all, a club that finished with the fourth-worst record in the league in 2024-25. Even after the offseason additions of Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak and Dan Vladar, gigantic question marks remain about the goaltending, the forward depth, the skill on the back end and whether key young players are going to develop the way that everyone in the organization hopes they will. But something that does seem certain, as the current hockey operations regime enters its third season? The Flyers — as long as the bottom doesn't drop out — are about to become much more interesting. Consider: There is a solid group of young players on the NHL roster who are at the right age to take off. Tyson Foerster, as long as he doesn't miss too much time to start the season as he deals with an offseason arm infection, looks like a future 30-goal scorer and maybe an elite defender, too. Owen Tippett, even with his step backward last season, still has the tools to score 30-40 goals himself. There's reason to believe Cam York could get back on track under new coach Rick Tocchet, if he can move on from how things ended last season with John Tortorella. Jamie Drysdale had a solid second half of last season, and at just 23 years old, could still reach his full potential as a defensive rover. And then there are the two guys who could become legitimate stars: Zegras, still just 24 years old, and, of course, 20-year-old Matvei Michkov. Both are going to be extra motivated heading into 2025-26, for different reasons: Zegras, to prove the hype around him from earlier in his career when he burst onto the scene was warranted, and Michkov because, well, that just seems to be who he is. Advertisement Seeing which guys are able to progress and reach their respective ceilings — and which aren't — is going to be compelling, either way. This season will be key in that regard for a whole bunch of them. Other youngsters are arriving, too. Porter Martone heading to Michigan State in the fall removes one potential training camp news item, but there are enough other youngsters turning pro that there should be some intriguing battles for roster spots. Alex Bump's performance at development camp only increased the excitement about what the 21-year-old winger can do. At this rate, it would be more surprising if Bump starts the season in Lehigh Valley, particularly if Foerster is unavailable. Jett Luchanko, who still doesn't turn 19 until next month, could also make a play for a spot depending on how much he's progressed and how the center position shakes out in camp. Late 2024-25 adds such as Nikita Grebenkin and Karsen Dorwart, and prospects already here such as Hunter McDonald, Helge Grans and Emil Andrae will come to camp with their eyes on a roster spot, too. Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey, who starred for OHL London for the past two seasons, will likely begin with the Phantoms but could still conceivably make their NHL debuts at some point this season. Regardless of who makes the team out of camp, though, which players earn recalls throughout the season will be worth monitoring. Is there a young player or two that could arrive sooner than expected, while pushing a veteran out? That will be much more likely to happen this season than it has in the past few. They aren't planning on being strictly sellers anymore. I touched on this in my recent mailbag, but it's worth repeating. If all goes to plan this season and the Flyers are at least hovering around a playoff spot, they're not going to be actively looking to trade key players off of their NHL roster to the detriment of the group. Advertisement That doesn't mean they won't make any trades, of course. But they won't look like deadline deals of the past two seasons, when the Flyers traded Sean Walker, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and Scott Laughton — all of whom were contributing, to varying degrees — solely for future assets/cap space. I think it's evident that Briere feels he owes it to the current group of veterans, who have endured two years of frustration while losing some of their good friends, a shot at qualifying for the postseason. It will be up to them to show him whether they can do it or not. If they hang around the playoff line, he'll almost certainly let them make an honest push. Yes, there is reason to believe they could be more competitive in 2025-26. One argument I've always hated goes something like this: 'If the Flyers had a better power play and better goaltending, they'd be in the playoffs.' Well, yeah, sure. But you can go through just about every non-playoff team in the league and make a similar argument by identifying their various weaknesses. At the same time … The Flyers' goaltending and power-play numbers have been SO bad; they really have nowhere to go but up. Vladar, while probably not a future All-Star, plays levels above both Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov, two goalies who had no business even being in the league last season. And there is reason to believe that if Vladar is able to give the club just average goaltending, that will give a boost to Samuel Ersson, too. As for the power play, Tocchet has shown he knows how to coach an effective one, unlike the previous staff. He's going to be much more patient with his young roster than Tortorella or Rocky Thompson showed to be, which should help. Further, the power play should already be better with Zegras and a more experienced Michkov on the top unit, too. Advertisement Remember, too, the Flyers were not a complete disaster at five-on-five last season, despite their poor record, if you believe the underlying stats. Far from it. Moneypuck had them eighth in the league with a 52.86 expected goals percentage, while Natural Stat Trick had them ninth (52.05 percent). If they do meaningfully improve the goaltending and the power play, perhaps the Flyers end up as one of the league's more pleasant surprises next season. But even if they ultimately miss — still the likeliest scenario, despite Konecny's optimism — there should be no lack of intriguing storylines when camp begins in September, and in the months that follow. (Photo of Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster and Travis Konecny: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)
Canada News.Net
2 days ago
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Report: Flyers' top draft pick Porter Martone to play at Michigan St.
(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images) Porter Martone, selected No. 6 overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2025 NHL Draft, will delay signing to play for Michigan State in the 2025-26 season, Sportsnet reported Monday. The Canada native spent last season playing for the Brampton Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League and tallied 98 points (37 goals, 61 assists) in 57 games. He added nine points (four goals, five assists) in six playoff games. The Flyers will retain the draft rights to the 18-year-old forward. 'We are aware of the reports surrounding Porter and will support what he decides to do,' Flyers general manager Danny Briere told The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Spartans won the Big Ten title in 2024-25 and were the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament but lost to Cornell in the first round. The Flyers finished last season with a 33-39-10 record (76 points) and have not made the Stanley Cup playoffs since the 2019-20 season.
Toronto Star
2 days ago
- Sport
- Toronto Star
Jon Cooper's championship-winning staff from 4 Nations returns for 2026 Olympics
CALGARY - After leading Canada to victory at this year's 4 Nations Face-Off, head coach Jon Cooper is getting his same support staff for the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Hockey Canada announced Monday that Bruce Cassidy of the Vegas Golden Knights, Rick Tocchet of the Philadelphia Flyers and former Dallas Stars coach Peter DeBoer will once again serve as assistants on Cooper's staff for the 2026 Winter Games.
