One could safely assume that Porter Martone’s decision to play college hockey this season wasn’t easy to make.

He had to leave his junior team in Brampton, Ontario, where he blossomed into a top prospect.

He also had to bow out of Flyers training camp, giving up the chance to push for the big club’s season-opening roster. Martone had an outside shot at cracking the Flyers’ lineup, but if he didn’t, he’d be headed back to junior hockey, a level in which he dominated last season.

With Michigan State, he’ll have a new and bigger challenge.

“I think I’ve just got to go play against some older competition, I’ve really got to get in the gym, kind of fill out a little bit,” Martone said in an interview with TSN from the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase. “Just going to go there with a positive attitude.

“They’ve won back-to-back Big Ten championships, but I just want to go in there and maybe help them win a national championship. It’s going to be a fun year, I think it’s really going to help me and they’ve got a good crew there.”

The 2025 sixth overall draft pick put up 98 points (37 goals, 61 assists) and a plus-19 rating in 57 games last season for the OHL’s Steelheads. He had seven games of four or more points; Michael Misa, the 2025 second overall pick who also played in the OHL, had eight such games.

The Flyers were in support of Martone’s decision. The 18-year-old winger has the potential to be a one-and-done college player and sign his entry-level contract toward the end of the Flyers’ 2025-26 season.

“A big thing for me is I just want to take it day by day,” he said. “I kind of figured that out after I got drafted, after me and my family thought about what was best for me. At the end of the day, I think I made the decision that’s going to help me five to 10 years down the road help Philadelphia win a Stanley Cup.”

Martone confirmed it was a difficult call to depart Brampton.

“These guys are my best friends, the coaching staff kind of took me under their wing,” he said. “I would not be here, standing here, without the Brampton Steelheads. It was very tough, but I’m really thrilled to be a part of the Michigan State organization.”