Martone was able to further discuss his decision<\/a> to go play college hockey.<\/p>\n\u201cIt has been crazy after I got picked,\u201d Martone said. \u201cI always wanted to play in the NHL next year. After development camp we sat down and I just kind of weighed the pros and cons of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martone, his representatives, and the Flyers, seemed to have all had multiple discussions about what\u2019s next for the young winger. The player publicly expressed his desire to go to the NHL this season, before \u2014 like, immediately after he was selected \u2014 so it was clear where his head was at. But, in the end the Flyers most likely saw that he needed to still work on some things and having him go to college avoids an awkward situation.<\/p>\n
If Martone signed his entry-level contract and attended training camp, but didn\u2019t make the team, then he would be heading back to Brampton to play on a weakened team in a weakened league (due to some of the very best players leaving for college hockey) and that is not a good developmental environment. Especially for a player that is already physically mature enough to more than handle college hockey, it seemed like an easy decision to increase the difficulty, play against stronger and older opponents, to further develop and aim to sign his first NHL contract after his college season ends.<\/p>\n
But, in the end, it was still the player\u2019s decision even if the Flyers most likely wanted to take a more patient approach with Martone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were going to support me either way. If I did get the chance to go to \u00a0training camp and try to make the team, they were going to support that,\u201d Martone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, I sat down and thought with my camp, and I did include the Flyers as well, was what\u2019s going to make me the best player five to 10 years down the road when the Flyers are trying to win the Stanley Cup?\u201d<\/p>\n
For an 18-year-old winger that has always dreamed of the NHL, and is just one, small step away from it, that is an incredibly mature thought process. Sure, Martone is physically ready and at-worst would score 30-35 points in the NHL next season \u2014 being a very good offensive threat in the middle six and somewhere on the power play. But, as we have seen happen so many times, a top prospect can plateau if they\u2019re trying to just keep their head above water and next thing you know, they have the exact same role and exact same production at 23 years old.<\/p>\n
It is a hypothetical scenario, but one that happens almost every single year.<\/p>\n
Both Martone and the Flyers will have to continue to be patient to see him in the Orange and Black, but it is going to most likely be so much more impactful with a year of college hockey under his belt. Plus, he\u2019s heading to an outstanding program in East Lansing, with a roster that should compete for the national championship next spring.<\/p>\n
Martone is not the only top CHL prospect going to the Spartans. Columbus Blue Jackets prospect and 2024 fourth-overall selection Cayden Lindstrom was a dominant force for the WHL\u2019s Medicine Hat Tigers before succumbing to a back injury that kept him out for the entirety of last season before his return during the WHL Finals. He will be more than motivated to make an impact during his freshman year and could certainly be Martone\u2019s center for the majority of the season; potentially forming one of the most lethal duos in college hockey.<\/p>\n
Other 2025 prospects like Ducks\u2019 Eric Nilson and Preds\u2019 Ryker Lee are also heading to Michigan State. And that\u2019s not even mentioning that fellow Flyers prospect Shane Vansaghi was already on the team last year and gives us even more of a reason to stay tuned in to what the Spartans get up to next season.<\/p>\n
College hockey is going to be an absolute blast next year and we\u2019re personally glad that there\u2019s even more of a reason to watch now that one prospect from Peterborough, Ont. is taking part.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Flyers\u2019 top selection of the 2025 NHL Draft is starting a new journey this fall. Sixth-overall…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":80813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-100064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114932357846143249","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}