The day is here. The time has come. Porter Martone is going to step on the ice for the first time in an NHL game for the Philadelphia Flyers — it’s something we have all been dreaming about ever since they selected him sixth overall last year. Now, we get to see who he will be playing with in the lineup.
The 19-year-old winger just wrapped up his college career after Michigan State were unceremoniously knocked out of the NCAA tournament, signed his entry-level contract with the Flyers the very next day, was seen at the Flyers game that same day, and will now be making his debut Tuesday night in Washington against the Capitals.
We’ve been pondering all about who Martone could hit the ice with for this first game, and maybe for the remaining nine games of the Flyers’ regular season, but thankfully that mystery has been solved at Tuesday’s morning skate.
Flyers first lineup featuring Porter Martone unveiled
Per The Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel, the Flyers coaching staff have made an interesting call as to who is going to be coming out of the lineup for Martone, and an expected call as to who the debutant will be playing with.
Denver Barkey — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny — Christian Dvorak — Porter Martone
Carl Grundstrom — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Sean Couturier — Luke Glendening — Garnet Hathaway
Martone will be making his long-awaited NHL debut on the right wing of Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny on the opposite wing. It was ultimately expected that head coach Rick Tocchet would want to make it a little bit easier on the teenager and pair him up with more experienced players, and this line has been speculated throughout the Flyers fan base as the primary option that could be taken. So, it is somewhat expected.
What is interesting is that it is Konecny who will be going over to his off-wing and not one of the other many right wingers, to accommodate for Martone. Much has been written about Matvei Michkov’s shift back to his more natural right wing and how he’s been playing well since that shift, and with Owen Tippett’s heater (while looking like the best player on the planet some nights) it would not make any sense whatsoever to shift him back to the left side, where has been at times this season.
As a keen eye would notice, it is rookie winger Alex Bump who is making way and will be a healthy scratch. It was speculated that it would be Carl Grundstrom coming out of the lineup, but it might be too radical for an NHL head coach to have so many young wingers in the lineup. It is most likely just favoring the veteran in this instance and letting Bump, who has not been lighting the world on fire, a game to watch from the press box.
Bump will certainly not be a regular scratch, but just to see how Martone handles his first game and how much he can be implemented in the system right away, it somewhat makes sense to go with Grundstrom here. Certainly, a “safe” option despite the Swedish winger not having the same dynamism as Bump does.
Martone on the Flyers’ first power-play unit
Another extremely notable thing at morning skate is that Martone will be on the Flyers’ first power-play unit — Tocchet is not going to ease him in at all if it means possibly affecting an area this team desperately needs some improvement on.
According to PHLY’s Charlie O’Connor, the first power-play unit will be: Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates, Travis Konency, Porter Martone, and Rasmus Ristolainen at the back. We don’t know the full positioning, but O’Connor also mentions that Martone is on the left side while also creeping towards the side of the net for possible one-timer opportunities. That is also the primary role that he played on Michigan State’s power play, for what it’s worth.
This also means that Matvei Michkov is being taken off the top unit and is now down with the second. It’s certainly not the end of the world, since the red-hot Tippett will be down there with him, but it’s also not the best optics when you see that Michkov leads the team with five power-play points since returning from the Olympic break, and now he’s demoted.
If only there was a world where all your best offensive players could co-exist on the same man advantage unit. Apparently that’s impossible to do — but we’re not going to complain that Martone is being handed a great opportunity for his debut.
Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. as the Flyers visit the Capitals and along with Martone’s debut, need two points to remain in the playoff hunt.
