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Michigan State

No. 6 NHL Draft pick Porter Martone commits to Michigan State

On3 imageby: Jake Lyskawa07/21/25jakelyskawa
Michigan State commit Porter Martone is selected as the sixth overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. - Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports
Michigan State commit Porter Martone is selected as the sixth overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. - Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Porter Martone, a top 10 pick from June’s NHL Entry Draft, committed to Michigan State on Monday, according to his Instagram account.

Martone, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound forward from Peterborough, Ontario, spent last season as a right winger with the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads. He ended the year with 98 points (37 goals and a team-best 61 assists) in 57 games played. Brampton finished fifth in the OHL’s Eastern Conference but fell to the Oshawa Generals in the conference quarterfinals.

Three months later, the Philadelphia Flyers selected Martone No. 6 overall in the NHL Draft. He participated in the Flyers’ development camp earlier this month.

Martone, 18, also represented Team Canada at this year’s IIFH World Championships and World Junior Championships.

“While Martone is known as a power forward, it’s more accurate to describe him as a playmaker,” EliteProspects wrote in its scouting report of Martone. “The patterns of the game seem imprinted in his mind. Constantly scanning the ice and knowing his teammates’ tendencies, system’s rotations, and the expected movements of defenders, he stays connected with linemates, avoids coverage, and puts himself in advantageous spots to make the next play. He builds deft passing plays, moves ahead of the opposition, and preys on defenders’ and goalies’ expectations, manipulating them to open up great scoring possibilities.”

Martone is a significant addition for Michigan State, which lost reigning Hobey Baker Award winner Isaac Howard to the NHL on July 9. The Spartans also finished second to Penn State in the battle for Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 pick in next year’s NHL Draft.

But fourth-year Spartan head coach Adam Nightingale still returns a team with plenty of talent. Michigan State will have 14 former NHL Draft picks on its roster this winter, including all eight of its incoming freshmen.

Two of those freshmen (Martone and 2024 No. 4 pick Cayden Lindstrom) were selected in the top 10. The 2025-26 campaign will mark the first time that Michigan State has had two top 10 picks on its active roster.

Of the 10 first round picks who signed as freshmen in program history, six played for the Spartans after being drafted. Martone, Lindstrom and incoming freshman Ryker Lee will become the seventh, eighth and ninth such players.

With the additions of Martone, Lindstrom and Lee, Nightingale will have coached four first round picks whom he signed as freshmen. Artyom Levshunov – the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft – is the other.

Michigan State will enter the 2025-26 season looking to win its third consecutive Big Ten regular season and tournament championships, while advancing further in the NCAA Tournament after bowing out in the opening round last season.

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