The Philadelphia Flyers are off to a nightmare start to the season.
They’re being crushed in the shots department by their opponents, including in a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
The defeat dropped the Flyers to 0-5-2. They’ve yet to win a game in any form.
All of that is brutal. It could lead to a hot seat for head coach Rick Tocchet, and it will certainly put underwhelming players in the spotlight.
But maybe the weirdest part of all is the way they’re using Porter Martone.
Why Isn’t Porter Martone Playing More?
The Flyers haven’t used Porter Martone much at all this season, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
He entered Sunday averaging 13 minutes per game, and he did get up to 15 minutes and 12 seconds on Sunday, including 3:21 on the power play.
Martone didn’t have a point against the Hurricanes, but maybe his increased playing time will be a trend.
If it’s not, though, it’s hard to figure out what the Flyers are doing.
Martone, who will turn 20 years old on Oct. 26, is a dominant 6-foot-3 winger who was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
The Flyers then used Martone for nine regular season games at the end of last season, and he scored four goals with six assists for 10 points in those nine games.
In that stint, Martone averaged 17 minutes and 2 seconds of ice time. He then appeared in 10 playoff games and had two goals with three assists. In the postseason, Martone averaged 16 minutes and 48 seconds per game.
Despite that, Martone entered Sunday’s action averaging 13 minutes and 19 seconds per game. He raised that with his longer stint against the Hurricanes, but it still won’t be anywhere near what he was at last season.
The Flyers have pretty much no excuse for this. Martone isn’t just the future, but also the present, and Philadelphia has been overwhelmed. Martone isn’t fazed by the moment.
Philadelphia seems like it should consider whether Martone needs a bigger role going forward.
Porter Martone Line
In concept, Martone is on the second Flyers line. He’s listed there on the right wing with center Sean Couturier and left wing Owen Tippett.
Martone’s playing time hasn’t always suggested that to be true, though.
The Flyers do like their line with the youngsters Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov, and they’ve also got a line with Christian Dvorak centering Denver Barkey and Tyson Foerster.
At this point, it seems the Flyers aren’t going to overdo it with the Martone line, for whatever reason. It’ll be up to him to be more efficient with his chances than he has been in the early going this season.
If Martone can figure out his role on this team, he can start to help Philadelphia turn around its season.
If the Flyers keep limiting his time, though, it’ll be tough for them to heat up from this awful beginning to the new season.
Flyers Playing Porter Martone in Weirdest Way During Nightmare Start