With one semester down and another set to commence in January, here’s a recap of the Flyers top-level Division 1 college hockey hopefuls.
A 2026 first-rounder, Porter Martone turned in a solid, consistent first two months at Michigan State, posting team highs of 11 goals and 20 points across 16 games for the Spartans.
So far, he’s accounted for 7 multi-point efforts, and two multi-game goal-scoring streaks (5 games from Nov. 8-22; 3 games Oct. 18-25) as MSU, which ascended to the No. 1 spot in the rankings, ended the semester at No. 3 with a 13-4-0 record after a split with Michigan. Martone, of course, will play for Canada in the World Junior Championships set to commence the day after Christmas. But that was a foregone conclusion. More on a dark horse later in this column.
So what's Martone's ceiling if he keeps it up? Well, that's up in the air.
As it stands, Martone sits in a tie for 15th place nationally in overall scoring. As I did when Flyers fandom went gaga over then-Michigan forward Cooper Marody in the Before Times, I did some sleuthing on how many players who ended up in the top 5 points-wise in the NCAA fared in the NHL. Parameters were from 2017-18 to 2022-23, COVID years inclusive.
Out of 30 high-scoring individuals in that six-year span, only two could be reasonably termed “impact” players at the highest level at present: Cale Makar. Cole Caulfield.
Some notable names I found outside the creme de la creme: Cooper Marody. Troy Terry. Alex Newhook. Spoiler alert: that's not a lot. And the jury is still out on current Flyer Bobby Brink, who led the nation in points at Denver in 2022.
Remember Jack Eichel? Remember anything about his one-and-done career at Boston University except for that one clip of him going end-to-end to score on Maine? A refresher.
Eichel was the nation’s leading scorer in 2014-15, winning the Hobey Baker as the top collegiate player, the first freshman since Paul Kariya to pull it off. But he didn’t win the national championship, instead ready to take the money and jump ship to the Buffalo Sabres (who drafted him 2nd overall in 2015).
The chronically downtrodden Swordsmen essentially let Eichel be little more than a ticket draw as he spent 2 ¾ NHL seasons before approximating anything close to an NHL player competent in three zones. He was often electric with the puck. But with the Sabres perpetually a league doormat, he was often without the puck. He was also invisible in the neutral or defensive areas.
Same thing with Sharks dynamo Macklin Celebrini, who won the Hobey at BU during his *age 17 season* in 2023-24. That Terriers club lost in the Frozen Four semis to eventual champion Denver, but the youngster Steve Miller-ed his way to the NHL thanks to the Sharks selecting him first overall two months later.
Again, the rebuilding Sharks were in a similar bind as the Sabres, so last season Celebrini was left to do what he does best to get the fans in the building and butts in the seats. Now in his second NHL campaign, San Jose has become collectively better defensively, so Celebrini’s learning curve will continue to sharpen night after night in The Show.
There’s no doubt in my mind, had Eichel run it back in 2015 to win it all, or if Celebrini stayed at least another year in college, they’d have come out to the Sabres and Sharks, respectively, a better developed player.
You’re never going to get anything other than a negative reaction from me if you parrot the following lines about any top-flight D1 prospect:
“He’s surprisingly mature for his age.”
“He’s got nothing left to prove at this level.”
“His coach even says there’s nothing left to teach him.”
First of all no college coach or pundit is going to publicly malign – or even offer neutral comment – on a perceived blue chipper. It’s part of what I figure is a “social contract” at the NCAA level which goes back to when I attended BC in the late 90s because, at least in hockey, it’s not as laughable to call players “student-athletes” despite the fact that Martone is getting an estimated $500K in NIL money for showing up.
And I guess I also have to warn you against all the ball-washing content submitted from blogs on up to the Inquirer, which isn't going to tell you anything other than:
A) what you want to hear and
B) the positive organizational spin
But money talks and status symbolizes, And when prospects are taken in the top five by desperate franchises, the juice that's made for public consumption is always worth the squeeze. Thing is, the Flyers are far from a bottom-feeding rebuilding club eager to retain a fan base and they aren't really hurting for ticket sales or attendance, relatively speaking.
Do I think the front office could pressure Martone to turn pro in March or April? Yes. There’s a history going back to JVR in 2009 which also includes its handling of then-goalie-prospect and current Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz a couple years later, where "sooner rather than later" is the response from the front office.
Do I think Martone would have already seriously considered being a one-and-done with a good shot at making the NHL out of camp next September? Yes, and it would be criminal if his management team didn’t prep him for the chance to take a leap in spring.
Here’s the real question that you should be asking -- one for which I don’t have an answer and if anyone else who covers the club says they do after an introductory semester, they’re either lying or have a vested interest in getting fans’ hopes as high as an elephant’s eye on the Fourth of July -- do I think the Flyers are going to turn Martone loose on the league, accepting him as is, without any further development?
The closest I can come to an answer is, it wouldn’t be in their best interest to do so, no matter how many points Martone collects, or how many accolades he wins or how far Sparty goes in the national tournament. There's *always* something more to prove, especially if he's expected to challenge for an NHL roster spot in September.
There's also a lot riding on the Snowden era in Allentown. If the new Phantoms coaching regime has its *bleep* together getting Alex Bump, Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk squared away, there might not be a lot of trepidation if Martone starts out in the AHL.
The second half of the national D1 schedule includes what former Clarkson, Bowling Green and BC head coach, the Hockey Hall of Famer Jerry York coined “trophy season.” Michigan State are the defending B1G champions and, if they get through that gauntlet, may be reasonably expected to not only advance past the first game (which Sparty failed to do last March, falling 4-3 to Cornell in its 2024 NCAA opener) but to contend for a title.
All of MSU's 16 second-half non-tournament games are conference clashes, including two on the road at Penn State at the end of January, where the eastern Pennsylvania hype machine will be turned up to 11 when Martone faces fellow freshman, Penn State's Gavin McKenna, on back-to-back nights Jan. 30-31.
For Montco native Owen McLaughlin as well as frosh draftees Jack Murtagh and Carter Amico at Boston University, trophy season includes the Hub ritual of midwinter, a tougher conference slate, then the conference and national postseason.
McLaughlin, in his fourth collegiate campaign, has remained near the top of the Terriers’ scoring list as the Scarlet and White have struggled to rise above in Hockey East after a roster turnover in the wake of a second-place finish last April. With one more contest remaining in the first half of the year, McLaughlin sat out a weekend split with Vermont that left him at 13 pts (4G, 9A) in 15 appearances.
Murtagh also hit a snag as the semester concluded, going pointless in 7 straight after a consistent start to his career. He’ll hit the break no worse than 3G & 3A over 17 games. Amico is a clear work-in-progress, no points across 17 games with a minus-9 rating.
All three players face stiffer tests ahead than the two-game set against MSU in October which quite a few pundits salivated over as solely being a function of the Flyers’ draft prowess. BU will play all three conference games vs. BC in the winter, with the potential for at least two more clashes (Beanpot, Hockey East playoffs) looming ahead.
Eichel, for all his capability during his lone collegiate season, struggled against better competition, like bitter rivals BC and to a lesser extent tight-checking UMass-Lowell. He also wasn’t much of a presence in the national title-game loss to Providence. For anxious Flyers insiders and outsiders watching Martone et al., it's wise to never underestimate the impact of the pressure of facing traditional rivals in meaningful games on professional development.
Looking toward Michiana, Cole Knuble was having a sluggish start to his junior season at Notre Dame after striking for 39 points in 34 games as a wise fool. On Thanksgiving Eve afternoon at Merrimack, he shook off a hit to the head late in the second period, with his goal kicking off a rally from 3-1 down which saw the Irish bested the Warriors, 5-4. His four points (1G, 3A) were not only a season high, but were the most in any period or game of any Flyers prospect in the first semester, yes, even from the Mighty Martone.
The younger Knuble and the rest of his fellow Irish skidded into the holidays with a 3-game losing streak during which they were outscored by a 21-9 against BC and Big 10 foe Wisconsin. Nonetheless, with a 4-game point streak his first-half splits are respectable: 3G & 10A in 16 games.
Want more evidence of the tightrope all potential high-scoring prospects walk? Check out Massimo Rizzo.
Not a Flyers draftee (Carolina, 7th round, 2019) Rizzo was acquired in the aborted Tony DeAngelo deal in the summer of '23. The left-handed shooting center put up significant numbers for a legacy program at Denver, winning two national championships (2022, 2024) while totaling 39 goals and 126 points over 107 games. Rizzo’s bona fides include an NCHC All-Rookie Selection 2022, along with a conference first-team nod in 2023 and a second-team selection in his final collegiate campaign. However, after collecting just 18 points in 46 games with Lehigh Valley a season ago, Rizzo now is toiling for the club’s ECHL affiliate in Reading.
The only shot Rizzo has to climb back up the greased ladder would be if the cascade of injuries and callups start to hit the Flyers first before trickling down to the Phantoms. Which is a tragedy, because the 24-year-old showed flashes at least equal to Zeev Buium at times skating for the Pioneers.
Given the tricky crossroads of a player’s actual skill set weighed against the organizations’ game plan for that particular player, and the pressure of having to conform to that standard, prospects like BU’s McLaughlin may never aspire to be anything higher but a seat filler in the minors. Remember Tanner Laczynski -- the Ohio State product was once a top-5 NCAA point-getter, but once it was time to turn pro, he disappeared like a hot dog wrapper in a hurricane.
It's getting late kinda early for Shane Vansaghi, Martone’s teammate at MSU, an example of a guy on the bubble but who may be in danger of slipping totally off the radar.
A second-round choice in June, the sophomore has been largely invisible over the first portion of the season for the defending B1G champs, save for that heroic sequence in mid-October at BU which ended up saving a game for the visitors. He’s posted 1-5-6 in 16 games after going for 6-10-16 in 37 appearances as a frosh.
At a listed 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, the 19-year-old, like Martone, has an NHL-ready build but needs to put more into whatever is expected of him on a game-to-game basis. If you’re going to be noticed by the parent club, half of your season’s output can’t come against non-conference cakewalks like Colgate.
A fourth-round pick in 2024 out of Finland who spent last year in Dubuque of the USHL, freshman forward Heikki Ruohonen is having a typical season as a youngster new to the D1 game. As of a semester-ending 7-3 Crimson dispatch of Brown on Dec. 6, the 19-year-old, who bucked the trend of generations of his countrymen and chose against the SM-Liiga, posted 1 goal and 4 assists in 10 appearances.
Ruohonen might be behind the 8-ball because of Harvard’s truncated Ivy League schedule and might fly under the radar as the Crimson haven’t had a national profile in years. That said, I’m not really sure, if he develops on a sharp curve over the next two years, that he’s so academically inclined it would influence his decision to reject an overture from the Flyers.
You might recall goaltender prospect Merrick Madsen was called upon to leave Harvard after a stellar junior season in 2017 as goaltending slots became available in the minor leagues. When he declined the offer, choosing instead to finish his senior season and earn his degree although the Flyers might have lost his rights without him putting pen to paper, the penalty for such insolence was a trade to the Coyotes.
Nonetheless, Ruohonen heard the call of his native Finland, which selected him for its World Junior roster on Dec. 13.
And bringing up the rear, UNH winger Ryan MacPherson, a sophomore and sixth round choice in 2023. With only a single goal and a pair of helpers in 31 games over his year-and-a-half in college, it’s safe to say the organ-eye-zation might make him a seat filler in the ECHL at best.
That doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of Mike Souza’s Wildcats, who took two at bitter rival Maine this past weekend, upping their road mark to 7-3-0 (including a win at Hockey East leading UConn).
Games to Watch
Jan. 15 - Michigan State at Wisconsin
Jan. 16 - Wisconsin at Michigan State; Denver at North Dakota
Jan. 17 - Denver at North Dakota
Jan. 31 - Michigan State vs. Penn State at Beaver Stadium
Feb. 2 - Boston University vs. Northeastern (Beanpot semifinal)
Boston College vs. Harvard (Beanpot semifinal)
Feb. 6 - Michigan State at Michigan
Feb. 7 - Michigan at Michigan State
Feb. 9 - Beanpot Final
Feb, 13 & 14 - Penn State at Michigan
Feb. 27 - BC at BU
Feb. 28 - BU at BC
March 5 & 6 - Wisconsin at Penn State
