Friday night was the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft, and the Philadelphia Flyers pulled no punches with their two first round picks. The Flyers started the night with the sixth, 22nd and 31st overall picks, but they traded with the Pittsburgh Penguins exchanging the 22nd and 31st overall picks for the 12th overall pick.
After the Flyers acquired Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks recently, general manager Daniel Briere had one strategy in mind and that was to get bigger up front. The Broad Street Bullies sent a message to the rest of the NHL by doing just that in the first round of this year’s draft. Let’s take a closer look at each of Philly’s two first round draft picks.
Porter Martone
RW- Brampton Steelheads (OHL)
With their primary first round pick, the Flyers pick up Central Scouting’s No. 6 ranked North American skater, Porter Martone out of the Brampton Steelheads in the Ontario Hockey League.
“Three people when I asked them for the (player) comp (comparison), they said he reminds them of Corey Perry, in terms of his reach, his ability to score, not necessarily the fastest skater but a lot of talent and he’s physical.” – ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes
The 18-year-old from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada put up gawdy numbers in his third and last season in the OHL. The 6-foot-3 winger was captain of the Steelheads last season and scored 98 points in just 57 games. That point total was the seventh highest in the OHL last season. In the OHL playoffs, he scored nine points in six games for the Steelheads in 2025, and he also was tied for fourth in the league with seven game winning goals.
Martone also has an international track record. In 2024, Martone scored 17 points as captain of the U-18 Canada team at the U-18 World Junior Championships.
The Flyers are getting a player here who has great hands for a big winger and uses his size well to shield the puck away from defenders. He also skates north south very well and loves to play with an edge, which is a staple of Flyers hockey. NHL.com says “Martone projects to brings a solid mix of production and nastiness that should make him the ideal Flyer.” He also comes from a hockey family as his dad Mike Martone was drafted in the fourth round of the 1996 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres.
Martone also grew up a Flyers fan as well and told members of the Flyers front office about his fandom after he was drafted.
However, Bleacher Report’s Hannah Stuart says that Martone “needs to place his focus on improving his general lack of engagement.” BR goes on to describe that he “has an issue with not using his physicality productively… Rather than throwing a hit to separate an opposing player from the puck, he will choose to throw a hit to start something with his opponent.” This can lead to penalties and him getting a reputation as an agitator. Based on his post-draft interview, he doesn’t strike this writer as a Sean Avery type but that’s what Bleacher Report is saying.
However, it’s important to note that this problem in particular can be coached out of him at the NHL level and the coaching staff now led by head coach and former Flyer Rick Tocchet is poised to do just that.
Jack Nesbitt
C- Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
The Flyers went with an even larger physical specimen at No. 12, getting the No. 15 ranked North American skater on Central Scouting’s list. Nesbitt is coming off a year in the OHL where he made great strides and was named “Most Improved Player in the Western Conference in the OHL Coaches’ Poll,” according to NHL.com.
The 6-foot-5, 186-pound center finished with the fifth-most points (64) (25 goals, 39 assists) on Windsor last season in 65 regular season games. He added 10 points in 12 playoff games.
Like Martone, Nesbitt has a good track record of representing Canada internationally. The left-handed center represented Canada White at the 2023-24 U-17 World Hockey Championships where he won a gold medal. At the 2024-25 U-18 World Junior Championships, Nesbitt scored five points in six games for Canada.
Elite Hockey Prospects offers a succinct analysis of Nesbitt’s game: “Nesbitt brings a 6-foot-4 frame, defensive abilities and sense. He generates chances by breaking plays on the forecheck with precise stick work and by engaging players with his body, bouncing them off the puck.”
Flyers GM Daniel Briere described the motivation for the organization to move up in the draft and select Nesbitt and the skills that he has that they admire the most.
“First of all, the center position is a critical one that we wanted to improve. So, a big left shot center, the grit, combination with the skills it’s just something that we needed.”
What stands out most about the newest Flyer from watching film is his size, hustle and net front presence. Two underrated parts of his game are his backchecking; He skates hard on the backcheck and separates opposing players from the puck easily with his reach; and deflecting the puck; Nesbitt is good at tipping the puck in front of the net and this could be very valuable to a Flyers team that didn’t have a big net front presence besides Sean Couturier in 2024-25. On top of being able to knock opposing players off the puck Nesbitt won 51.4 percent of his face-offs with the Windsor Spitfires last season.
At 18 years old, he has time to add pounds of muscle to his above average 6-foot-5 frame, which should make him a formidable presence at the center ice position for the Broad Street Bullies.
What’s Next for the Flyers?
General manager Danny Briere and the Flyers sent a message to the rest of the league on day 1 of the NHL draft that they are going to be bigger and tougher in 2025-26.
The Flyers fanbase will not be satisfied with a team that finishes at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division again next season and by drafting a high-end offensive talent in Martone and a solid two-way player in Nesbitt, they took important strides toward avoiding that fate in the future.
The Flyers lack size up front and Nesbitt and Martone are just what the doctor ordered as Philadelphia get not one but two big forwards to add on their depth chart behind smaller players who will play in their top six next year like Travis Konecny, Trevor Zegras, Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett.
