Can Porter Martone Be the Flyers’ 1st Calder Winner?

In the final days of March, the Philadelphia Flyers had a quick stop in Detroit sandwiched between three home games, about 90 minutes away from the Michigan State campus where their top prospect, Porter Martone, was playing.

On this day, Martone was not in Michigan. He was with the rest of his Michigan State teammates in Worcester, Massachusetts, preparing for the Regional Final of the Frozen Four against Wisconsin.

The next 24 hours proved to be quite the sequence of events for the Flyers’ playoff push.

Martone and Michigan State took the ice at 4:30 that afternoon. Martone assisted on a power-play goal to put Michigan State ahead 3-1 with 11:27 to play in the third. A win, and Michigan State was off to Las Vegas for the final weekend of the tournament, which would take place over the final weekend of the NHL regular season and leave very little room for Martone to get his feet wet with the Flyers in the 2025-26 season.

But Wisconsin ultimately stunned the Spartans with a late rally in the third, two goals in 34 seconds to tie the game. Wisconsin scored just 24 seconds into overtime to end Michigan State’s season.

Suddenly, Martone Watch was on.

The Flyers defeated the Red Wings, 5-3, that night and quickly returned home against their game the next night against Dallas. Less than 24 hours after puck drop on Martone’s final college game of the season, his entry-level deal was signed. By the second period of the Flyers’ matchup against the Stars, Martone was in the building. Two days later, he made his NHL debut in Washington.

But the whirlwind of events didn’t stop there. Martone seamless joined the team’s playoff push. He picked up his first NHL point in his second game, a loss to Detroit at home on April 2. Three days later, he had a two-point game against Boston, including the overtime game-winner for his first NHL goal. The win put the Flyers back into playoff position.

Following his heroics against Boston, Martone had points in each of the final five games of the regular season, finishing with four goals and 10 points in nine games.

Then came the playoffs, where Martone scored two goals and had three points in his first three playoff games against Pittsburgh. He added two more assists against Carolina to close out a 10-game postseason with five points.

The early success, albeit in a small sample size, has put Martone right in the mix to be one of the NHL’s top rookies in the 2026-27 season. The Flyers have never had a Calder Trophy winner, the annual award for Rookie of the Year. Could Martone be the first?

Martone is the early favorite for the Calder, with +270 odds on FanDuel, +275 odds on BetMGM, and +280 odds on DraftKings. His toughest competition figures to be 2026 first overall pick Gavin McKenna and second overall pick Ivar Stenberg.

Over the years, the Flyers have come close to having a Calder winner, but come up just short. Shayne Gostisbehere was the team’s most recent finalist for the award, finishing second to Artemi Panarin in 2016. Ron Hextall finished second to Luc Robitaille in 1987. Bill Barber finished second to Steve Vickers in 1973.

Mikael Renberg finished third in Calder voting in 1994. Martin Brodeur won the award that year. The Flyers had two players in the top-four of voting in 1980 with Pete Peeters claiming third and Brian Propp claiming fourth. Ray Bourque won the Calder that season.

Even some of the highest profile Flyers were not as close to winning the Calder.

Bobby Clarke finished fourth in Calder voting in 1970, with Tony Esposito winning the award. Three years later, Clarke won his first Hart Trophy.

Eric Lindros also finished fourth in Calder voting in 1993. Teemu Selanne won the award. Just two years later, Lindros won the Hart Trophy.

There was also plenty of hype around Matvei Michkov’s rookie season, and that he could be the one to be the Flyers’ first Calder winner. Michkov finished fourth as well in 2025 behind winner Lane Hutson, Dustin Wolf, and Macklin Celebrini.

So now it’s Martone who appears to have favorable odds and has the chance to bring home some new hardware for the Flyers’ franchise. And while a lot of the determining factors of being a Calder finalist are in the numbers, Martone has the mentality to be a top rookie in the NHL this season. And that brief sample size at the NHL level could be what propels him to a very successful rookie season.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.