One of the Flyers’ four second-round selections in 2025, Shane Vansaghi, is up next on the Top 25 Under 25. With six picks in the first two rounds, the Flyers invested heavily in that draft class, and they’ll need some of their selections beyond Porter Martone to emerge from it as significant NHL contributors.

No. 15: Shane Vansaghi

2025-26 Primary League/Team: Michigan State (NCAA)
2025-26 Statistics: 4 G, 7 A, 11 Pts
Age as of 9/15/2026: 19
Acquired Via: 2025 NHL Draft – Round 2, Pick 48

How did Vansaghi’s 2025-26 season go?

Vansaghi’s sophomore season wasn’t the offensive step forward the Flyers would have hoped to see. After producing 16 points in 37 games as a freshman, he finished with just 11 points in 35 games this season.

The drop in production is certainly worth noting, but his impact at Michigan State has never been solely tied to what he produces on the scoresheet. He continued to show the physicality, forechecking ability and attention to detail that have made him a second-round pick, regularly finding ways to contribute without the puck and make life difficult for opposing teams. We’re not trying to make excuses for the dip in counting stats, but it’s also worth noting that Michigan State had a deep forward group, and his role wasn’t necessarily built around being one of the team’s primary offensive weapons.

And the Spartans had plenty of success this past season. Michigan State won its third consecutive Big Ten regular-season title, finishing 25-7-2 and earning the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Vansaghi opened the scoring in the Spartans’ first and only tournament game, but Ohio State rallied for a win, ending Michigan State’s tournament run earlier than expected. He also had one of his more memorable moments of the season against then-No. 1 Boston University, sweeping a puck off the goal line in overtime, leading to a 4-3 victory.

Shane Vansaghi made the GAME-WINNING save in overtime to prevent a Terrier goal! pic.twitter.com/GsM5imL4tg

— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) October 19, 2025

He also appeared in three games for Team USA at the World Junior Championship, giving him some experience playing against the best players in his age group from around the world. All things considered, it wasn’t a season that gave us much new information about Vansaghi. Instead, it reinforced a lot of ideas about his projected role.

So while Vansaghi’s 2025-26 season didn’t do much to raise his ceiling, he also didn’t dramatically veer off course. He’s a details-driven, physically engaged winger whose NHL projection is going to depend on how much offensive skill he can add to that foundation.

What are we expecting from Vansaghi this season?

Returning to Michigan State for his third collegiate season, Vansaghi is expected to have a bigger role. A larger role should give him more opportunities to show whether the offensive limitations we’ve seen so far are a product of his role or simply a limitation of his game. Should that play out, another season of roughly the same offensive production would be difficult to view as anything other than a concern. He doesn’t need to suddenly become a point-per-game player, but we would like to see some evidence that there is more offense in his game than we’ve seen so far.

That’s the biggest thing to watch this season. The physical and defensive elements of Vansaghi’s game are already fairly well established. Now he needs to find ways to turn more of his work into actual offensive production. If he can take even a modest step forward in that area while continuing to do the things that have made him effective away from the puck, his projection becomes much more interesting.

Vansaghi recognizes that his offensive game needs to take a step forward. He said it’s an area he’s been working on, but also acknowledged that developing it is a work in progress and something that will take time.

How does Vansaghi fit in the Flyers’ organization?

From the day he was drafted, many viewed Vansaghi as a Garnet Hathaway-type, and there’s little reason to deviate too far from that line of thinking. Like Hathaway, Vansaghi has the size and physical edge to play a hard-nosed game without needing the puck on his stick all the time. He can forecheck, compete along the boards and provide value in areas that don’t necessarily show up in the box score.

While that might not be the most exciting profile, it’s certainly a useful one for the Flyers, who will likely need to lean on young players on entry-level contracts to play in the bottom-six once Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone get paid. Despite having a lot of young wingers in the organization, Vansaghi is unlikely to be competing with the team’s more offensively gifted ones for the same type of role. His path is more about becoming a reliable, defensively responsible winger who can bring some physicality and energy to a bottom-six line.

There is also some value in having a prospect with a relatively clear identity. The Flyers have plenty of players who are still trying to figure out exactly what they can become at the next level, whereas Vansaghi already has a pretty defined role.

What do we think Vansaghi’s ultimate NHL upside is, and how likely is it that he gets to something approaching that?

Vansaghi likely tops out as a bottom-six NHL forward who can be trusted to play spot duty up the lineup in a pinch. If his offensive game develops more than expected, there’s a path toward becoming more of a solid third-line winger, but it is difficult to project much higher than that based on what we’ve seen so far.

The question is how much offense he can bring with him. There does come a point where, if the production doesn’t show up at the lower levels, Vansaghi may get passed by other prospects who project similarly, such as Jack Murtagh. Or maybe he can’t supplant Cole Knuble, should Knuble’s offense get going in his first pro season. We’re certainly not at that point yet, but his offensive development is becoming increasingly important.

The floor of Vansaghi’s game gives him a legitimate NHL path. His physicality, defensive responsibility and attention to detail should give him opportunities that some of the more offensive-minded prospects won’t get. That by itself makes it all the more likely that he gets there. The question is whether he can turn that starting point into something more than a depth role. That’s ultimately what the Flyers were betting on. That a player with a relatively safe identity can add enough offense to become a regular contributor.

How we voted

…At No. 15:

BradShane VansaghiColeCole KnubleEvanCole KnubleJason MNoah PowellKellyJack MurtaghKurtNikita GrebenkinMaddieSpencer GillReadersCarson BjarnasonRyan GHeikki RuohonenThomasMax Westergard

For Shane Vansaghi:

Brad15Cole19EvanN/AJason M14Kelly19Kurt18Maddie19Readers18Ryan G17Thomas14