Shane Vansaghi played 35 games last season for a Michigan State team that went 26-9-2. The only two games he missed were when he represented Team USA at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship.

As an all-out, momentum-changing kind of winger, Vansaghi played a role on one of the better teams in the country. But he feels he can make a bigger impact on the scoresheet. The Flyers probably feel that way, too.

That there’s more offense there.

Vansaghi, who was one of the Flyers’ four second-round picks in 2025, had four goals and seven assists last season as a sophomore. He was down five points from his freshman season in which he had six goals and 10 assists.

“You’re always trying to improve different areas of your game,” Vansaghi said in June. “I think for me, probably one of those areas of improvement needs to be the offensive part. I’ve been working on that, it’s kind of a work in progress, it takes time. It’s definitely something that I need to get better at.”

With his size at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, the 19-year-old likes to do his work around the net.

“He’s a big, big kid, he plays a certain way,” assistant general manager Brent Flahr said after the Flyers selected Vansaghi at 48th overall. “There were not many players like him in this draft or many drafts. I think he has got some work to do to get to the NHL, but once he does, I think he’ll be a fan favorite and he’ll be a very welcomed teammate.”

After last season, Vansaghi saw his Spartans teammate Porter Martone turn pro and become a significant factor in the Flyers’ playoff run. Martone had a standout freshman season after the Flyers drafted him at sixth overall last summer.

But for Vansaghi, he knew his own game required more college seasoning. He’ll have that as a junior, an opportunity to potentially open up his scoring.

“I just thought it felt more comfortable going back to school and really working on the things that I needed to work on, specifically my offensive ability,” Vansaghi said. “Kind of like the offensive touch and just getting more and more reps at Michigan State with the offensive side of the game.

“Michigan State has been so good to me, I think I’ve gotten a lot better throughout my time there, so I’m comfortable being there and developing. Hopefully one of these days my time at Michigan State can help me one day play for the Flyers.”

Vansaghi and Martone went from being drafted by the same NHL team to playing for the same college team. Martone’s maturity and ability left an impression on his Spartans teammates.

“Having Porter there was unbelievable,” Vansaghi said. “Just right from Day 1, the first day I met him, just the nicest kid, really good teammate. One of those guys that you just want to have on your team, you want to play for.”

Was Vansaghi surprised at all by Martone’s rise?

“I believed in him,” Vansaghi said. “I watched him play hockey every day for six months, I knew he was a good hockey player, I knew he could do it. When he finally did make the jump and he was making the noise he was making, it was an unbelievable scene with our team. We’d get together almost every night and watch him play and get excited for him. We were all so happy to see him have that success.”