Shane Vansaghi 2025 NHL Draft Profile

Player	Position	Handedness	Height	Weight
Shane Vansaghi	RW	Right	6’2″	216 lbs

The American-born winger is yet another product of the US National Team development program, playing his previous seasons for their U17, U18, and USHL squads before going the NCAA route. The London Knights also drafted him in the 2022 OHL draft’s eighth round, but he was a long shot to report.

The 6’02 winger brings a wealth of international experience with appearances for Team USA at the U-17 World Hockey Championships in 2022–2023, and for their U-18 World Junior Championship the following year.

The St. Louis product just finished his NCAA freshman season for the Michigan State Spartans, where he provided a stable depth role on a team that was filled with talent that features nine NHL-drafted players, and this year’s Hobey Baker winner, Issac Howard.

Vansaghi’s on-ice production

Year	Draft Relative	League	Team	GP	G	A	P
2022–23	D-2	NTDP	US National U17 Team	54	9	9	18
		USHL	USNTDP Juniors	33	2	5	7
		WHC-17	USA U-17	7	5	2	7
2023–24	D-1	NTDP	US National U18 Team	59	12	11	23
		USHL	USNTDP Juniors	25	5	5	10
		WJC-U18	USA	7	0	1	1
2024–25	D+0	NCAA	Michigan State Spartans	37	6	10	16

Vansaghi plays a very hard skill game that does not always translate to the scoresheet. He plays with the skillset of a power forward. His game is highlighted by high-end physicality, high-energy compete, and solid enough puck skills.

He plays a basic game that is not incredibly flashy and quite straightforward, but effective.

One other thing to note is the fact that he often does not have the same ice time as many other NCAA prospective first-rounders, as he averaged only 12:01 per game this past season in a bottom-six role for Michigan State.

Vansaghi’s strengths

Physicality

Physicality is the centre of Vansaghi’s game, as the Michigan state winger is an absolute wrecking ball. Vansaghi shows effective hitting form, high-frequency physical engagement, and pure muscle mass.

His physicality is most evident on the forecheck, where he uses heavy physical pressure, quality muscle mass, and consistent board play engagement to exert defensive pressure that slows down the pace of play and disrupts opponents’ breakouts.

He rarely does not finish a check, and this style of hard-nosed power-forward play is rarely seen, making it exhausting for his opponents to play against.

It’s from this disruption that Vansaghi engages in 12 puck battles per game, demonstrating good board play, leverage, grit, and ability. His 37% winning percentage in puck battles demonstrates there’s still plenty of room for growth as one of the youngest NCAA players who largely served in a checking role this year.

The hitting form of the Michigan State product is also notable as he prioritizes body leverage through strategic leans, shows good stability through a blend of balance and power, and shows little hesitation in physical engagement. All of which contribute to his 1.76 hits per game.

Other areas that show off his physical nature are in offensive transition, as he displays good hit absorption that does little to dampen his team’s momentum and healthy aggression that allows the St. Louis-born forward to create space and carve up the middle of the ice upon zone entries and net crashes.

This physical base and hit absorption is also demonstrated in offensive zone play through pressure absorption, through quality physical puck protection mechanics, and smart body positioning.

Vansaghi largely plays the net front screen/net crasher in the o-zone, and due to his 6’2″ frame, muscle mass, high-end grit, and physical willingness, he plays this role admirably and effectively.

Compete level

The NCAA forward’s compete level is evident in every shift, and blends seamlessly with his physicality. It’s highlighted by an absolutely relentless motor, high-end play engagement on and off the puck, and quality intensity.

On the forecheck, Vansaghi shows quality tracking, implements decent lateral angles of attack, and is a consistent play-disrupting element, despite limited skating ability solely due to his motor, hustle, and play engagement. Despite skating limitations, he plays with a high pace in transition due to his compete.

This forecheck involvement also hints at dedication to his positional responsibility and defensive pressure. It explains both his consistent ability to generate opponent turnovers and the decreased effectiveness of his opponents’ rush game.

In the defensive zone, Vansaghi unsurprisingly uses his physicality, motor, and quality pressure awareness/lane awareness to be a bit of a defensive menace. Although his defensive game can use more improvement, it’s notable to mention he has only 0.05 errors leading to a goal.

This compete level shows itself in his hustle for off-puck positioning too, as in offensive transition, he is rarely static, as he is in constant movement, causing both chaos for the opposing defenders, and showcasing decent offensive option creation for his teammates.

He consistently and constantly drives high-danger areas, which generates significant scoring chances at a 1.66 scoring chances per game rate.

While he serves as a more of a complementary offensive player, he excels at second efforts, puck retrievals, and space/gap creation, which show some hidden offensive compete level and upside. In the offensive zone, this consistent movement also makes him an effective and distracting screen for goalies.

His compete and physical leverage also showcase themselves in his forceful face-off form, which contributes to his 58% win percentage on the draw. With that being said, Vansaghi projects more as a winger at the NHL level.

Puck skills

The elements that make Vansaghi’s puck skills an asset are his vision, handling mechanics, and space creation with the puck.

In offensive transition, the American player shows high-end lane awareness, option identification, and option awareness. All of which blend nicely with his pace and compete to make him an effective breakout and zone entry asset for Michigan State.

His puck management shows effective puck placement, highlighted by solid vision that exudes some quality play processing and handling, which allows for quality space creation for him and his teammates, as well as zone entries that often push the pace in his charge for the net.

His off-puck positioning shows quality play anticipation and play reading, which allows for better awareness when he does have the puck. When he does have the puck, his spatial awareness, scan frequency, and some developing offensive awareness are evident in his puck management.

He averaged 54 puck touches a game, while attempting 0.79 dekes per game with a success rate of 47%, and employing nine passes, with a 77% accuracy rating.

These stats articulate that Vansaghi can show flashes of high-end defender manipulation, smart handling plays, and crisp high-danger dekes and passes. If he is going to find the scoresheet at the NHL level, he needs these flashes to be more consistent.

This physicality, compete level, and puck management explain his 1:13 of power play time per game, and his 0:48 of penalty kill time on ice.

These flashes of soft skill in terms of puck management are just icing on the cake that make the rest of his game even more likable.

Vansaghi’s areas of improvement

Skating

Skating is by far the biggest barrier for Vansaghi at the next level.

This is largely due to his skating mechanics regarding an upright posture, a problematic stride—which produces a shorter, choppier recovery—and limited acceleration throughout his game. Secondary elements that hold his skating back are agility, edge work, and a wonkier extension.

These mechanical errors articulate themselves particularly in transition, as he has limited agility and acceleration, which will harm his defensive pressure exertion and overall effectiveness at the next level, as he will consistently be battling to keep up with the play.

Vansaghi also plays a very lateral, straightforward skating game, which can pose problems in his route deception and predictability.

These skating mechanics can be worked out with a quality skating coach, so there is a high possibility that he could become an average NHL skater if everything goes accordingly.

Offensive execution

While his shooting is not bad, it does need some improvement in terms of accuracy, shot selection, and finishing.

Vansaghi’s release point shows good power, and some decent mechanics, leverage, and weight transfer. His shot selection wanes at points. It lacks deception and frequency, which are elements that can come with more ice time and practice in his following seasons at Michigan State.

Statistically, Vansaghi averages around 2.7 shots per game, of which only 57% hit the net. He generates 1.66 scoring chances, but his conversion rate is only 10%. Where he gets to the right positions and knows where to be, he rarely fully capitalizes on these opportunities.

His game in general lacks deception and higher-level offensive manipulation/lane manipulation.

Other issues, including overall pass accuracy (77%), deke success (47%), and giveaways (4.8 per game), highlight some areas for improvement in decision-making, play-making, and pace. This raises further concerns around offensive instincts. The offensive side of his game is simply not refined yet.

Vansaghi’s comparables

His power forward game resembles that of Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman, as he plays that largely physical, high-compete game with touches of puck skills.

Fit with the Flames

Vansaghi plays a heavy, hard skill game, which should have any NHL team willing to give him a chance. Where the Flames have stocked up on high soft-skill players, an individual like Vansaghi could complement the future sandpaper and toughness of the organization.

Summary

Vansaghi plays a heavy power forward’s game, but also shows some flashes of soft skill. These flashes demonstrate that there just might be some greater upside to him than what is shown at first glance.

That being said, Vansaghi’s elements of physicality compete, and puck skills are quite transferable to the NHL level. However, he is a bit more of a project and needs significant offensive refinement generally, which establishes the American winger as a high-floor, low-ceiling player.

Risk: 3.5/5

Reward: 2/5

Projection: NHL bottom-six/top-nine forward if everything goes right, largely serving as a forechecking presence

Check out all of The Win Column’s individual player profiles of selected 2025 NHL Draft prospects:

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