Michigan State's Shane Vansaghi gets up off the ice after falling against Notre Dame during the second period in the Big Ten tournament on Saturday, March 15, 2025, at Muni Arena in East Lansing. Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Two More Spartans Skaters to Represent in World Junior Summer Showcase

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Tom Cavanaugh | Last updated Jul 13, 2025 7:16 PM ET

The Michigan State Spartans will be well-represented at the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase, starting July 25 through Aug. 2 in Minneapolis. Since it was revealed that incoming freshmen Ryker Lee and rising sophomore forward Shane Vansaghi will be representing Team USA, two more Spartans have been announced as participants in the summer event.

Erik Nilson (Sweden) and Cayden Lindstrom (Canada) will now also be participating in the summer event.

We’ve got four Spartans set to represent their home countries July 25 - August 2 at the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase in Minneapolis!#GoGreen pic.twitter.com/9Zj33EbJ8V
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) July 11, 2025

Three of the four Spartans were recently selected in the 2025 NHL Draft. Lee was taken No. 26 overall by the Nashville Predators, Nilson was a second-round pick (No. 45) to the Anaheim Ducks, and Vansaghi followed suit in the second round (No. 48). He was taken by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Lindstrom on the other hand, was selected No. 4 overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. He has spent the past three seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League, playing alongside near-Spartan commit Gavin McKenna.

The showcase acts as an evaluation for each player to impress enough to have a chance at making their respective national teams for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. That tournament will take place in Saint Paul and Minneapolis from Dec. 2 to Jan. 5, 2026.

A few recent Spartans have experience in both as star goaltender Trey Augustine and legendary forward Isaac Howard helped lead last year's American team to a gold medal, the second-straight. This group of Spartans will have a chance to do the same if they perform to their abilities.

This is an elite group of players that may be young, but possess immense talent. There is a good chance that all four skaters find a way onto the national team that gets to play for a gold medal at the end of the year. They are also going to make this year's MSU team a deadly threat in the Big Ten.

These four will have a great tune-up week before returning to East Lansing to prepare for the upcoming season that begins in early October. MSU is seeking a third-straight Big Ten title as well as its first national championship since 2007.

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