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Flyers prospect Matthew Gard commits to Michigan State, following fellow 2025 draft picks Porter Martone and Shane Vansaghi

Gard, who will play one more year in the WHL, will become the third member of last year’s draft class to play for the Spartans when arrives in East Lansing in 2027.

Matthew Gard will now be sporting 82 at Flyers development camp, with Denver Barkey switching to 86, the number he wore in juniors.
Matthew Gard will now be sporting 82 at Flyers development camp, with Denver Barkey switching to 86, the number he wore in juniors. Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

Pretty soon, the Flyers will need to add some green to the white on their jerseys.

On Thursday, Matthew Gard announced he will become the third Flyers prospect from the team’s 2025 draft class to play for Michigan State when he heads to East Lansing in 2027.

“Over the past year and a half, since the rule change, I’ve been on multiple visits,” the 19-year-old told The Inquirer via a phone interview. “I’ve talked to a lot of schools, and just going to visit Michigan State, and what they do, and how they develop, and the way that their program is run, it was a perfect fit for me, and I saw that, and I decided that’s where I wanted to go.”

Gard — a 6-foot-5, 194-pound, 200-foot center — likes how the Spartans develop bigger players into power forwards. But two of the biggest selling points for Gard were Will Morlock, the hockey team’s highly regarded director of athletic performance, and the blue-collar mentality at the program, that nothing is given and everything is earned.

Those are two of the reasons Porter Martone, taken sixth overall in the same draft where Gard was picked in the second round, opted to go the college hockey route last summer. He spent the past year building himself up to be NHL-ready with the Spartans and came out like gangbusters with the Flyers, making his NHL debut in late March.

» READ MORE: Porter Martone’s fast start with the Flyers was forged in Michigan State’s gym: ‘The best decision I ever made’

Martone notched 10 points in nine regular-season games, including the overtime winner against the Boston Bruins for his first NHL goal, putting the Flyers in a playoff spot. He then potted five points in 10 playoff games, registering the game-winners in the first two games of the opening round against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“The one thing I’d like to say is how thankful we are to Michigan State, the coaching staff, his teammates there,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said at the press conference after Martone signed his entry-level contract. “How Porter embraced the role of going there, and also how much he developed this year. We give Michigan State a lot of credit for that. The whole staff there was really impressed with what they did with Porter.”

Forward Shane Vansaghi, who was also drafted in the second round by the Flyers in 2025, is returning for his junior year at Michigan State. Gard, who has been in Voorhees for a few weeks in advance of his second development camp, did talk to Vansaghi about Michigan State.

“Obviously, both those guys [Vansaghi and Martone] are really good power forwards in the way they play,” Gard said. “I think Shane just loves the blue-collar mindset there, and that it’s hard work, but everything is earned, and it’s really rewarding if you succeed there.”

Adam Nightingale is hoping Gard can succeed. Gard said the Spartans coach, who will be behind the bench for USA Hockey at the 2026 World Juniors, told the young centerman that they believe he can come in and help them and be a player who helps them win games in a year from now.

This past season, Gard split the year between Red Deer (Alberta, Canada) and Seattle of the Western Hockey League. He combined for 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 55 regular-season games before adding another goal and four points in five playoff games. He’s going back for one more season in Seattle to get ample ice time because of Michigan State’s roster already being jam-packed with guys like Arizona State transfer Cullen Potter, Ethan Belchetz, who is expected to go in the first round, and Jack Hextall, a possibility for the Flyers with the 21st pick in Friday’s NHL draft.

“I think I took another step in my development this year,” Gard said. “I feel like I grew as a player and as a person once again. There’s lots I’ve got to work on, and that’s part of why I’m going back. And I think for me, going into this year to take that other step, I want to produce more and help my team win more games.”

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