That’s a wrap on the 2025 NHL Draft. It was a bit of a wild one for the Flyers, with a bit of trading done and still a number of big additions made. At the end of the day, we saw nine new players added into the mix, making up a class which the national pundits are overwhelmingly viewing in a positive light.
But how do we, the in-market, foremost experts on the team feel about how things went? Honestly still largely the same, but let’s still get into it.
The Breakdown
Porter Martone (Round 1, Pick 6)
RW, Brampton (OHL), 6’3, 205lbs
EP weigh in: While Martone is known as a power forward, it’s more accurate to describe him as a playmaker. The patterns of the game seem imprinted in his mind. Constantly scanning the ice and knowing his teammates’ tendencies, system’s rotations, and the expected movements of defenders, he stays connected with linemates, avoids coverage, and puts himself in advantageous spots to make the next play. He builds deft passing plays, moves ahead of the opposition, and preys on defenders’ and goalies’ expectations, manipulating them to open up great scoring possibilities.
The Martone pick, in short, feels like a slam dunk. We could quibble about the Flyers leaving James Hagens on the board despite being in pretty desperate need of centers, but the truly high-end player that they got in Martone softens that blow. Martone brings a stellar mix of power, pace (if not outright scorching speed), and slipperiness which allows him to be both incredibly successful as both an individual chance creator but also as a playmaker. His frame is also pretty close to professional ready, and while conversations will be open about letting him make a run at making the team out of camp, taking the more patient approach with him (especially if the rumors are true that he intends to leave the OHL and head to Penn State this season) might not be the worst thing. All the same, the Flyers still got themselves one of the more pro-ready players in this class, and that makes him even more exciting.
And, all told, as much as the Flyers do need help down the middle, they also still need a boost generally of high-end players to put them over the edge, and Martone certainly brings that.
Jack Nesbitt (Round 1, Pick 12)
C, Windsor (OHL), 6’5, 185lbs
EP weigh in: Nesbitt brings a 6-foot-4 frame, defensive abilities, and sense. He generates chances by breaking plays on the forecheck with precise stick work and by engaging players with his body, bouncing them off the puck.
While the Martone pick was an easy, hugely exciting one, something more curious unfolded with their second pick of the night. The Flyers packaged their 22nd and 31st overall picks in a trade with the Penguins to move all the way up to the 12th spot, and spent that pick on Jack Nesbitt.
And in the moment, this felt like a big surprise. Nesbitt seemed like an option that might well have been there for the Flyers when they got to 22, but something moved them to get aggressive to move up to grab him early (very early, one might argue). Now, it’s no question why the Flyers would find Nesbitt an attractive get — he adds a ton more size to their leaned undersized center pool, while bringing some physicality and sound two-way play. He’s already well projectable as a third line center, with the potential to outperform that projection if he can make some major strides in improving his skating game. And it’s commendable that they found their guy and stuck to their plan, making an aggressive play to go get him. But was it too aggressive, given the cost and the value of the player? Time will tell.
Carter Amico (Round 2, Pick 38)
RHD, USNTDP, 6’5, 225lbs
EP weigh in: An aggressive, agile defenceman, Amico’s range is nearly unmatched. When he surfs into opponents, he completely erases the middle and then crushes the opponent into the wall. He clears the front of the net with vitriol and then gets play moving the other way. He fakes forecheckers with his edges, then looks into or across the middle for a high-value breakout play.
With their third pick of the draft and their first of the second round, the Flyers completed something of a trifecta of Big Boys. For their first defenseman taken in that draft, the Flyers picked up Amico, who plays a heavy, physical game, but still brings a nice enough blend of elusiveness and a bit of finesse. There’s some nastiness here, to be sure, but he brings enough skill to allow him to beat opponents in a number of ways. And this pick lines up well with an emphasis we saw from the Flyers in last year’s draft as well — they want to add size particularly on the back end. They’re stocking up nicely in this area, but did well in picking up Amico to add a player who brings a whole lot more than just his size.
Jack Murtagh (Round 2, Pick 40)
C/LW, USNTDP, 6’1, 198lbs
EP weigh in: An explosive winger, Murtagh powers past – and through – opponents with explosive strides. If there’s a puck battle, he’s involved, throwing hits, digging under sticks, and popping right back up after getting knocked down. He sticks with every play and never gets deterred. Turning puck battles into chances, Murtagh always looks off the wall after winning possession. He powers through contact to unleash quick-release wristers with his feet moving
The Flyers got back to adding to their forward group with their second pick of the second round, but stuck around in pulling from the NTDP for the second pick in a row. With Murtagh, they got a solid center/wing pivot who plays a hard nosed, powerful game. He’s the tenacious type of player that one could see fitting in nicely with the group of forwards they’re assembling both in the pipeline and with their young core at the NHL level (while also giving them a bit more of that much-coveted size). Murtagh was projected by some to go earlier in the 30s, so the Flyers end up with good value, picking him up with the 40th overall pick.
Shane Vansaghi (Round 2, Pick 48)
RW, Michigan State (NCAA), 6’3, 212lbs
EP weigh in: After breaking plays and getting some space in the neutral zone, Vansaghi carries the puck in, dangles around defenders, and fires a missile to the top of the net. He bypasses sticks in his firing motion, dragging the puck toward him to release or aiming through defenders. On top of those skills, Vansaghi also has his moments as a playmaker, landing passes in transition and from below the goal line. Even under heavy pressure, he seems to retain an awareness of the ice and an ability to add a touch of deception to his feeds. Instantly after the pass, he gets open for a return feed, showing an above-average tactical understanding of the game.
It is, in short, a total shock that the Flyers were still able to pick up Vansaghi with the 48th pick. Combining his player profile (bringing a combination of size, power, physicality, and dynamism of offensive production) with the head start he’s gotten in his development in having made the jump to the college level with Michigan State this season, Vansaghi seemed to be rising on a lot of boards on those last few weeks leading up to the draft, but inexplicably (as seems to happen with some players every year) found himself falling when the day ultimately came. It’s a shame for him, we suppose, but it’s a great value that the Flyers have gotten, as they’ve addressed their size desire with a player who will also give their offensive game a big boost.
Matthew Gard (Round 2, Pick 57)
C, Red Deer (WHL), 6’3, 198lbs
EP weigh in: Proactive and calculated, Gard gets above the puck, guides attacks to the outside, clamps down on sticks, and supports down low. In the rare instance he’s not already positioned perfectly, his open-ice speed and reach propel him back into the play. And he’s just as effective on the forecheck, combining these same skills with physicality.
This final pick of the second round, though, is a little less flashy. They certainly add a good bit more size into the mix with this pick as well — are we detecting a theme here? — but there’s a good and solid game to be found here too. Gard plays, generally speaking, a good support style of game, checking well and creating space to set up his teammates for chances, and, what’s more, looks pretty projectable to stick down the middle. His game might not dazzle, but it brings a high floor and looks like it could serve well to click with some more shoot-first style wingers. It’s another size pick, to be sure, but a size plus some additional offensive skill pick, so at least there’s that.
Max Westergard (Round 5, Pick 132)
LW/RW, Frolunda (J20 Nationell), 5’11, 168lbs
EP weigh in: Wherever Max Westergård goes, he finds ways to produce. He’s a productive two-way winger whose offence flows through his off-puck instincts and ability to anticipate. He shows a strong inside drive in all situations, which helps his teammates too as he can give them space behind him. He goes in first in battles and is relentless in his will to win the puck.
We’re getting into more of the lottery ticket part of the draft here, but Westergard remains an interesting pick here. One of the youngest players in the draft, and already having shown some promise in limited SHL minutes at the end of this past season, the Flyers are making something of an upside bet on Westergard. He plays an uptempo, hard checking, defensively minded style that aligns nicely with what they look to be building towards at the NHL level. Obviously he’s a long ways away from getting into that mix — and indeed, it remains to be seen whether he’ll put it all together enough to become a good pro in North America — but the Flyers are taking the chance that they can get a little more out of him, given the extra developmental runway he has, which might well be a good bet.
Luke Vlooswyk (Round 5, Pick 157)
RHD, Red Deer (WHL), 6’5, 201lbs
EP weigh in: Defending the rush, Vlooswyk’s mobility, stick work, and instincts shine. He catches opponents with his feet moving after waiting for them to enter his space, never overextending. He excels at tying up opponents and taking them into the wall, immobilizing them and freeing possession.
Vlooswyk is another size-first pick, and the Flyers are getting a quite raw defender, but one who has the chance to develop into a good shutdown defender, if things break his way and he can keep developing on his more raw tools. We don’t have too much more of a breakdown on this pick other than we suppose it’s good that they made sure to get one more defenseman and didn’t leave it at just Amico, and it’s certainly another datapoint that tells us that size was a target in this draft.
Nathan Quinn (Round 6, Pick 164)
C, Quebec (QMJHL), 5’11, 172lbs
EP weigh in: A net-driver, Quinn creates space in the slot with his body, taking the inside lane to the goalie to catch passes and fire. He can pass the puck off the boards and spot teammates in space across the ice and behind him, relaying them the puck to expand the attack and generate higher-quality looks.
Of course, it’s a positive that size wasn’t the exclusive focus of this draft, and the Flyers made another interesting pick on an undersized forward with their final selection of the draft. Quinn is another very young player (with his late-August birthday) and he’s already taking a big step forward in his development, as he’ll head to Northeastern and make the jump up to the NCAA level in the fall. He’s still a bit raw, and he’s going to need a longer development track to get to where he needs to be, but there’s an intriguing amount of offense in his game, and this feels like the perfect bit of a swing to take with a sixth-round pick.
Final Thoughts
As much as the Flyers might have claimed heading into the draft that they weren’t going to go out of their way to get players with size in this draft, and as much as they might try to paint the fact that they did go overwhelmingly after size here as something of a happy coincidence, it feels clear that this was a pretty intentional play. Now, it’s also not just them making it in isolation, as we saw a large number of teams this year going more after size, so maybe we can cut them a bit of slack as we take this into the context of the larger league drafting trend. All the same, the Flyers used this draft to beef up their pipeline, providing a good bit of balance to a group that was leaning on the smaller side, on the whole. They continued the trend from last year and added two more — notably, just two — big defensemen to the mix, but they expanded on that ethos and really seemed to make a concerted effort to add some more size up front as well.
It’s also notable that for the second year in a row, the Flyers didn’t take a goalie in the draft. Now, given the quality of the goaltenders in this draft and how things fell with the better of those options, it’s hard to be too down on the Flyers for not picking one up, but with how weird goalie development often is, and to what degree drafting them feels like just loading up on lottery tickets, it’s interested that they didn’t make any additions to that part of the pipeline for another year.
But, all in all, as funny as it might be to point to the size obsession this time around, the Flyers did a nice bit of work in this one. The Martone pick couldn’t be better, and while it’s fair to say that they made a bit of a reach in trading away assets to move up for Nesbitt, they did really well to recoup that value, particularly with their first three picks in the second round, capitalizing on some really good players falling a bit farther than they probably should have. The Flyers come out of this draft having surely addressed what they came into this weekend wanting to address, and with a both more high-end and well-balanced prospect pipeline coming together for them, and that’s pretty unequivocally a success.
