Summer Showcase Features a Host of Flyers Prospects

The 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase gets underway on Sunday at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. The annual tournament is a precursor to national team selection camps in December and then the 2025-26 IIHF World Junior Championship in Minneapolis-Saint Paul on December 26 to January 5.

Although there are no medals at stake at the Summer Showcase, players who put their best foot forward in the preparation series greatly help their chances at an eventual WJC roster spot.

As per usual, the 2025 Showcase features six teams USA Blue, USA White, Canada Red, Canada White, Team Sweden and Team Finland. During the latter portion of the tourney, USA Blue/White and Canada Red/White are narrowed into single Team USA and Team Canada squads.

There are numerous Flyers draftees selected to this year's Showcase. As of this writing, Hockey Canada has not released its final roster. However, Flyers 2025 first-round pick Porter Martone is expected to participate. It is also possible that 2025 first-rounder Jack Nesbitt and 2024 second-round pick Spencer Gill could earn selections.

Flyers' 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko is a safe bet to play for Team Canada at the 2025-26 World Juniors if he's not in the NHL. However, Luchanko is banged up at present per Flyers general manager Daniel Briere. He is dealing with a minor groin issue and will remained sidelined as a precaution.

Luchanko played in last year's tourney. Luchanko also has four games of NHL experience to his credit plus a combined 16 games of American Hockey League regular season and playoff experience to his credit. Luchanko will turn 19 on August 21.

The following are the five confirmed Flyers prospect participants, plus Martone:

USA

Jack Murtagh (LW/C): Drafted 40th overall by the Flyers in the second round of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, the hard-shooting forward is a graduate of the US National Team Development Program (USNTDP). Murtagh, who will turn 18 on August 22. has both his Draft-plus-one (2025-26) and Drat-plus-two (2026-27) seasons to potentially play in the World Juniors.The Boston University bound forward played for Team USA at the 2025 IIHF Under-18 World Championship this spring in Texas.

Shane Vansaghi (RW): The Michigan State sophomore is another USNTDP product. Drafted by the Flyers with the 48th selection of the 2025 Draft, Vansaghi is a hard-charging power winger who aggressively uses his 210-pound frame to his advantage. He's a candidate for a third-line or fourth-line role with Team USA at the World Juniors. During the upcoming season, he'll be joined at Michigan State by Flyers 2025 first-round pick Porter Martone.

CANADA

Porter Martone (RW): Martone is a shoo-in for Team Canada at the 2025-26 WJC. The offensively gifted big winger already has top-level international experience as a member of Team Canada's squad at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. He'll make his collegiate debut in 2025-26 for the Michigan State Spartans. He also played in the 2024-25 World Juniors. Martone is a key part of Team Canada's attack. Martone turns 19 on October 26.

Sweden

Jack Berglund (C): The Flyers 2024 second-round pick (51st overall) earned a Team Sweden roster spot for last year's World Juniors. Unfortunately, a hand injury suffered in a pre-tournament exhibition game forced Berglund to withdraw from the tournament. Berglund, who can also play left wing as well as center, is a safe bet to earn at least a third-line role for the Junior Crowns at the next WJC. The big-framed (6-foot-2, 209-pound) forward already has a year of pro hockey experience under his belt in Sweden's SHL and Allsvenskan.The two-way forward turned 19 on April 10.

Finland

Heikki Ruohonen (C): The large-framed (6-foot-2, 205 pound) forward gave a strong account for himself last season in the USHL with Dubuque and the 2024-25 WJC for Team Finland. Ruohonen will head for Harvard University in September. He turned 19 on June 19.

Max Westergard (LW): The crafty but somewhat undersized forward dressed in 15 SHL games for Frolunda last season including 11 in the playoffs (one goal, two assists). He also played quite well at the Under-18 Worlds for Team Finland (two goals, four assists in five games).He's played for Finnish national teams since age 15. climbing up each rung of the international hockey ladder.