Less than 24 hours after missing on projected No. 1 overall 2027 NHL Draft pick Landon DuPont, Michigan State hockey coach Adam Nightingale picked up a four-star commitment.
And this newest commit is also an NHL draft pick.
On Thursday afternoon, four-star forward Matthew Gard committed to Michigan State for the 2027-28 season. He will join a loaded roster in East Lansing.
The second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers will hope to have the same luck as Porter Martone who spent last season with Michigan State before starring for the Flyers at the end of the regular season and the playoffs. Gard and Martone could be future teammates in Philadelphia, but it sounds like that’s years down the line.
Per his Instagram, Gard is apparently joining the Spartans in 2027-28 after “one last ride” with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. He had 33 points in just over 50 games last season and he’ll look to improve on that in the upcoming year before heading to East Lansing.
Gard is going to join another loaded roster which figures to have several NHL draft picks and a handful of them will likely be first-rounders. We’ll find out who the first-rounders will be on Friday and Saturday in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Michigan State is loaded with NHL draft picks
Before we dive into the six Spartans who could go in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft, we should talk about the several players who will be on this year’s roster who have been drafted.
Michigan State has Patrick Geary, Ryker Lee, Cayden Lindstrom, Cullen Potter, Eric Nilson, Anthony Romani, Melvin Strahl, and Shane Vansaghi, to name a few, who have all been selected in the NHL draft and a good chunk of those guys went in rounds one and two. The Spartans are beaming with NHL talent and they’re only going to add more on Friday night.
Chase Reid, Ethan Belchetz, Nikita Klepov, Tommy Bleyl, Brooks Rogowski, and Jack Hextall all have a chance to go in the first round on Friday night and all are going to be Spartans.
A top-five pick, two top-10 picks, and six potential first-rounders are making their way to East Lansing. Michigan State hockey is going to be fun to watch for a while.
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