While we are so focused on the Philadelphia Flyers’ preseason and the remaining roster battles taking place for the next few days or so, prospects around the globe are starting their seasons. One in particular, is having a monster start to what should be a very important season for his development.
Max Westergard has peaked a lot of attention ever since being selected in the fifth round of the 2025 NHL Draft by the Flyers. The 6-foot Finnish winger has seen his stock steadily rise with every passing month by just getting better and better and finding himself with more and more opportunity to produce and be an offensive weapon.
His latest opportunity is simply being a winger, who just turned 19 years old earlier this month by the way, who can carve out a role on one of the most historic hockey clubs in one of the best leagues on the planet. Playing for Frolunda of the SHL is no easy task and Westergard has started his season impossibly well.
After going without a point in the season opener last week, Westergard answered that stuttering start with an assist in the second game and then a performance that has us really wondering what his actual potential could be. On Thursday, Westergard scored two goals and three points in a 7-3 win over Lulea; and he did it all while not even playing over 12 minutes.
The goals are a perfect example of what he does so well. Viciously attacking the puck and doing everything in his power to win back possession, while also being someone who drives to the net and knows his lanes well.
The first goal was just purely knowing where to be and when to go, as Westergard crashed the net during a 3-on-2 rush where the only real touch of the puck was the touch to put it in the back of the net for his first goal of the season. The second is what it’s all about, though. While in his own zone, Westergard disrupted a pass, chipping it forward and out over his own blue line and then went full steam ahead. He was able to go around the defender, beat out two opposing players to the loose puck in the slot and then display some high-speed stick work to backhand it behind the netminder to make it a brace.
That second goal was the seventh for Frolunda with just a few minutes left in the game so maybe some brains were turned off on the defensive side, but it is just so impressive as a big solo effort and incorporated so much of what makes Westergard an intriguing prospect for the Flyers.
It is already a substantial production leap for the Finnish winger.
This is a pivotal season for Max Westergard’s development
Westergard’s four points in his first three games of the SHL season is an incredibly big deal. While it might be normal for some top prospect to be putting out that level of production while still a teenager, we’re talking about a fifth-round pick and considering where he was last season, it’s an incredible step forward.
Last season, Westergard was stuck in limbo. His 30 points in 20 games for Frolunda’s U20 Nationell squad showed that he was too good for juniors, but he did not take the leap to the pro level well enough. While in the SHL, he scored zero points in 18 games last season. He was barely playing in those games, but he was also not showing off well enough to earn more minutes.
Therefore, he was sent to the second-division HockeyAllsvenskan and in five games for IF Bjorkloven, Westergard also scored zero points. He hit a ceiling to where he was able to be an impactful player — a star in juniors but unable to get noticed and get more ice-time at the pro level.
But now, after not being promised a big role or anything, the Flyers prospect took what he could get and absolutely smashed it. The expectation was ultimately to just keep a role in the SHL through the season. Just be there. Be a professional player, to then maybe come to North America soon after and develop further down with the Phantoms. That was a likely scenario, especially after Westergard reportedly got offers from NCAA schools to come to North America and rejected those advances to try his luck in the SHL. Before, it was just to stay in that league and maybe score some goals.
He decided to go out there and lead the team offensively from the bottom six, something we never really thought he would accomplish this season. We would’ve been plenty happy if he scored 20 or so points, maybe half a point per game, this season for Frolunda. Now, there might be something more here and it is an astronomical step compared to where he stood in the organization beforehand.
Westergard has his nice chance to get on the scoresheet Saturday afternoon when Frolunda take on Malmo. It’s at 12:00 p.m. ET so maybe we’ll pop it on for some fun.
