Flyers 2026 Top 25 Under 25, No. 24: Max Westergård

No. 24: Max Westergård

2025-26 Primary League/Team: Frolunda HC U20 (U20 Nationell)2025-26 Statistics: 9 G, 21 A, 30 PtsAge as of 9/15/2026: 19Acquired Via: 2025 NHL Draft – Round 5, Pick 132

How did Westergård’s 2025-26 season go?

It might be a little too much to call Westergård’s 2025-26 season a “breakout season” but it’s hard not to. He went from a player who was drafted in the fifth round just months before his campaign actually got started, to someone who has rightfully solidified himself as a very good NHL prospect. Only the truest of draft freaks knew his name before the Flyers selected him last June, and now we think he rocks.

As part of the legendary Frolunda program, Westergård had a year where he bounced around from league to league a little too often than anyone would like, but it’s clear that they care about his development.

For the first handful of months, Westergård would go back and forth between the U20 Nationell junior league for Frolunda and the SHL roster. One game here, a two-game weekend there, and then back to playing with his teenaged peers, and then a game in the SHL or the Champions Hockey League, and then back to juniors.

Westergård regularly showed that he was too good for juniors — he did show that by scoring 30 points in 20 games — but he then got under 10 minutes of ice-time in the SHL, which didn’t really help. It wasn’t until the World Juniors where he really got to show off.

Max Westergard with the filthy backhand sauce to set up a second Finnish goal! 🛸 #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/gFFKjTVzFF— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 26, 2025

We’re not regularly watching SHL or U20 Nationell games, so this was one of our first experiences watching full games of Westergård and he certainly impressed. He finished the tournament with four points in seven games, so not lighting the world on fire, but he would regularly put defenders on their heels with some insane forechecking work and just show how he can impact the game on and off the puck.

After that, Frolunda tried to not have him waste his talents in the junior league. He was loaned to HockeyAllsvenskan’s Bjorkloven (the second tier in Swedish pro hockey) to get more opportunity. That lasted five games (where he played over 12 minutes in three of them) and aside from a couple SHL games where he barely played, he was back in juniors full time.

It was in the U20 Nationell playoffs where he really popped off, with 23 points in 15 games and a trip to the final round against Vaxjo. Westergård and Frolunda unfortunately lost, but he at least got to show off.

Westergård’s stock has clearly risen compared to where we were a year ago, since we didn’t know what to expect. But after this season, it also leaves him in a weird space between leagues, since he scored a bunch in juniors and then didn’t score a single point in the 23 games of pro hockey he got to (barely) play in.

What are we expecting from Westergård this season?

It’s, well, complicated. We don’t know where Westergård is going to play next season, but the expectation (or at least the hope) is that he plays in a pro league for the entire season and establishes him enough to build on the hype that he constructed during the last several months.

If Westergård is back in juniors to start the year, it will be a disappointment. H