J-P Vuorinen, director of NHL European Scouting, said Westergard’s combination of speed, skating power and hockey intelligence could eventually make him a good NHL checking forward who could also contribute goals. Westergard (5-foot-10, 158 pounds) was No. 66 in NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings but his stock rose as the season went progressed.
“We always knew that Max was a good hockey player but when the season started, he was on the Under-18 junior national team for Finland and the Hlinka-Gretzky tournament was bad for that team,” Vuorinen said of the eight-nation tournament in which Finland went 0-2-1. “After that, we saw that he was really productive on the Under-20 team. Everything popped up when he got the position to play on the senior team in Sweden, especially in the playoff games, where he did well. Everybody started to speak about him.
“The most important thing is he showed that even though he’s not a size guy, he can play with the men. His speed and skills, the entire tool set is working in the men’s level.”
Westergard began playing hockey at 5, inspired by his father, Jan-Erik Westergard, who played for a local team. As his skills progressed, Max and his family looked beyond Tampere to continue his development and pursuit of his NHL dream. He joined Lukko Rauma, about 80 miles from Tampere, in 2021-22 and made Finland’s Under-16 national team in 2022-23.
“The two years in Rauma were super good,” his father said. “I believe that Rauma is the best place at the moment in Finland for developing players.”
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