Among the six Philadelphia Flyers prospects who are out there in Minnesota representing their respective countries at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, there are young players who fans are much more hyped about than others. Porter Martone leading the charge as potentially a face of the franchise and captaining Team Canada to a potential gold medal, Jett Luchanko is one of the rare players to have already played in the NHL who are at this tournament, and our trusty American power winger Shane Vansaghi is even getting some recognition.

But, there are a couple others who could really lead the charge for their country and showed exactly why some of us should be thinking of them a whole lot more when pondering about the future of this team.

Heikki Ruohonen, a fourth-round pick back in 2024, and Max Westergard, a very young 2025 fifth-rounder, are both playing some solid roles for Team Finland at the World Juniors and in the first game against Denmark demonstrated some solid skill work and work ethic.

Max Westergard showing off something slick

Westergard is not really a player who many of us think about too often. He was taken as a winger who many prospect experts said was a solid swing in the later rounds of the Draft and is obviously someone you just keep in Europe for as long as they want and see what happens as they work themselves up the developmental ladder over there — especially considering he was one of the youngest players in his draft class.

Well after proving to be an absolute menace and scoring boatloads of points in the junior level this year in Sweden, and actually lacing up for 15 SHL games for the esteemed Frolunda, he earned his way onto the Finnish World Junior squad.

In the first game on Friday, Westergard was on the fourth line and finished with just 11:14 time-on-ice but all throughout those minutes was able to show off some of his speed and high-pace skill, and even earned himself an assist after a stellar play to cut to the outside and put some Danish defenders on their heels.

Beautiful play by Max Westergard on his first shift of the tournament to fly down the wing and center it perfectly to grab an assist!#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/NUIgGcSlTN

— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) December 26, 2025

That’s some pro-level play right there. Westergard managed to take the pass in motion, enter the zone smoothly, control the puck well enough technically on his off-wing, and then backhand a net-front pass for Onni Kalto to make it 2-0 for Finland.

Heikki Ruohonen being a classic Finnish center

The other Finnish Flyers prospect was a little more subdued in his play despite technically playing more of a role on this team. Heikki Ruohonen is one of Finland’s alternate captain and was listed as the team’s second-line center ahead of the tournament-opening matchup.

He didn’t have any dazzling plays or showed off some electrifying skill, but was instead just solid in mostly every aspect of the game as Finland marched to the 6-2 win over the Scandinavian nation. But, for all of us hockey nerds that appreciate the little things in a player’s game, Ruohonen did have a moment where he made a very impressive breakout play to move the puck forward in an oh-so-efficient way.

Slick little breakout play here from Heikki Ruohonen 😮‍💨#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/21vT4oUmhb

— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) December 26, 2025

It’s the really little things that we love so much and something like this will just make us fall head over heels for a minor prospect that might not ever play in the NHL. Still, Ruohonen is someone who can push the play forward and was always known to be a two-way force in a very classic Finnish sense.

Ruohonen did earn a secondary assist on Aatos Koivu’s goal to make it 4-1 for his team in the second period and really put the game away.

Will Finland go far in the tournament? Only really as far as these depth players will take them. There’s some high-end prospects like 2026 Draft-eligible center Oliver Suvanto who should go in the first half of the first round next June, and a couple other players like Emil Hemming and netminder Petteri Rimpinen who could propel this team forward — but it’s not the high-end skill that can really move the needle for a team and be a single motor to will a gold medal for a team like we’ve seen in past tournaments.

Regardless, both Westergard and Ruohonen have started their World Juniors on a very good note and they might just come out of it with more hype behind them among Flyers fans.