Rookie Spotlight: Max Graham
On Halloween after a morning practice in Wheeling, West Virginia, Olde City Sports Network sat down with Max Graham to speak about the WHL, being drafted, and his playing style
Before turning to the professional ranks, Graham played four seasons in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets. In the span of those four season, Graham dressed in 219 games. He notched 56 goals and 75 assists. Graham also held the “A” and for two seasons and the “C” for one season. Being in juniors helps to set the tone for a professional career. “It helped shape me quite a bit. We had good teams, good cultures there, and they held everyone accountable and kind of had everyone play a pro style game. So I think it's one of those junior teams where stepping out of it into a pro league is a little bit easier just because of the systems and the way we were coached and the players that we had around us.”
When in juniors, players form relationships with other players that often last a lifetime. While in Kelowna, Graham played with Hershey Bears forward Andrew Cristall and Chicago Blackhawks forward Colton Dach. “Being able to watch those two every night was unbelievable. I played the most time with Andrew, and just to be able to see this kind of stuff that he does, it's he's honestly one of the most skilled forwards I've ever seen. To be able to watch him night in and night out was pretty cool.”
Photo Credit: Stacey Gramlich/Olde City Sports Network
Graham was selected in round five of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the New Jersey Devils. On March 9th, 2025, the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Graham’s rights along with Chase Stillman and a 2027 third round pick in exchanges for Cody Glass and Johnathan Gruden. “It was pretty exciting. I wasn't at the draft or anything. I was just at home and I had it on in the background. I saw my name pop up and it was pretty exciting. My family was excited and it was actually almost better I was at home, had all my family around and we could celebrate that night than I had to take off to development camp right away.”
In July of 2025, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins signed Graham to a two-year AHL contract. Signing the first professional contract meant a great deal to the forward. “I finished last year, like with the knee surgery, so I hadn't really played since January and then after a couple months after the injury got traded over to Pittsburgh and even like while I was out and I hadn't even touched the ice yet and to know that they still believed me enough to give me a contract and I'd be willing to take a chance on me that I'd be able to start playing again this year. It was nice, so I was pretty excited to be able to do that.”
In hockey, everything is team based, and when the team isn’t working cohesively, it shows in the play of the team. Teams have to work together for the same end result- a win, which this Wheeling Nailers team has done exactly that this season. “I think just when everyone in the room is good buddies. There’s no cliques of guys here and there that always hang out with each other. If everyone is best friends with everyone and everyone can hang out and talk with each other, I think that's when you find a team that gels really well off the ice and then it translates on the ice when everyone wants to see the other person succeed.”
Photo Credit: Stacey Gramlich/Olde City Sports Network
Every player has a preferred playing style, whether it’s physicality, or skill based, or certain attributes that player brings to the ice. “Probably 200 foot power forward and a bigger guy, so to be able to get in on the forecheck and try to lay hits, turn pucks over, get to the net, get those gritty areas where guys don't like to go sometimes. That's that's kind of my style.”
Playing hockey, most players start when they are very young, which in turn creates a lifetime of memories. Graham touches on what his favorite memory has been in hockey. “When I was in peewee first year, my dad was the head coach and my team in Merritt, we won the BC Provincials. So that was pretty cool, and that was one of the last years that my dad coached me too, so it was pretty fun.”
So far this season, Graham has played in 22 games for the Wheeling Nailers and has tallied seven goals with four assists. Graham did talk about his dream three on three overtime lineup “I gotta put myself in it. Probably Sydney Crosby and then a D man, I’d go with Cale Makar, I think that that'd be a pretty good lineup.”
- Samantha Wismer/Olde City Sports Network
- Photo Credit: Stacey Gramlich/Olde City Sports Network
