Prospect Info: Vilmer Alriksson: 107th Overall 2023 Draft (Djurgadren Jr.) - LW

[Vector]

Labate ended up being 6'5" but I think he was drafted shorter.

Also kind of wondering how many 6'6" players have "every so often" become the second coming of Tage Thompson when Thompson only arrived like a year ago.

Elmer Soderblom is the first name that comes to mind. Brian Boyle had a long career and took a long time to make his NHL debut.

 

[VanJack]

Another name to add to the list

Chris McAllister was 6'7 235 when drafted by the Canucks in round 2 #40 overall 1995 NHL Entry Draft.

Forgot about him....but wasn't McAllister one those guys who was drafted as a d-men but eventually converted to forward?

 

[IComeInPeace]

Forgot about him....but wasn't McAllister one those guys who was drafted as a d-men but eventually converted to forward?

Yes…and he was only drafted to fight, so his position didn’t really matter so much.

 

[RobertKron]

Yes…and he was only drafted to fight, so his position didn’t really matter so much.

Naw, he was drafted at like peak coke machine era to bear hug people into not scoring. Everyone wanted a Hatcher so bad at that point until everyone got a Hatcher and the puck died.

Him and Belak on on the same blue line in the WHL is a lot of size.

 

[MS]

McAllister was drafted as a D.

The only other 6’6 forwards we’ve drafted were a pair of goons in Kyle Freadrich and Larry Shapley in 1997.

 

[VanJack]

Based on his YouTube highlight packages, it appears that Alriksson is a decent skater. Takes him a little while to get going, but once he gets up a head of steam, he can really move through the neutral zone.

I have some hope for him. Allvin just seems to have a knack for identifying these under-the-radar Swedish players. Last year it was Johansson and Aman. If nothing else, they're candidates to play in Abbotsford.

 

[Jyrki21]

McAllister was drafted as a D.

The only other 6’6 forwards we’ve drafted were a pair of goons in Kyle Freadrich and Larry Shapley in 1997.

I refuse to believe anyone born in 1978-79 went by “Larry”.

 

[wonton15]

I didn't realize we drafted this kid decently high (107th). Will be waiting for him to jump over to the AHL.

 

[Vector]

 

[LemonSauceD]

I am a huge fan of this pick. Guys like these are always solid picks in the later rounds. 6’6 forward with pretty decent skating and good acceleration and displays some offensive upside. Him coming to the OHL next year is honestly the best thing for his development.

If he’s somewhere around a 0.75-0.85ppg, I’ll be satisfied for a first year 18 y/o from Europe. Anything more is an A+ for me. These power forwards take longer to develop, im not going to be too hellbent on his stats but I do expect him to be consistent.

 

[VanJack]

Successful NHL teams don't succeed based strictly on their first and second round draft picks. In the salary cap world it's imperative that you find guys in later rounds who can play.

So kids like Arliksson, Kudryavtsev, Forsell and D-Petey are all showing that they could work out. And when you add in undrafted UFA's like Hirose, McWard, Sasson and Bains, that's pretty solid core of underrated guys in your prospect pool.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Successful NHL teams don't succeed based strictly on their first and second round draft picks. In the salary cap world it's imperative that you find guys in later rounds who can play.

So kids like Arliksson, Kudryavtsev, Forsell and D-Petey are all showing that they could work out. And when you add in undrafted UFA's like Hirose, McWard, Sasson and Bains, that's pretty solid core of underrated guys in your prospect pool.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but pretty much every team has a similar list of players. We’ve improved our list for sure but that’s a pretty low bar after last management.
The key now is to keep expanding our list by hanging onto and acquiring more picks and going after undrafted players every year.

 

[ChilliBilly]

Successful NHL teams don't succeed based strictly on their first and second round draft picks. In the salary cap world it's imperative that you find guys in later rounds who can play.

So kids like Arliksson, Kudryavtsev, Forsell and D-Petey are all showing that they could work out. And when you add in undrafted UFA's like Hirose, McWard, Sasson and Bains, that's pretty solid core of underrated guys in your prospect pool.

True, but you also need to have 1st and 2nd round picks. Which we keep trading for nothing.

 

[Yultron]

Allvin in his defense has held onto the Canucks own 1st round picks and has done a really good job of acquiring extra 3rd and 4th round picks . And signing college free agents to held beef up the farm system and has done a phenomenal job at drafting these last two years in the later rounds with Pettersson 2.0 , Kudryavstev in the 7th round , plus this year getting Brewstewicz where he was drafted and Alriksson is looking like a sneaky good pickup and my official new Connor Lockhart , Mynio could be a steal too .

It’s really not his fault Jim Benning really screwed this organization and that Allvin wants to win now because he has players like Pettersson , Hughes and Demko in their primes and wants to be competitive and an Owner in Aquaman who always wants to win

I’m ok with the Hronek trade because we kept our own 1st and had two 3rds and three 4ths but was still a steep price but you gotta give to get a young promising top 4 defenseman whom we were all crying for and now we have it .

And his free agency moves ( Soucy , Suter , Cole and Blueger deserves an A plus for the off-season which we haven’t been able to say for almost 9 years with Bennings incompetence so I am thrilled with the new management team