You can’t teach size, and at 6-foot-6, Vancouver Canucks prospect Vilmer Alriksson has that in spades.

On Tuesday, the Canucks hosted the Seattle Kraken to kick off their 2024 preseason schedule. As expected, the team dressed a relatively young lineup, with several prospects making their anticipated debuts.

Among them was 19-year-old Swedish forward Vilmer Alriksson, slotted into a fourth-line role alongside Sammy Blais and Max Sasson.

Alriksson wasted no time making his presence felt. Just two shifts into his game, he dropped the gloves with nine-year professional veteran John Hayden, a player with 249 NHL games under his belt.

Here’s the hit that led to the fight:

Despite his imposing size, Alriksson isn’t particularly known for his fighting. In fact, his only documented fight came last year during his rookie season with the Guelph Storm.

But that likely has more to do with how big Alriksson is — especially in junior hockey — than anything else.

However, his willingness to stand up against a seasoned NHL fighter — Hayden has 43  fights according to HockeyFights.com — showed that the young Swede isn’t afraid to mix it up when needed and certainly sparked the attention of his bench boss for the night, Rick Tocchet.

Drafted in the fourth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Alriksson has been steadily increasing his stock. He was widely considered the Canucks’ top player during the Young Stars tournament in Penticton, where his play earned him a spot in the team’s top group (Group A) at main camp, skating alongside established names like Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. And now, he earns a spot wearing a Canucks uniform in a preseason match – the only Junior bound player to do so thus far.

In his first season in North America, Alriksson split his offensive output evenly, with 17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points. His ability to play a variety of roles made him a valuable asset to Guelph’s forward group, and now he’s looking to bring that same level of impact to the Canucks organization.

He’s off to a pretty good start.

If you like prospects, make sure to check out today’s edition of Blackfish, our weekly Vancouver Canucks prospect report.