We are back with the 2025 summer edition of our CanucksArmy top 20 Vancouver Canucks prospect rankings.

Today, we present to you our 10th-ranked player in the system, a towering “diamond in the rough” Swede, who combines a 6-foot-6 frame with solid skating and soft hands in tight.

Our previously ranked prospects:

If you’re curious about our ranking criteria, you can find them in our HM installment.

The time has come for us to see Vilmer Alriksson, one of the Canucks’ most intriguing prospects, make his professional debut.

With two years of OHL experience under his belt, he’s expected to make the jump to the professional ranks on a full-time basis and will push for a role on the Abbotsford Cnaucks this fall.

Alriksson’s 2024-25 season began with a strong impression at the Young Stars tournament in Penticton, where he tied for the points lead and helped Vancouver to a 3-0 record. His poise carried into the Canucks’ main camp, where he earned two NHL preseason games, logging 19:15 of ice time, delivering six hits, and even dropping the gloves against veteran John Hayden after a heavy hit on Seattle’s Logan Morrison.

If you weren’t familiar with his game by then, you sure were now.

That month-long audition secured his entry-level contract before he returned to the OHL’s Guelph Storm.

“Vilmer had a solid training camp and continues to develop and improve,” Patrik Allvin said in a statement released by the team. “We really like his size, skating ability and skillset, and we will continue to monitor his progress and work with him this year to help Vilmer get ready to take another step forward in his hockey career.”

Despite the Storm’s rough start, losing nine of their first 10 games, Alriksson was a bright spot, posting 11 goals and 23 points in 26 games by the Christmas break.

Looking to bulk up for a Memorial Cup run, the Brampton Steelheads acquired his rights mid-season, where he joined top prospects like Porter Martone and Carson Rehkopf.

Despite enjoying similar usage, both at even strength and power play, while playing alongside an impressive line of players, his transition to the new system was somewhat slow. He managed 11 points in 17 games.

That said, at 6-foot-6 and 234 pounds, he’s a towering presence, using his long reach and strength to dominate board battles and protect the puck. His soft hands allow him to weave through traffic, creating space for himself and teammates with deft moves that belie his massive frame.

While not a dynamic scorer, he’s a dual-threat forward, capable of finishing from distance or in tight, with most goals coming around the net. Although his game could use some more edge, his physical frame stands out each shift. His hits and one-on-one battles make him a force, and his board work is among the best in Vancouver’s prospect pool. Canucks fans, familiar with the value of strong board play, will appreciate his ability to win puck battles and maintain possession.

Consistency has been an ongoing issue throughout his career, so we expect his professional transition to encounter some bumps along the way. Then again, a structured system such as Manny Malhotra’s could be just what the doctor ordered for him to find his footing as a full-season player.

As Alriksson transitions to Abbotsford in 2025-26, his physical maturity may give him an edge in the AHL, where his size and strength could overwhelm opponents. His skating, while solid for his size, isn’t elite, but it’s functional enough to keep pace. Improving his consistency and refining his defensive game will be key to unlocking his full potential.

With 67 points (32 goals, 35 assists) in 110 OHL games, he’s unlikely to be an offensive dynamo, but his combination of size, hands, and grit offers a strong foundation for a pro career.

Ceiling: Considering that Alriksson is a fourth-round project, we do our best not to get too carried away when it comes to his ceiling. There’s still a long road ahead for him to realize any said potential. Yet, with the unique mixture of size, skating ability,  and hands, there are certainly some intriguing qualities. We look at players such as Alexei Protas in Washington, who broke out at 24 years old, and St. Louis’ Alexei Toropchenko, whose ceiling we can’t help but figure lies somewhere in between the two.

Floor: At worst, he’s a reliable AHL contributor or SHL mainstay, leveraging his physicality to carve out a professional career.

ETA: He will transition to Abbotsford in 2025-26, where we get a better feel for how his game transitions on a full-time basis. Consistency has been an area of need even at the Junior level, so how he fares in the AHL will be a telling sign. If all goes well, we envision him as a call-up option as soon as Spring 2026 with a year or two of full-time development in Abbotsford.

That’s our #10 spot. Stay tuned for another installment tomorrow here at CanucksArmy.

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