Here's what I got on Curtis Douglas

Curtis Douglas. The Vancouver Canucks' new guy who got claimed off waivers.

You may have heard his name either through the AHL grapevine or from his stint with the Tampa Bay Lightning where he got into 8 fights. Either way, if you have heard his name you know just how big this guy is.

Standing at 6'9" and 243 lbs, Douglas is a 26 year old C/LW known for his physicality. A Canadian boy, he was born in Oakville, Ontario and stayed in Canada for his junior career.

Curtis doesn't come from a traditionally hockey family. His mom comes from Australia and learned about the sport alongside him as he grew up. His father was a semi-pro boxer who grew up in Montreal which is where the love of hockey comes from. Hockey had been part of his life since he was young and he's said he's always loved it from the very beginning.

Douglas' family is a big part of who he is. Often talking about how his dad taught him how to defend himself and others from his boxing experience and how both parents made their way to see his NHL debut. There's also the two brothers Curtis has that he towers over. Both are older despite it and he calls all three of them "the big idiots".

His size makes up a lot of his hockey. With such a large body and skills in fighting, it's no surprise that he prides himself on sticking up for his teammates. It can be seen in his penalty minutes while part of the Tucson Roadrunners hitting above 100 and his 29 games with Tampa gaining 92 penalty minutes.

Despite this, Douglas has said before that he has the ability to play smart and make the plays he needs to. With size often comes difficulties in speed and agility, but that became less of an issue as Curtis grew into his body and learned how to be in position beforehand. It's the kind of hockey IQ you want to see in all players.

This season is his NHL rookie season and with not many points to show for it, you can see his skill in at least the AHL level. And we've seen rookies come to Vancouver with little to know points only to start producing when they hit the ice in a different shade of blue. That isn't to say we should expect him to put up more goals than anyone else, but we shouldn't place him into only an enforcer box.

As always, some fun facts about Curtis is that he chose the number 42 because of rapper 42 Dugg and his go to song for karaoke is "Perfect" by Simple Plan (he's quoted on saying he doesn't play around about karaoke).

As of writing this it's a game time decision on if Curtis Douglas will be making his Vancouver Canucks debut tonight, but I hope we get to see it soon whatever the case is.