Canucks' 6-foot-9 Curtis Douglas praised for end to season, now raises future questions

Canucks' 6-foot-9 Curtis Douglas praised for end to season, now raises future questions originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . You can't miss Curtis Douglas.

The Vancouver Canucks ' forward is 6-foot-9. The tougher part with Douglas is figuring out if he's a player an NHL team needs to keep around. He's gritty, and physical, and simply a massive presence.

But does his impact come close to matching his size? Douglas did his best down the stretch of the NHL season to prove to the Canucks that he can be a contributor to their organization going forward. Vancouver, of course, is mired in a rebuild.

But it usually doesn't hurt to have a guy like Douglas around. "The cultural shift is real," writes the NHL Trade Talk author known as Old Prof . "The Canucks have scrapped six times in their last 11 games — guys like Teddy Blueger and Filip Hronek stepping up — and Douglas is a big part of that muscle.