Repêchage européen de la #CHL: les Saguenéens de Chicoutimi sélectionnent le joueur de centre russe Dmitry Zhukenov #rcsag #LHJMQ #saglac
— Frédéric Tremblay (@fredtremblaysrc) June 30, 2015
With the 10th overall pick in the 2015 CHL Import Draft the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League selected Dmitry Zhukenov – the Vancouver Canucks 4th round pick from the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
The Saqueneens Twitter account confidently suggested that Zhukenov would come to North America on Tuesday, which makes sense since it’s rare for teams to use high import draft picks on players they have not yet spoken with and have expressed interest in making the jump across the pond.
We don’t really know much about this 5’11” centre and what we do know was covered by Rhys Jessop during draft day. His box score stats were not the most impressive and the MHL is not yet known to have produced a number of regular NHLers. If Zhukenov does come to North America it will give us a good chance to see what the Canucks have in this 18-year-old.
It was a bit of a surprise to see that the 6th round pick Lukas Jasek, who has lots of high acclaim going for him, was not selected in this import draft. This more likely speaks to the facts he is under contract in the Czech league.
We will continue to monitor the news to see if he will make the jump this fall.
Hope he attends prospect`s camp at Shawnigan Lake so we get a chance to scout him.
I guess scouts see something they like in him. Let’s hope this isn’t another Mackenzie Stewart type pick. At least the Canucks are not totally avoiding Russia while drafting overagers in the late rounds any more.
I’m not sure why people say his box stats are not impressive. He’s played in 5 international competitions in the last 2 years (the fact that he’s invited to play should mean something) and he scored 41 points in those 36 games. It’s a small sample but a 1.13 PPG in international play has to mean something.
My french isn’t good enough to pick up what’s being said, but here’s a link to an interview with Chicoutimi’s GM/Coach Yanick Jean speaking about their selection of Zhukenov:
https://soundcloud.com/sebmorin80/yanick-jean-sur-dmitry-zhukenov
DZ is a talented player, he’s fast and agile.
He will possibly play on the first line season.
We are extremely happy to have acquired him
For true? Awesome! Thanks for the translation 🙂
Can you compare the guys selected around him? Like the 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th picks. (ie. if/when they were drafted to the NHL, how they are statistically, etc.). It would give us a good idea how high the Chicoutimi scouts are on him.
The top 4 picks were all 2016 draft eligible, and there are a lot of solid players who were selected after Zhukenov in the CHL Import Draft.
However, drafting Zhukenov at 10th overall will likely have more to do with the fact that they have unofficially pre-arranged with Zhuke’s agent to have him play with Chicoutimi next year.
Chances are, most of the selections probably have some sort of pre-agreement in place with the team that is drafting them.
Regardless, here’s a cross-section of the players selected along with the teams that selected them and their NHL draft status:
1st overall Vladimir Kuznetsov (Acadie-Bathurst, 2016 elig)
2nd Libor Hajek (Saskatoon, 2016 elig)
8th Radovan Bondra (Vancouver, chosen 151st in 2015)
12th Alexander Nylander (Mississauga, 2016 elig)
22nd Martins Dzierkals (Rouyn-Noranda, chosen 68th in 2015)
33rd David Kase (Niagara, chosen 128th in 2015)
40th Alexander Dergachev (Shawinigan, chosen 74th in 2015)
51st Julius Nattinen (Barrie, chosen 59th in 2015)
60th Oliver Kylington (Brandon, chosen 60th in 2015)
128th Robin Kovacs (North Bay, chosen 62nd in 2015)
Interestingly, Kylington goes to Brandon to play with Provorov & Pilon on a stacked team. What a great place to have a comeback season if he decides to go there. And Nattinen (who may have been high on the Canucks’ list) was selected by Barrie and could play with Rasmus Andersson. Friggin’ Calgary.. great 2nd round selections.
Well, at least we in North America will be able to see the kid play more.