Canucks Draft Russian C Dmitry Zhukenov 114th Overall

The Vancouver Canucks went a bit off the board with their 4th round pick, drafting shifty but undersized Russian centre Dmitry Zhukenov 114th overall. There`s really not a lot of info on Zhukenov out there, but we`ll go over what we know after the jump.

The 5`11, 169 lbs Zhukenov was unranked by the majority of draft publications, topping out at 154th on ISS`s list and 61st among Europeans on NHL CSS`s. He was strong in international play for Russia, scoring at a point-per-game clip in U-18 play this year.

Since there`s so little historic information on the Russian MHL, we really can`t put his 3 goals and 16 assists in 35 games into perspective, but none of his statistical cohorts have sniffed the NHL. Zhukenov was also 24th in the MHL in points per game among U-18 players, so it`s not as if he was lighting up the Russian junior league either.

I`m not sure what the appeal of Zhukenov is, but I`m sure we`ll learn more as more information becomes available.