- Dima Zhilkin is the youngest player Canada brought to the World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor
- The 17-year-old Saginaw captain put up 75 points in 59 OHL games and is projected to go early in the 2027 draft
- Read below for what Canada’s coaches and general manager are saying about him this week
Canada’s staff is not treating Dima Zhilkin like the kid in the room.
The 17-year-old right wing is the youngest player Canada brought to the World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor. Assistant coach Drew Bannister, who had him at the U18 World Championship in the spring, did not hedge when Mike Morreale of NHL.com asked about him this week.
“He’s the real deal. This kid has everything. He’s a coach’s dream with the way he plays the game. Both sides of the puck; he’s really very refined already for the age he is.”
Zhilkin is in Windsor for the first evaluation step toward the 2027 World Juniors, on a Hockey Canada roster where most of the room has already been drafted. He has not.
His last OHL season made him hard to miss. Zhilkin piled up 75 points (36 goals, 39 assists) in 59 games for Saginaw while wearing the letter as the 27th captain in Spirit history.
Take a look at what that looked like shift by shift:
Head coach Misha Donskov landed somewhere other than the skill when he talked about the youngest player in his camp.
“A lot of poise, skill, very competitive. He’s got a quiet confidence to him. I think he’s a guy who’s always prepared, dialed in.”
General manager Alan Millar went further on where this ends up. He called Zhilkin a confident kid with real swagger, said his details are excellent, and added that it is “going to be a very high pick a year from now.”
That confidence has a long runway behind it. Zhilkin was born in Moscow and started out in the CSKA academy before his mother, brother and sister moved to the Toronto area. He and his father stayed behind for two and a half years while visa issues got sorted out.
Hockey runs in the family. Older brother Danil went to Winnipeg in the third round in 2022, played six NHL games last season and spent the rest of the year with Manitoba of the AHL.
Seven points in five games at the U18 Worlds in the spring led every Canadian skater at the tournament, even though the team lost in the quarterfinals and finished sixth.
There is no specific job Zhilkin is angling for this week.
“I think I’m a versatile player. I can play top six or bottom six. I think I can grind when they need me to, but I can also score goals. So whatever role I get here is what I’ll accept and make the most out of it.”
The showcase runs through Aug. 1 at the WFCU Centre. Canada picks the real World Junior roster in December.
