Article: Zeev Buium Can Immediately Impact the Wild's Power Play

[Robert Brent]

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[Citizen Strife]

Zeev being anywhere close to advertised takes pressure off Faber and Spurgeon to be the only serviceable offense from the blueline.  Play Buium with Spurgeon, and he'll learn defense really quick.  Great byproducts all around.

[Pewterschmidt]

Warning Label: I'm going to be critical of one our most golden boy most can't miss prospects.

Zeev looked very over matched in his NHL TOI last year.  over matched size wise, over matched in terms of gap control (multiple bad decisions in this dept leading to opportunities for other team).  I know he's 19 and I know his debut was end of season/playoffs which isn't fair.  But let's see some more Zeev before we crown him the PP QB and heir apparent to Cale Makar's crown.

[raithis]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Warning Label: I'm going to be critical of one our most golden boy most can't miss prospects.

Zeev looked very over matched in his NHL TOI last year.  over matched size wise, over matched in terms of gap control (multiple bad decisions in this dept leading to opportunities for other team).  I know he's 19 and I know his debut was end of season/playoffs which isn't fair.  But let's see some more Zeev before we crown him the PP QB and heir apparent to Cale Makar's crown.

It's fine to temper expectations. 

No one should be saying he will be the next Makar or Hughes, but it's fine to say he has the potential to be since he does seem to play that style of game.

Even Buium himself admitted that he needed to add more strength before next season so he could be a more effective player in the NHL.  He at least recognizes that he was a bit overmatched in the few games he played against Vegas.  Accepting that you need to adapt is a good first step.  Now, we'll have to see if he follows through.

To me, if more offense comes out of our defense than last year, it's a win. 

If he and Jiricek play well enough so that Faber isn't gassed by the end of the season and we aren't driving Spurgeon and Brodin into early retirement, great. 

Buium doesn't have to be Makar.  He just has to be better than Merrill and give our defense an offensive aspect it's been missing.  Start there, and we'll see how far he goes.

 

[Will D. Ness]

I know the hype machine is cranking high RPMs for Zeev but I get the feeling that he is legit.  He looked super green in his debut but it set the table for him.

He definitely isn't Calen Addison 2.0.

[Citizen Strife]

The Addison worry is understandable (even if all signs point to Buium being nothing like that).  Attitude and mentality wise, Buium strikes me as a person who wants to be better in everything and will take things seriously.

Addison is the worst case scenario, but anything approaching what Dumba (pre-injury) or Spurgeon/Suter were would be nice.  The pure "stats bro" portion of the Wild has been riddled with "Suter/Spurgeon were 40-50 pt guys and Dumba could have been.". Faber tracks more in the Brodin/Spurgeon defense first mold or all-around guy than a pure scoring threat.  Buium has been marketed as something the Wild just never get their hands on...ever.  Sure would be nice if that comes anywhere close to fruition.

If Buium pots 30-40, that alone surpassed the other depth combined.  He just has to not be an Addison black hole on defense.

Edited 8 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I know he's 19 and I know his debut was end of season/playoffs which isn't fair.  But let's see some more Zeev before we crown him the PP QB and heir apparent to Cale Makar's crown.

To be fair, Buium has never played a regular season NHL game and doesn't turn 20 until December. Nobody should be expecting Makar, but if he can be somewhat average on defense and deliver above average minutes coordinating the power play, that could go a long way.

Not overly important, but Buium is also pretty young for having played 2 college seasons already. Makar, for example, was a full year older when he finished his 2nd college season and debuted in the playoffs for the Avalanche(averaging 17:22 TOI in that first playoffs fresh out of college). Makar has played 6 NHL regular seasons(7 playoff seasons) and turns 27 in October.

Buium will have his first NHL training camp and have time to acclimate to the system this time around. I have high expectations for Buium, but I don't expect him to meet all of them in the upcoming season.

He'll almost certainly make numerous mistakes in 2025-2026, but his overall play will hopefully be at a level that the Wild can live with them as long as he's learning and growing from them, developing knowledge and habits that will reduce future mistakes.

I mean, you generally don't become the most trusted defenseman in your age group, garnering the most ice time from multiple coaches while vying for NCAA titles and world junior championships if you keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

[FredJohnson]

Comments are so rational…what happened??

[Citizen Strife]

19 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

Comments are so rational…what happened??

Maybe we all grew up.

[mnfaninnc]

Quote

If Buium can transition to the NHL as a power play specialist immediately, it would be a massive boon for Minnesota. The team struggled with the extra man last season, ranking 20th in the league with a 20.9% success rate.

I just can't let this go. Buium is not the answer to this PP%, and while he may help, the immediate help is a healthy Ek and Kaprizov. Those guys run the show on the PP. Even last season with Faber and Spurgeon on the point, if Kaprizov and Ek are in the lineup, they did much better.

Now, Buium might make this more lethal, but, we've got to have those other 2 guys 1st just to get to respectable. On a similar note, this PP cannot simply be judged by %, it needs to also be judged by getting the PP goal when it's needed. This has been a major failure over the years.

[Up North Guy]

2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

To be fair, Buium has never played a regular season NHL game and doesn't turn 20 until December. Nobody should be expecting Makar, but if he can be somewhat average on defense and deliver above average minutes coordinating the power play, that could go a long way.

Not overly important, but Buium is also pretty young for having played 2 college seasons already. Makar, for example, was a full year older when he finished his 2nd college season and debuted in the playoffs for the Avalanche(averaging 17:22 TOI in that first playoffs fresh out of college). Makar has played 6 NHL regular seasons(7 playoff seasons) and turns 27 in October.

Buium will have his first NHL training camp and have time to acclimate to the system this time around. I have high expectations for Buium, but I don't expect him to meet all of them in the upcoming season.

He'll almost certainly make numerous mistakes in 2025-2026, but his overall play will hopefully be at a level that the Wild can live with them as long as he's learning and growing from them, developing knowledge and habits that will reduce future mistakes.

I mean, you generally don't become the most trusted defenseman in your age group, garnering the most ice time from multiple coaches while vying for NCAA titles and world junior championships if you keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

My biggest concern is that Hynes will yank him every time he makes a mistake.

[SkolWild73]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Buium is not the answer to this PP%, and while he may help, the immediate help is a healthy Ek and Kaprizov. Those guys run the show on the PP. Even last season with Faber and Spurgeon on the point, if Kaprizov and Ek are in the lineup, they did much better.

I think a good point man will help.  Something needs to change to get us to an elite status on the PP, and Buium might be just that.

2020/21: 17.58%, 25th

2021/22: 20.54%, 18th

2022/23: 21.43%, 15th

2023/24: 22.71%. 10th

2024/25: 20.87%, 20th.

Last year about the time the Kap went down with his injury, we were sitting at 19%.  The power play was actually better the second half of the year.

 

[1Brotherbill]

Buium on Power Play One. Jiricek on Power Play Two.  I like that combo.  Lets face it Spurgeon was a black hole when it came to running the power play.  Three years with 2 goals and 14 assists.  That is total, so that is 5 points per year from Spurgeon on the Power Play.  It was so bad they decided to run with five forwards and that pretty much was the reason they lost the series against Vegas.  Two short handed goals because the forwards had no idea how to stop a break or hold the blueline.  

So, going forward they should at least be better than 5 points a year from the QB on the power play.

I know they are young and he will make mistakes but the lions share of the minutes will be taken by the top four defenseman.  This will allow Buium and Jiricek to grow into their roles.