Article: Zeev Buium's Defense Is Still Holding Him Back

[Bekki Antonelli]

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[Patrick]

Let's wait a month or two, or even a year or two, before making these kinds of assessments. He has yet to play a regular season game...

[Enforceror]

I think by December we'll be seeing Buium start to impact games. I like him on PP1 even though I suspect we will have some Shorty's against from time to time.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Excellent Buium article in The Athletic today. Here are 2 excerpts:

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To prepare for this moment, Buium started in the summer by working out with long-time trainer Chris Phillips in Southern California, putting on more than 10 pounds. He arrived early in Minnesota in late July to start working with teammates and Wild support staff. Buium moved in with Boldy, explored the area and tried to reach a comfort level around the veterans. And after exhibitions, Buium would watch video with associate coach Jack Capuano, going over what he needed to improve on. Coach John Hynes said Buium is very much still a “work in progress,” but teammates are very excited for what they believe can be their next game-breaker.

 Faber had some really nice things to say about Buium, but the next part was talking about Buium's playoff experience:

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What Buium learned in his four-game foray into the NHL playoffs could fill a book.

How much faster things are.

How every mistake is magnified.

How “you probably shouldn’t try to dangle (Mark) Stone at the blue line,” Buium said.

 

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

How “you probably shouldn’t try to dangle (Mark) Stone at the blue line,” Buium said.

I love this part of Buium's game.  He feels like he can do anything regardless of the circumstance.  Then the competition will gradually teach him what he can/can't do.  Fiala had this mindset too.

This is the opposite of what's going on in Ogzy's head right now.

[mnfaninnc]

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he stands at 6-foot-0, 183 lbs., and has spent far less time in the weight room than most NHL players. 

I take issue with this because like Huck, I was under the belief he had put on 10-15 lbs. this offseason. 183 was his draft weight. He should be a lot closer to 200 by now. I do expect accurate information from the writers.

Overall, I think Buium is still going to have to figure out the difference in speed at this level. Once the game slows down for him, we should have a real nice piece on defense. But, until that happens, he may look like he's behind a step.

[mnfaninnc]

41 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

This is the opposite of what's going on in Ogzy's head right now.

What does P-Noodle think is going on in OgZ's head right now?

[Citizen Strife]

Buium really shines in PP and 4-on-4 situations.  Give this man any open lanes, it's almost like watching what Kap used to do along the boards.  He just separated himself from people with ease.

The issue is going to finding out when and where to do that.  I do think he understands that more than Jiricek does.  That or he at least has speed and agility to cheat and make up for his mistakes more often.

[Pewterschmidt]

52 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

What does P-Noodle think is going on in OgZ's head right now?

In his own words Ogz is saying he began to doubt himself the second half of camp.   Crisis of confidence would be dramatic, but it looking like it’s in that ballpark and the eye test shows it too. 
The kid will get a 15-20 game run with big club but if he continues to fumble one timers and chase the play he’s down to Iowa for another long stretch.  Everyone is getting tired of watching this same movie from ogz, regardless of what he can bench press

[Imyourhuckleberry]

5 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I take issue with this because like Huck, I was under the belief he had put on 10-15 lbs. this offseason. 183 was his draft weight. He should be a lot closer to 200 by now. I do expect accurate information from the writers.

The Athletic mentioned he put on about 10 pounds.

Without looking again, I believe they said he was around 192, and his trainer believes he can reach 200 without any concerns with losing speed or flexibility. I copied a very small portion of the overall article.

[1Brotherbill]

Honestly he isn't here to be a lock down defense first guy.  He is here to be a Norris Trophy winner.  Nobody wins that trophy by playing solid defense they win that trophy by scoring a ton of points. 

[MNCountryLife]

If this team goes anywhere in the playoffs it will be because the young guys under 25 of Boldy, Rossi, Yurov, Ohgren, Faber, Buium and Jiricek are bringing it.  For that reason alone I would like to see big minutes for all of those guys this year.

[raithis]

3 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

If this team goes anywhere in the playoffs it will be because the young guys under 25 of Boldy, Rossi, Yurov, Ohgren, Faber, Buium and Jiricek are bringing it.  For that reason alone I would like to see big minutes for all of those guys this year.

And I wouldn't say that all of them need to be really good as long as Boldy, Rossi, and Faber continue to become better (something I feel pretty confident will be the case this year), and that at least half of Yurov, Ohgren, Buium, and Jiricek are solid contributors (so far the jury is still out on them).  Buium and Jiricek I think are taking good steps, but they need to improve a bit.  Yurov and Ohgren need to actually take steps beyond initial acclimation.  Of the 4, I'm least concerned about Buium, but he still has a long way to go to get into the Boldy/Rossi/Faber tier.

Add to that Wallstedt.  I feel like he will have some growing pains too, but the Wild's defensive system tends to complement his playstyle well enough that I'm sure he'll look the part well enough.