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When the Minnesota Wild take the ice for their season opener tonight, they’ll do so with something that they’ve never truly had: an elite offensive defenseman. That Zeev Buium is a highly-touted prospect is no secret. He’s considered a leading candidate for the Calder Trophy, and the consensus is that he’s one of the most promising prospects in all of hockey. But once the puck drops on Thursday, the hype ends and reality begins. What type of impact will Buium make this season? Will the 19-year-old phenom be able to hang with the best players in the world on a nightly basis? By season’s end, Buium will have answered that question with a resounding yes. Wild fans can expect instant offense from Buium at all times. He’s always looking to turn the puck up ice or join the play to exploit any weakness in the opposition’s structure. His skills are such that he’ll be able to create offense on his own immediately. Buium’s ability to combine body fakes and deception with elite skating to create opportunities for himself and teammates is already high-end for an NHL defenseman. Buium can beat defenders one-on-one at the blue line or when moving down the wall. He can create passing lanes and execute crisp, accurate passes in all three zones, and he understands how to exploit open ice with or without the puck. He's indicative of the trend that’s becoming more common in the NHL. Defensemen are becoming more like rovers, capable of playing effectively in all areas of the ice. On any given shift, Buium will circle with the puck, press down below the goal line in the offensive zone, and roam the neutral zone. He will anticipate when he might be able to break into space and receive a pass, or cut across opposing defenses at any angle. He’ll pinch in to hold the zone and range back to anticipate passes like a safety in football. Even his defense is offensive-minded. That’s not to say Buium is an irresponsible player. Not in the least. He’s just a unique, offensive-minded defenseman who plays the game differently than anyone else in the NHL right now. There really is no one else like him in the league. Buium has already taken the reins of the first power-play unit. As the preseason progressed, it became clear that Kaprizov and Boldy understand the element he adds with the man advantage. Kaprizov has started looking for Buium, and there seems to be some chemistry developing between the two. All of the Wild’s skilled forwards seem to be getting used to seeing Buium moving all around the ice, and are learning how to play off his movements, to dangerous effect. I think Buium could turn the Wild's power play into one of the league’s best. He’ll have some adjustments to make to learn to make quick decisions with the puck when defenders close in on him. His tendency to try to find the perfect play will also put Buium at risk for some bad turnovers. He’s a 19-year-old rookie, after all. There will be growing pains. The soundness of Buium’s defensive game will hinge on positioning and awareness. He has grown accustomed to being dominant and sometimes is too dependent on his skating, particularly when defending the rush. He is prone to the occasional ill-timed pinch or poke check, and he’ll get burned from time to time as a result. He can be overly reliant on his ability to recover and sometimes takes bad or sloppy lines, giving opposing attackers more ice than he should. Buium can also puck-watch sometimes and drift out of position, especially in the neutral zone. NHL forwards will be able to exploit this extra ice, and there will be some ugly moments as a result. Still, Buium knows how to defend with his feet and should be adequate in most situations as long as he remains diligent with his positioning. He has superb hockey sense and can read plays, recognize attacks, and disrupt them before they become dangerous. Like Victor Hedman, he often defends the rush by turning and skating forward rather than backward. I expect Buium to have a monster rookie season from an offensive standpoint. I’m not sure if he’ll match reigning Caler Trophy winner Lane Hutson’s 66 points from last season, but I think Buium is capable of producing 10-plus goals and over 50 points. Doing so would put him squarely in the running for Rookie of the Year and make him one of the five or ten highest scoring defensemen in the NHL. He will bring an element that the Wild have never had before. Buium will have some really tough nights on the defensive side, but his hockey sense and the supreme confidence he plays with will give him enough resiliency to overcome any struggles and be a net positive player on the Wild's back end.

When the Minnesota Wild made their final training camp roster moves on Sunday, more notable than the players they cut were the players they didn’t. Rookies Danila Yurov, Liam Ohgren, and Zeev Buium all made the opening night roster. Hunter Haight will be on it as well, with Nico Sturm and Mats Zuccarello out due to injuries. Ohgren and Haight have the most professional experience and have a chance to be important depth pieces. Still, of the three forwards, I think that Yurov’s game is the best suited to be a consistent contributor this season due to his versatility. He may not start fast out of the gates and will probably be a healthy scratch at times. However, Yurov is a player whose style can complement a wide range of linemates, as he is dependable and predictable, which is what is needed to round out a deep Wild roster. Yurov improved immensely as training camp progressed, looking like a player who was starting to grasp the NHL game and adjusting to the smaller North American ice after transitioning from Russia. He isn’t ready to be a point-producer just yet. Still, Yurov joins the Minnesota Wild as a player with professional habits and an understanding of the diligence required each shift, something that separates him from most 21-year-olds. The Wild were hoping to be able to use him at center, but it looks like he’ll be starting at wing. That’s common for a young player with little experience in North America. Having a little less responsibility will give him a chance to learn how to make an impact at an NHL pace. Some Wild fans may not want to hear this, but at this stage of his career, Yurov reminds me a lot of Marcus Johansson. He’s an efficient transporter of the puck through all three zones and a supremely responsible player who will not cheat for offense. Yurov is effective when driving into the zone down the wall and either swinging the puck around the boards to an incoming teammate or pulling up to allow the play to set up around him. He’s capable of getting separation, not with speed or on straight lines, but in how he creates space for himself to operate with the puck. He scans around him and finds soft spots that he can work into without skating into trouble. I expect Yurov to be a positive possession player by the end of this season. He’s capable of turning in quality, responsible shifts on a regular basis, like the one in the clip below, taken from a preseason game against the Dallas Stars. Yurov is capable of providing about 15 such shifts per game, which will endear him to the coaching staff as the season progresses and land him in the NHL lineup on many nights. One issue to monitor with Yurov will be his confidence with the puck and willingness to take calculated risks. Responsible puck play goes a long way, but he’ll need to be willing to challenge defensemen with net drives and one-on-one moves. His tendency to curl back once and look for support after crossing the offensive blue line is something that opposing teams will eventually identify and try to exploit. Once they begin to anticipate it, they’ll jump on him with pressure and force turnovers. Yurov’s physical play will also be a work in progress. He doesn’t have to throw body checks, but he needs to be stronger on his stick in puck battles and be willing to engage in contact on the wall to establish position in puck battles. When he gets the puck on his stick, he’s excellent at protecting it. However, he needs to win more 50-50 puck battles and be more aggressive on the wall. Consistency will be crucial for Yurov this season, as it is for most rookies. On nights where his game is a little off, it’s important that he still brings a level of intensity that will allow him to compete against the best players in the world. If his intensity level starts to slip, it may be worth having him spend some time in Iowa to help him grow his confidence. I’m guessing that Yurov will spend most of the year in the NHL and get better as the season goes on. He’s a more complete player than Ohgren right now, and while he doesn’t have the same scoring ability, I think the Wild coaching staff will trust him more. Between his first game at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase and the close of training camp, Yurov looked like a player who was finding his legs a bit more each day. His intelligence as a player is evident, and I believe it will outweigh the areas where he has room for improvement. I think a season output of around 8 to 10 goals and 12 to 16 assists, with quality possession numbers and the ability to play some middle six minutes, is within reach. That would be a successful rookie season for the 21-year-old.

Zeev Buium made history when he stepped on the ice for the Minnesota Wild’s first game against the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 1 last season. He became the first Wild player to debut during the playoffs. Buium had a strong start to his career and assisted Kirill Kaprizov on a power-play goal. Bill Guerin highlighted Buium’s “ability to generate offense” when Dan Barreiro asked him what Buium brought to the team in a KFAN interview. Buium had 48 points in 41 games in the 2024-25 season at the University of Denver, and almost immediately started generating offensive opportunities for Minnesota. Buium will be a great addition to the power play, but still has room to grow. Buium showed confidence with the puck and made an impact during his 4 playoff games last season. However, he occasionally made defensive mistakes and averaged 13:36 of ice time (TOI). During Game 3, Reilly Smith picked up the puck off a weird bounce and sent it to William Karlsson. Buium got back to defend. Still, Karlsson walked into the zone, passed around Buium back to Smith, and Smith scored. Buium is high in the offensive zone when the play starts, so it would’ve been dangerous for him to pinch on this play. However, he doesn’t gap up correctly, and Karlsson is able to pass around him. Through the preseason, Buium has played a similar game. He had great offensive plays, but has not consistently made the defensive play. During the Wild’s September 25 game against the Dallas Stars, Buium was on the ice for 4 of their 5 goals against. While every goal for and against is a collective team effort (or lack thereof), there were a couple of moments that an extra effort from Buium would’ve stopped the goal. For Dallas’s second goal, Buium has the puck in the offensive zone and loses it, which Mavrik Bourque picks up and passes to Wyatt Johnston. Buium manages to poke check it away from Johnston, but then leaves too much space, so Johnston is able to pick it up again. Buium has a moment of hesitation, followed by a poorly angled attack that Dallas capitalizes on and scores. I’m not pointing out Buium’s mistakes to suggest he’s a bad player. Defensemen get beat, it’s part of the game. However, his job is to defend, and he has room to grow defensively, especially considering these were pre-season games, and he can expect tougher opponents in the regular season. Something else holding Buium back defensively is his age. At only 19 years old, he stands at 6-foot-0, 183 lbs., and has spent far less time in the weight room than most NHL players. While he’s technically bigger than Jared Spurgeon already, he’s probably not as strong. He’ll likely fill out and gain weight, making him physically harder to get by later on in his career. Even if these mistakes make him a defensive liability, the Wild should still give him ice time. While Buium had a tough game against the Stars, he showed the kind of impact he can make on September 28 against the Chicago Blackhawks. Minnesota doesn’t score on the following play, but they get shots on net and dominate the zone because Buium chases down the puck instead of circling back into a defensive position. A more timid defenseman would’ve gotten back into position, but Buium has the confidence and ability to pick the puck back up and make a play with it. By the Wild’s September 30 game against the Winnipeg Jets, Buium had found his stride. He looks natural at the top of Minnesota’s umbrella power play. He confidently and quickly moves it around the zone before firing from the blue line on net. Kirill Kaprizov tips the puck in. Still, the movement between Buium, Matt Boldy, and Vladimir Tarasenko is critical to this goal. Buium continued to generate offense during Minnesota’s October 3 game against the Blackhawks. Kaprizov entered the zone on the power play and sent it to Buium as he crossed the blue line. Buium held the puck and went behind the net instead of shooting. He got a clear pass to Boldy, who passed it over to Tarasenko, who scored. Buium doesn’t take the shot or the pass when he doesn’t have it on the power play. While getting a shot off and going for the rebound is typically the safe play, on the power play, it allows the other team to pick up the loose puck and ice it. Buium’s long stick doesn’t hurt his ability to keep the puck out of Artyom Levshunov’s reach here, either. He’s also able to generate scoring opportunities outside of the power play. Buium consistently drives to the net when given an opportunity, like he does in this clip. Later in the game, Buium cements his position on the power play by giving Boldy an outlet. Tarasenko moves up top as a decoy outlet, and Buium sends it back to Boldy, who shoots and scores. Minnesota needed a confident player with strong offensive ability on the power play, and they definitely got one. While Buium has some work to do defensively, he’ll be able to close that gap as he adapts to the NHL, and his ability to produce on the power play makes up for it.