By Tony Abbott -
The Minnesota Wild have a long history of great defensemen, but with Zeev Buium, they hope they have something a bit different.
Blueliners like Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, and Ryan Suter have been true top-pairing defensemen, dictating play every night, giving them incredible stability over the last decade. However, the Wild didn't target and draft Buium to follow in those footsteps.
They landed Buium to be a true gamebreaker.
The standard is Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, who've won three of the past four Norris Trophies. They don't just dictate the play; they also influence it. Hughes and Makar push the pace, are capable of generating offense on any shift, and are dominant on the power play.
It's a high bar to live up to, but Buium's points per game at Denver (1.18 over two seasons) exceed what Hughes (0.89 in two seasons) and Makar (0.93) accomplished at the NCAA level, suggesting he has a chance.
Hughes and Makar memorably stepped into the NHL during the 2019-20 season, waging a Calder Trophy battle that Makar eked out in the end. A big reason for this was that they were thrust into top-four roles almost instantly.
In October of that season, Hughes averaged over 20 minutes per night, while Makar was second among defensemen on the right side with over 18 minutes. Each defender was able to build confidence quickly (with 10 points in their first 12 games) and parlayed that into minute-munching for the rest of the year.
That's not typically how the Wild do things. During Bill Guerin's tenure as GM, Minnesota has tended to be cautious with prospects before throwing them into the deep end, with Brock Faber as the major exception. We saw a taste of that in the postseason last year, when Buium played in the playoffs, but for limited minutes on a relatively short leash.
Minnesota's depth has a significant impact on that. Brodin is still on the Wild, and his defensive powers are still mighty. The team also has a lot of trust in Jake Middleton, a glue guy who had a career-high 21:52 average time on ice last season. Coach John Hynes can be conservative with the rookie Buium, limiting his minutes for the season.
Except at the start of the season. With Brodin needing surgery that will leave him out past the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign, Hynes doesn't have the luxury of slow-playing Buium. Middleton can soak up a bunch of minutes. Still, without Brodin or the recently-traded Declan Chisholm, 20-plus minutes per night on the left side of the defense is open for the taking.
That's why October will be more critical for Buium than perhaps any other player on the Wild.
Buium is going to get a second chance at a first impression. He wasn't ready to jump straight out of college into a playoff lineup against the Vegas Golden Knights, a Cup contender. There's no shame in that for a 19-year-old. Still, it wasn't a performance like Faber's in the 2023 playoffs, which inspired Minnesota to move on from Matt Dumba and pencil Faber in as a top-pairing defenseman immediately.
Under normal circumstances, we'd probably expect Buium to bide his time on the third pairing and work his way up past Middleton, then Brodin. Now, Buium gets to jump the line, and he must ensure to hold onto the spot.
Buium is only going to get true top-four minutes if he can thrive at 5-on-5 with either Faber or Spurgeon. If he can't move the puck like he did at Denver or defend reasonably well, it's going to be easy to bump him back behind Brodin and Middleton.
It's hard to see him losing a spot on the top power play, unless he struggles mightily, but being a power play specialist isn't going to get Buium a run at a Calder Trophy. To do that and truly become a gamebreaker for Minnesota next season, he must earn Hynes' trust at 5-on-5 and do so immediately.
He has to be undeniably ready.
Why is this so crucial? Why not have patience with a 19-year-old kid?
The Wild have had very few avenues to make meaningful improvements this offseason. Adding Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm were decent, low-risk adds, but neither raised Minnesota's ceiling significantly. While Buium's not the Wild's only prospect who should be making the team full-time -- Danila Yurov, Liam Öhgren, and David Jiříček should join him -- Buium is probably the one who has the most potential to truly transform the Wild's dynamic.
Fortunately, Buium is a mature player who has won virtually everywhere he's gone, and knows the stakes. His offseason goal is to add 10 to 15 pounds (he's currently listed at 185), which would certainly help his chances to impress the Wild coaching staff heading into training camp. If he can do that and parlay his added strength into a fast start, then he has a chance to shine for Minnesota immediately, and never let go of a top-four spot.
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