Zeev Buium Is the Unicorn the Wild Have Never Had

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.