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  • Zeev Buium's Defense Is Still Holding Him Back


    Image courtesy of Talia Sprague-Imagn Images
    Bekki Antonelli

    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.

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    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.

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

    Quote

    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.

     

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    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.

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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.

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    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?

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    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.

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    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

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    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.

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    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. 

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    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.

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    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.

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