I'm not taking a 2 inch taller Hutson at 5.
That is one hell of a convincing argument in favour of Buium tho.
I don't think he is overhyped tho, he indeed played in a strong program but he was also the leader of this program as a 17YO.
His resume is incredible and i believe he has a case for BPA against any forward in this draft not named Celebrini.
Also, his toolkit is not impressive, from a physical standpoint (skating, hands, shooting for example) i agree. But his hockey IQ is elite, top of the class and that is the most important trait for me.
He is not the best offensive dman of the class, nor the most physical or biggest but he excels at a very high level in every single one of those categories.
I can totally envision Buium being a true 1D with norris nomination. (Ceiling). He does not have the rock-solid big top pair archetype of a Lev, Dickinson or Silayev, but imo, he simply has an higher ceiling than those.
The guy has killed the NCAA at 17, that is big, he is probably coming at the end of next season and although we have many LDs, he would be top of the list.
He is my personal favourite at 5. In fact, he is 2nd on my worthless list. One possible scenario is that he becames a 1D and with Reinbacher will gives us one of the best pairing in the league. We will be in a spot to deal from a position of strenght and the forward we may acquire trading one of our young Ds may be better than the forward we would draft instead.
I also think Buium displays the human qualities we saw in Slaf and Reinbacher. Starpower, charisma, humble confidence, ability to handle the MTL market, etc.
Finally, some forward have great profile indeed, and we are in dire need for offensive punch, but i don't know, i am simply higher on the top defenseman in this class. There is many valid question marks on the forward beside Celebrini and although they are great prospects and we could absolutely benefit from them, i don't think there are players with superstar upside like Buium has, in my humble opinion.