LD Zeev Buium - University of Denver, NCAA (2024, 12th, MIN)

[MNRube]

Top 10 for sure, maybe Top 5. Productivity is insane for a freshman D and the hockey IQ is obvious

 

[Nabrules]

Looked very good in all the games I’ve seen. Top pair upside.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Reminds me of Shattenkirk. Crafty, smart offensive player from blueline, should be fine in own zone, but that isn’t where he excels. See him likely slotting in 10-20 range of draft.

 

[William H Bonney]

He's going to keep climbing the draft rankings in the ones where folks have been sleeping on him to start the season.

 

[MNRube]

He's going to keep climbing the draft rankings in the ones where folks have been sleeping on him to start the season.

Sanderson 2.0 in that sense . I expect he will be a consensus Top 10

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He had a good World Juniors.

I think he's firmly top 10-15 for the draft now, and not impossible for top 5.

 

[Martinez89]

I´m on the same page with you here, folks. I can´t see him going out of top 10. Very very impressive World Juniors.

We saw most probably top pair D here, top 4 is a lock for him.

 

[Castle8130]

He’s made my defenseman rankings really difficult. There are 6 guys that could challenge for #1 (for defensemen) and they all keep getting better:

Buium
Levshunov
Parekh
Silayev
Dickinson
Yakemchuk

I have a really tough time ranking these guys as the year goes on. It will be fun to see where they go on draft day

 

[macbowes]

How tall is Zeev, 6'0", or 6'2"? Pretty large disparity, but I know that EP pages sometimes update slowly, so he could have grown from when he was listed at 6'0", but NCAA are also notorious for inflating player heights, so his 6'2" listing is a bit suspicious.

Zeev Buium - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Zeev Buium, 2005-12-07 Laguna Niguel, CA, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Univ. of Denver. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Zeev Buium - Men's Ice Hockey - University of Denver Athletics

Zeev Buium (28) Defenseman - NHL: Selected by the Minnesota Wild in Round 1 (12th Overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft. Honors and Awards: 2024 NCAA National Champion

denverpioneers.com

 

[MNRube]

How tall is Zeev, 6'0", or 6'2"? Pretty large disparity, but I know that EP pages sometimes update slowly, so he could have grown from when he was listed at 6'0", but NCAA are also notorious for inflating player heights, so his 6'2" listing is a bit suspicious.

Zeev Buium - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Zeev Buium, 2005-12-07 Laguna Niguel, CA, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Univ. of Denver. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Zeev Buium - Men's Ice Hockey - University of Denver Athletics

Zeev Buium (28) Defenseman - NHL: Selected by the Minnesota Wild in Round 1 (12th Overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft. Honors and Awards: 2024 NCAA National Champion

denverpioneers.com

I think he’s 6’0. Give or take an inch

 

[coooldude]

It's all ridiculous speculation, but what else is hfboards for? I watched the holiday content special where Will Smith interviewed a bunch of the players on dumb holiday topics, and Zeev was clearly a bit taller (but not much, probably not 2") than Smith. Smith is pretty solidly 6'0". So he's probably 6"0"-6'1", and everyone keeps speculating he'll grow more because his brothers are 6'2" or 6'3".

 

[WarriorofTime]

The DU measuring is obviously much more recent, could be made up, but the NHL team would likely make it up to the same degree. He's either 6'2 or "6'2" the same way many "6'2" NHL players aren't 6'2. Anyways, he'll be measured at the combine and we'll know then.

It's not like EP would have any more reason to be more accurate right now. The USA WJC roster page also listed him at 6'2.

 

[rt]

Based on how he looks standing next to teammates, I’m not buying 6’2. But maybe 6’1. His brother grew late, if I recall correctly. And both are very tall. So maybe he will get there.

 

[57special]

Just watched Denver against St. Cloud. He looks at least 6', probably bigger. I also thought he was an excellent skater....would call it a strength, rather than a weakness. Was vg with the puck, though nothing flashy. Hard to comment on his defence, as Denver controls the puck so much that he didn't have to defend much.

I watched the game partly to check in on Peart, a MN pick who is known to be a vg skater, and is two years older. Buium already looks like a better skater, bigger, and just flat out better, though Peart's team was on it's heels for a lot of the game.

Very impressive. If he continues to grow, both physically and game wise, i can't see him not being picked in the top 10. There was something about the decisiveness in his game that i liked, but I would like to see him play in a situation where he is hemmed in his own zone more, to see how he performs.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

1+3 today. Has 6+26=32 points in 22 games. He's tied for fourth in the country in total points. Leads in defenseman points. Has the same number of points as Celebrini, although in 3 more games. He's having the second best draft-eligible season ever in terms of PPG for a defenseman in the NCAA.

People make a big deal about the offensive season Parekh is having, and he's doing great. But he's only tied 6th total in a junior hockey league in scoring. Buium is tied for 4th, and he's doing that against considerably older competition with a better overall defensive reputation.

 

[Ryan Van Horne]

1+3 today. Has 6+26=32 points in 22 games. He's tied for fourth in the country in total points. Leads in defenseman points. Has the same number of points as Celebrini, although in 3 more games. He's having the second best draft-eligible season ever in terms of PPG for a defenseman in the NCAA.

People make a big deal about the offensive season Parekh is having, and he's doing great. But he's only tied 6th total in a junior hockey league in scoring. Buium is tied for 4th, and he's doing that against considerably older competition with a better overall defensive reputation.

All true, but we must also consider that Buium is in his 18-year-old season. He's a late 2005, so complicates the "draft year" comparison a bit.

Celebrini is a year younger playing as a freshman and as for the comparison to Parekh, I think Buium's accomplishments doing what he's doing against NCAA Div. 1 opponents is more impressive than what Parekh is doing in OHL, but would just mitigate the edge a bit because of advanced hockey age.

 

[MNRube]

Top 5 pick

 

[Szechwan]

It's all ridiculous speculation, but what else is hfboards for? I watched the holiday content special where Will Smith interviewed a bunch of the players on dumb holiday topics, and Zeev was clearly a bit taller (but not much, probably not 2") than Smith. Smith is pretty solidly 6'0". So he's probably 6"0"-6'1", and everyone keeps speculating he'll grow more because his brothers are 6'2" or 6'3".

Prospect watchers are funny. How often do you come across a family that is all the exact same height

 

[Petes2424]

Not sure he’s a Top 10 pick yet, but he’s in the conversation to be one of the Top 3-5 dmen off the board.

It’s that time of year, where scouts/teams will start measuring comparative things like how quickly they think and process the game at different levels and speeds, comparing leagues and situations each plays in, etc, etc.

The physical tools have already been evaluated. At least for the most part. Now it’s more about how they’ll translate playing against the best men in the world, how much room they have to grow their game, can they gain the core strength needed to play in the NHL, etc.

To be fair, Buium is in one of the most enviable positions, while someone like Yakemchuk is probably in the worst, playing in Calgary. So they’ll take all that into consideration too.

Think it’s fair to say he’s a Top 20-25 pick at this point. Likely higher, but we’ll start seeing guys move up and down pretty soon here.

It’s also such a top heavy draft with dmen, you’ll see 32 different rankings from the teams. Where a kid like Yakemchuk is the second dman on many lists, and Buium is on others. Really do believe that’s how close 1 through probably 6-7 are. Some will be preference too obviously.

Yakemchuk for example, is a rare player with his size, aggressiveness and offensive ability being a RHD. He’s also pretty raw still. That alone will move him up many boards, and nobody should be surprised if by draft day, he moves up the most, where Buium and Levshunov are seen as more finished products already, who won’t develop as much over the next 3-4 years.

We’ll see but think it’s safe to say Buium is a Top 20-25 pick, no matter how it shakes out. Whether he ends up Top 10, we’ll see. If I had to guess, I’d say 15th-18th overall.

 

[tomd]

Will be instructive to see what his height/weight really is at the combine.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I can’t see him going any lower than top 15. He’s scoring too much. Good chance he’ll be top 10, and he’ll have a chance for top 5.

 

[kyle44]

I can’t see him going any lower than top 15. He’s scoring too much. Good chance he’ll be top 10, and he’ll have a chance for top 5.

He certainly looked top 5-10 to me at the WJC. He was one of the more impressive draft eligible d-men I can recall at this tournament, particularly from an offensive perspective. He was every bit as good, if not better, than Jamie Drysdale at this tournament in his draft year. I realize Drysdale was a "true" 17 year old at the time, but Buium only turned 18 a few weeks before the tournament. Very bright future ahead for this kid.

 

[Hanji]

Top 15 for me. Noticed some issues against a heavy forecheck, but he's young: all of Denver's d-core seems to have the same problem.

 

[Goldenhands]

 

[Hammer Slammer]

Edited together his game last night. No points but he was everywhere. He's fun to watch.