LD Zeev Buium - University of Denver, NCAA (2024 Draft)

[16thOverallSaveUs]

I will say, teams in the top 5 shouldn't be factoring in need unless you have two guys rated the same or within a certain threshold. Obviously all these teams lists look different but that high in the draft you believe in the work your team has done all season and take the best player on your board, roster be damned.

Pittsburgh has Crosby and Malkin, should they have passed on Staal, Toews and Backstrom to take Kessel or Okposo? (Granted that's an extremely example but still)

There’s certainly truth to the idea of drafting BPA, but you also have to look at what works in in the NHL. Werenski, Matechyuk, Boqvist, and Buium are all offensive defenseman who need powerplay time and freedom to take risks to be maximized as players. How many Stanley cup winning teams have had a blue line that looks like that? They may take a defenseman, I would just think it’s far far more likely to be Dickinson or Silayev

 

[Boxscore]

He's going 6th overall to Utah, imo... and I agree... he's the best D in the draft. He will QB that monster PP in the future and score 70+ points in his prime.

 

[deytookerjaabs]

I don't see the power play need thing. I mean, that's a factor for sure.

What impresses me about his offense (5v5) is watching a game versus watching a highlight reel. He executes all these wonderful moves, but might go a whole game without trying a single one. Fake out a guy or two then cut hard/fast with a perfect backhand on net, come down the boards into a battle then dish a no look between his feet to the forward ready to shoot, he'll fake the fancy play but make the simple pass and vice versa, he'll pull a power forward move right into the paint too. His pass timing is so slick; skate hard through but gently leave the puck, or act like a hard dish is going to X as you soft dish to Y. These are skills that forwards who want to be elite playmakers have.

He can do all that stuff, yet shift to shift he looks like a conservative/responsible player. Usually when you watch a highlight reel of a kid executing those kinds of plays you'll watch a game of them failing the same play a whole bunch of times too. But Buium picks his spots like few others.

TL;DR. He's not a risky player shift to shift, but when he does activate he looks like a high end playmaker/scorer who has tried said play many times before.


I sure hope the GM's aren't all dinosaurs and he gets picked after the top 5 (which is likely). As a Hawks fan I'd hate if we took another D at #2 and would rather the team strike for gold on Zeev or a top forward.

 

[Realgud]

"He can do all that stuff, yet shift to shift he looks like a conservative/responsible player."
"Buium picks his spots like few others."
"but when he does activate he looks like a high end playmaker/scorer who has tried said play many times before."

Completely agree and couldn't have said it better. He's a fascinating player to watch. Exceptional hockey IQ.

 

[MNRube]

Chicago - Korchinski
Anaheim - Zellweger, Mintyukov
Columbus - Mateychuk, Werenski, Boqvist
Montreal - Hutson

I think he drops outside the Top 5 because the teams 2-5 have minimal need for an OFD. I hate drafting for need, but the reality is that this class is a crapshoot after Celebrini and front-offices will get greedy and go for need and size rather then another OFD.

Utah makes a lot of sense. He is a good fit for the blueline they are building with Lamoreaux / Simashev.

 

[majormajor]

Chicago - Korchinski
Anaheim - Zellweger, Mintyukov
Columbus - Mateychuk, Werenski, Boqvist
Montreal - Hutson

I think he drops outside the Top 5 because the teams 2-5 have minimal need for an OFD. I hate drafting for need, but the reality is that this class is a crapshoot after Celebrini and front-offices will get greedy and go for need and size rather then another OFD.

Utah makes a lot of sense. He is a good fit for the blueline they are building with Lamoreaux / Simashev.

With the possible exception of MIntyukov in '22, I like Zeev Buium more as a draft prospect than any of them as draft prospects. We'll see how he turns out and how each of them turn out, but I think it's very possible Buium is the one who slides those other guys down and makes them expendable in a trade.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Nice interview from Combine with Mike Morreale and Adam Kimelman.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

The only real knock I can see is him potentially having issues with bigger/more aggressive forechecking players along the walls/corners (at times).

He's a smart enough player that most times he'll be able to move the puck along to a teammate & absorb the contact, but I don't think he has the explosive skating ability of guys like Makar/Hughes to evade+create separation with his feet. (He is shifty so maybe around the net he could leverage that, but..)

In saying that, he does play with grit, so he won't back down from those battles which I really like.

 

[57special]

The only real knock I can see is him potentially having issues with bigger/more aggressive forechecking players along the walls/corners (at times).

He's a smart enough player that most times he'll be able to move the puck along to a teammate & absorb the contact, but I don't think he has the explosive skating ability of guys like Makar/Hughes to evade+create separation with his feet. (He is shifty so maybe around the net he could leverage that, but..)

In saying that, he does play with grit, so he won't back down from those battles which I really like.

Also, while he is a good skater, he isn't fast. That matters because he won't get to pucks in general, or get to pucks quickly enough to avoid a heavy forecheck, which he is not big enough to withstand. I like him as a player, and like his IQ, but like almost every player in this draft after Celebrini, he has weaknesses.

 

[Garbageyuk]

The only real knock I can see is him potentially having issues with bigger/more aggressive forechecking players along the walls/corners (at times).

He's a smart enough player that most times he'll be able to move the puck along to a teammate & absorb the contact, but I don't think he has the explosive skating ability of guys like Makar/Hughes to evade+create separation with his feet. (He is shifty so maybe around the net he could leverage that, but..)

In saying that, he does play with grit, so he won't back down from those battles which I really like.

Hughes isn’t at all the same as Makar when it comes to skating; they are totally different. Hughes is a fantastic technical skater, but he isn’t particularly fast or explosive.

He’s dynamic and very smooth at the same time, and I think people get mesmerized by that, but attaching adjectives like “explosive”, “fast”, and “powerful” to him is crazy; it just isn’t true.
Makar is like McDavid on defense; Hughes skates more like Niedermayer.

I don’t think the gap between Buium and Hughes is all that big, if there’s one at all. They just have different skating styles. There are times when Buium will coast or hang back when it’s safe to do so, and it’s to conserve energy.

Hughes literally never stops moving his feet; it’s like he can’t turn it off, and imo, that along with his size caused him to wear down in the playoffs. By the time of the EDM series, he looked wiped at times and that was only the second round. I don’t see that happening to Buium.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

Hughes isn’t at all the same as Makar when it comes to skating; they are totally different. Hughes is a fantastic technical skater, but he isn’t particularly fast or explosive.

He’s dynamic and very smooth at the same time, and I think people get mesmerized by that, but attaching adjectives like “explosive”, “fast”, and “powerful” to him is crazy; it just isn’t true.
Makar is like McDavid on defense; Hughes skates more like Niedermayer.

I don’t think the gap between Buium and Hughes is all that big, if there’s one at all. They just have different skating styles. There are times when Buium will coast or hang back when it’s safe to do so, and it’s to conserve energy.

Hughes literally never stops moving his feet; it’s like he can’t turn it off, and imo, that along with his size caused him to wear down in the playoffs. By the time of the EDM series, he looked wiped at times and that was only the second round. I don’t see that happening to Buium.

Hughes is definitely fast/quick. He's not explosive like Makar off the line but its the evasiveness with his edgework going into the corner & then he builds separation so quickly with his first few steps. Buium has some of his shiftiness but he doesn't build the separation speed like Quinn imo. Maybe he'll get better at it with added strength, but this was always in Quinn's game.

Hughes got worn down cause they were sending 2 forward into run late hits on him consistently. Hughes is better at evading contact than Buium will be imo, but Buium is bigger than Hughes so he has that advantage.