It’s that time of the year for The Win Column’s NHL Draft Rankings and Draft Profiles! The 2024 NHL Draft will take place on June 28 and 29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
Next up in our rankings Zeev Buium. His strong play this year has rocketed him up rankings as Buium is currently ranked as one of the top defenders in the 2024 draft after coming into the season as a projected late first-round or even second-round pick.
Who is Zeev Buium?
| Player | Position | Handedness | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zeev Buium | D | L | 6’0″ | 183 lbs |
Buium is a left shot defenceman standing at 6’0″ and 183 pounds. He was born in Laguna Niguel, California and much like most American-born players has worked his way up the USNTDP ranks. With a 2005 birthday he’s one of the older players in the draft and made the jump to the NCAA this past season.
Buium’s on-ice production
| Year | Draft Relative | League | Team | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | D-2 | U.S. | U.S. National U17 | 49 | 4 | 9 | 13 |
| USNTDP Juniors | 32 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||
| 2022–23 | D-1 | NTDP | U.S. National U18 | 63 | 5 | 35 | 40 |
| USHL | USNTDP Juniors | 23 | 2 | 10 | 12 | ||
| 2023–24 | D+0 | NCAA | University of Denver | 40 | 11 | 38 | 49 |
Just looking at Buium’s production, you can tell why he’s had a steady rise up draft boards over the past two seasons. During his D-2 year he posted 13 points in 49 games the U17 U.S. National team, as well as five points in 32 games in the USHL. It is worth mentioning that he was the highest-scoring 2024 draft-eligible defenceman on the U17 team, behind a pair of 2023 draftees.
The following year he saw a huge jump in production for the U18 team, putting up 40 points in 63 games to lead his team from the blueline. He became just the second defenceman to put up at least 40 points for the U18 team since the 2019–20 season. He also added 12 points in 23 games in the USHL.
This most recent season Buium made the jump to college hockey and made waves, rising up draft rankings due to his superb production for a draft-eligible defenceman. He posted 49 points in 40 games, leading his team in scoring by a defenceman and tying for the most by a blueliner across the entire NCAA along with 2022 draftee Lane Hutson.
In fact, Buium’s 49 points were the third most by a U19 defenceman in NCAA history and the most since 1983. He’s outpaced former draft-eligible defenceman in the NCAA like Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski and Charlie McAvoy.
He’s also had some successful international stints over the past two years. He posted six points in seven games at the U18 World Championships last season and this most recent season put up five points in seven games to help the U.S.A. win gold at the 2024 World Juniors.
Buium’s strengths
Hockey IQ
It’s not a stretch to say Buium is the smartest defenceman in the draft. Not only that but he may be one of the smartest players in the draft period. He’s just so good at processing the play and using that to make the right decision with the puck. Skating, shooting and other traits like that can be worked on, but seeing the game the way Buium does can’t be taught and it’s what makes him stand out. His hockey sense is just off-the-charts good.
His head is always on a swivel as he’s constantly processing every play at a high level and will make plays that other players can’t see. Below is a great example of Buium using his heads-up play to drive the net before making a nice backhand cross-crease pass for a tap-in.
His heads-up play gives him an advantage in not only the offensive zone but in all three zones on the ice. Whether it’s breaking the puck out of the defensive zone, walking the line to open up passing lanes, or gaining the offensive zone Buium is constantly thinking two steps ahead.
He’s able to make key plays in important areas of the ice because of how confident he is in his decision-making. His patience and ability to let the play happen in front of him before making a decision is something every NHL coach dreams of for their defenceman. He reads the ice so well and consistently makes plays that fly under the radar but are incredibly impressive when you watch them back. To be able to process such a fast game at the rate Buium does is incredibly rare for an 18-year-old defenceman.
Work rate
Another impressive aspect of his game is his overall work rate. He’s the type of defenceman who can impact all three zones on the ice. Whether it’s creating a scoring chance, shutting down one at the other end, or making smart plays in transitional Buium is constantly all over the ice. He’s a workhorse out there, consistently impacting plays all over the ice and it’s why he averaged over 20 minutes a game at Denver this season as a freshman.
Buium is the type of defenceman who can win a puck battle down low and then quickly transition up ice and move the puck through the neutral zone and gain the offensive zone. He possesses an active stick in the defensive zone which makes him hard to beat. In transition, he isn’t the best skater, but he’s strong on his edges and uses his elite IQ to make smart plays to exit and gain the zone.
Throughout a game he’ll consistently make high-impact plays and get involved in all three zones, contributing in multiple ways. He’s what you would call a busy player—but in a good way. It’s the reason he’s able to impact games in so many different ways. He’s your classic two-way, puck-moving defenceman which has become an incredibly important asset in the modern NHL.
Buium’s areas of improvement
Physicality
One of the only major knocks on Buium is his lack of physical play. He doesn’t exactly have a physical presence on the ice which certainly concerns some scouts. In the NCAA he can get by, but in the NHL it won’t be as easy to avoid that type of play. He’s quite small in stature and a little lanky, currently weighing in under 190 pounds despite being six feet tall so he doesn’t have much to offer when it comes to the physical side of the game.
It’s not a major negative, but it certainly impacts his overall effectiveness at times in all three zones and will only become more noticeable in the NHL. He’ll have to work on not only adding more size to his frame but also utilizing the physical side of the game more often. With how many defencemen there are available at the top of the draft, Buium’s lack of physical play and athletic tools may scare off some teams and lead them to pick more physically capable defenders.
Buium’s comparables
Buium isn’t as flashy as players like Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes and doesn’t have the offensive upside they do but he plays a similar game to those types of puck-moving defenceman in the NHL. He always finds a way to contribute offensively and make an impact at both ends of the ice, much like a Makar or Hughes. As well, he doesn’t do so at the expense of defence—he’s able to contribute at both ends simultaneously.
Perhaps the best comparable for Buium would be Kris Letang. Both players aren’t the biggest but have elite hockey IQ and high-end puck skills to go along with strong transitional play—AKA the prototypical puck-moving defenceman. Just like Letang, Buium is able to generate offence at an impressive rate without giving up a ton defensively.
Fit with the Flames
Buium would be a tremendous fit with the Flames. The team is severely lacking in high-end defence prospects and Buium would immediately become the top blueline prospect in the organization. Craig Conroy has done a good job of adding more bodies to the Flames pipeline on defence, but they’re still missing that true blue-chip game-changer on defence. The type of player with legitimate top-pairing upside. Buium would be just that.
He carries all the traits of a potential future first-pairing defenceman and is built to play in today’s NHL with his high-end transitional play and puck-moving abilities. If the Flames can land Buium in the eight to ten range it would be a huge win for the organization.
Summary
Buium may not be grabbing the same headlines as other top defenders in the draft class like Zayne Parekh or Artyom Levshunov but there’s no denying the talent he possesses. He may not be super flashy or offer elite athletic abilities, but he has everything you could hope for in an NHL defenceman. You can’t teach players to think the game like he does.
There’s a very good chance he becomes at minimum a top-four defenceman at the next level due to his elite hockey IQ and high-end skill, but he also carries real star potential and could be a true top-pairing defender in the NHL if everything goes well with his development.
Risk: 2/5
Reward: 4/5
Projection: Top four puck-moving defenceman
Check out all of The Win Column’s individual player profiles of selected 2024 NHL Draft prospects:
Macklin Celebrini | Ivan Demidov | Artyom Levshunov | Sam Dickinson | Cayden Lindstrom | Berkly Catton | Cole Eiserman | Zeev Buium | Konsta Helenius | Zayne Parekh | Carter Yakemchuk | Anton Silayev | Tij Iginla | Adam Jiricek | Michael Brandsegg-Nygard | Liam Greentree | Igor Chernyshov | Trevor Connelly | Aron Kiviharju | Michael Hage | Ryder Ritchie | Sacha Boisvert | Nikita Artamonov
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