Buium is the main piece coming the Canucks' way in their Friday night Quinn Hughes trade.
Had virtually any other player been going the other way, acquiring Zeev Buium would have been massive for the Vancouver Canucks. However, when the player being traded away is prime Quinn Hughes, of course Buium would be considered a downgrade.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Canucks haven’t gotten their hands on something special.
When the Canucks traded former captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild on Friday night, the package they received in return came with pretty much everything they’d asked for — a second-line center, an offensive-defenceman who can potentially take Hughes’ spot, a solid prospect, and a first-round pick. The main piece of this package is undoubtedly Buium, whose potential speaks of promising things.
Of course, replacing Hughes with Buium isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight.
Still, the fact that Buium is one of four pieces coming back to the Canucks is a positive. A talented offensive-defenceman, Buium is in his first NHL season and has three goals and 11 assists in 31 games with the Wild. Despite only being 20 years old, the defenceman has shown a high calibre of play early on in his NHL career and done even more-so at junior levels. The 12th overall draft pick in 2024, Buium was a highly-touted prospect in his draft year and is proving to be living up to the hype. Here’s what The Hockey News had to say about Buium prior to the 2024 NHL Draft.
“He has been really impressive offensively and produced on a strong college team,” said one scout. “He’s proven he can run a power play, and defensively, he’s competing and battling. His offensive game and puck-moving ability are impressive.”
“He gives you a little of everything,” said another scout. “He’s got skill. Defensively, he’s solid. And his hockey IQ is really good. He joins the offense at the right times. He creates offense from the back end, and, at a young age, he’s one of their leaders. He takes games over.”
The fact that Buium has continued to build on these comments is a good thing. The defender, who seems to collect championships everywhere he goes, already has a total of four gold medals to his name. He’s won gold medals once at the U18 World Junior Championship, twice at the U20 World Junior Championship, and once last year during the IIHF World Championship alongside current Canucks Conor Garland and Drew O’Connor. His trophy case also includes one NCAA Championship and one NCAA National Collegiate Hockey Conference Championship, both with the University of Denver.
In college, Buium made a name for himself by consistently being a point-per-game player while being solid defensively. He put up a total of 24 goals and 74 assists in 83 games played as well as ratings of +33 and +17 in 2023–24 and 2024–25 respectively. Buium was also a finalist for the Hobey Baker in his time in Denver.
Internationally, Buium has been relied on by all sorts of U.S. teams at different age groups. In both of the U.S.’s most recent U20 gold medal victories, Buium put up an impressive three-goal, two assist campaign (2023–24) and followed that up with two goals and four assists (2024–25). With the men’s team during the 2025 IIHF World Championship, he put together a goal and three assists despite being the second-youngest player named to the roster.
The one caveat about Buium’s game at the start of his NHL career so far has been the defensive side. Of course, he is barely 30 games into his professional career, so it’s expected that he’s not going to be perfect right off the bat.
In reality, Buium won’t be able to step in and become Hughes himself right off the bat. Hughes holds an uncanny amount of franchise records for defencemen that likely won’t be touched for a pretty long time. To expect Buium to replace the player Vancouver traded away in entirety is unrealistic — but Canucks fans should sleep somewhat soundly knowing that they’re getting a highly-competent offensive-defenceman who can make a near-immediate impact.
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