Canucks Have a Future Star in Zeev Buium

All eyes will be on Vancouver Canucks defenceman Zeev Buium entering the 2026-27 season. It makes sense why, as he was the crown jewel of the Quinn Hughes blockbuster trade. It’s not often that a 20-year-old defenceman with plenty of pedigree is moved, but it makes sense when a Norris Trophy winner was in play. Buium put up three goals and 12 points in 45 games as a Canuck in 2025-26, which is not bad at all for an inexperienced young player joining a team with little offence.

The Canucks should also be looking to extend Buium, and to come up with a price, they have to balance out a variety of outcomes. As he has limited experience, the team isn’t paying for what he’s done, but rather what he will bring over the course of his contract.

A Foundational Piece of the Rebuild

It’s important to get the idea that Buium will be equal to Quinn Hughes out of Canucks fans’ heads. Hughes became the team’s all-time defenceman points leader at only age 25. He is one of only 13 defencemen in NHL history to put up 90-plus points in a season, doing so in his 2023-24 Norris Trophy-winning campaign.

However, if Buium is even 70% of the player that Hughes is, then he could be a foundational piece of a potentially successful Canucks rebuild. Becoming the best defenceman in the world is a pipe dream, but filling in on the top pair for a decade-plus would be a great outcome for him.

Buium is largely an offence-focused defenceman who drives play and can quarterback a power play exceptionally well. He was dominant in college, putting up impressive numbers for Denver en route to a National Championship in his draft year. It was the World Juniors, though, where fans around the world took notice of him. Buium impressed his first go-around with Team USA at the WJC, making the roster as the only draft-eligible skater and putting up three goals and two assists in six games. He stepped up in the following WJC, leading Team USA in ice time and becoming the main power play facilitator.

Buium was flying all over the ice in the 2025 WJC and looked poised and confident as he constantly joined the attack. If this can translate to the NHL, it will be difficult to stop the Canucks’ offence with such a relentless offensive producer on the blue line. He could put up 75-85 points in his prime if surrounded by other talented players. It feels like he could become a souped-up version of Shayne Gostisbehere with more opportunity to lead an attack.

An Opportunity in 2026-27

We won’t see the best version of Buium in 2026-27, as there is still plenty of room for him to grow. Still, it will be the job of the coaches to put him in the position to hone his skills as early as possible, so the Canucks can reap the rewards of his acquisition down the line.

As mentioned previously, the power play is one of Buium’s strengths. He immediately found a role on the first power-play unit and scored in his first game with the team. The Canucks eventually rotated their power-play units around, and he got demoted to the second unit, but it seems likely he’ll get a longer leash this time around. He also will likely continue to play with Filip Hronek on the top pair, which is a great fit, as Hronek helped unlock another gear in Quinn Hughes in the past.

Projecting a point total for a player like Buium in 2026-27 is difficult. A lot of it will depend on how the talent surrounding him will look, with players like Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser needing to get better after poor showings last season. The lack of surrounding talent also helps, though, as it’s rare that a defenceman of Buium’s age gets full reins of a power play. If all goes well, though, maybe we could see Buium put up around 45-50 points for the Canucks. He has a major role and the tools to do so, though it would be a major jump from his 2025-26 numbers.

Room for Growth

While Canucks fans should be optimistic about Buium this season, there should always be the expectation of a sophomore slump. 

Buium has been, to put it nicely, not great defensively to start his career. This is largely to be expected, though, as defencemen this young rarely see playing time with their NHL team. There’s a learning curve to shutting down opposition, and it will probably take a few seasons for him to become fully acclimated to NHL defending. Still, he was propped up for his defensive IQ as a prospect, so we will see if that can translate.

One of the other concerns with Buium is his size and physicality. He stands at exactly 6 feet, which is slightly below-average for an NHL blueliner. As a prospect, his lack of physicality and strength in puck battles was a concern, and it will limit his effectiveness, especially in his own zone if he can’t grow into his frame.

Reason to be Optimistic

Buium is a true blue-chip piece of the Canucks’ rebuild. He is easily the best defenceman of the future the team has, and could maybe even be the best blueliner on the squad as early as this upcoming season. There’s a reason why the Seattle Kraken asked for him in a Shane Wright trade, and there’s a reason the Canucks declined. While yes, there are some areas of growth that he will need to address with his play, he very well could be the Canucks’ number-one-defenceman of the future.