What Zeev Buium will bring to the Canucks’ blueline

The Vancouver Canucks made a big swing when they dealt defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for center Marco Rossi, winger Liam Öhgren, defenseman Zeev Buium, and a 2026 first-round pick.

While they will miss Hughes, who ended his time with the Canucks as the franchise’s top scoring blueliner, the new era has gotten off to a strong start with four straight wins. Meanwhile, Buium has stood out in his first few appearances, filling the void left by Hughes as a dynamic, puck-moving defenseman. 

Steve Peters joined Daily Faceoff Live with Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to talk about how Buium could progress in Vancouver in The Fim Room. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s go to Buium next and flip this to the Vancouver side of the conversation… he feels like he has a chance to be the guy who really swings how we view this trade in the next three to five years. Is that fair?

Steve Peters: When you look at Buium… It’s a lot of the same things [as Quinn Hughes], his ability to make those long striped patches to help his team break out of the zone, his ability to have that vision to make those plays, his ability to use his feet to help on the offensive side of the puck. Buium does a lot of the things that Quinn Hughes does, but he just doesn’t do them as well, and partly because he’s 20 years old. 

When you watch Buium play, he does it with a different pace than Hughes, especially when he’s joining the rush. He’s got a little bit more jam to his game, and he gets back into the defensive zone with a little bit more jam. When you talk about the footwork and his ability to make quick plays in tight areas, it’s not the same as Hughes. Will it be? Buium is going to be a really good player. Right now, in Vancouver, they are a little looser with their structure and a little looser offensively. I think it should be a great spot for Buium. I think he’s going to be able to play free; he’s going to get the puck up, and he’s going to help their offense, but he’s not Quinn Hughes, and unfortunately, he’ll never be Quinn Hughes.

You can catch the full breakdown of the trade and the rest of the DFO Live episode here…