Steal of the first round? Wild trade up, snag NCAA champ Zeev Buium at 12

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LAS VEGAS — This is how much the Minnesota Wild loved University of Denver freshman defenseman Zeev Buium, who fell into their lap in the first round of Friday night’s draft.

For the past few weeks, ever since it got out that University of Michigan standout Rutger McGroarty didn’t want to sign with the Winnipeg Jets, who drafted him at No. 14 two years ago, the Wild dangled the No. 13 pick in front of their division rival’s face as potential trade bait to snag him.

But that trade would have to be dependent on what names were on the board for each team when it got to 13.

As the first round got outside the top 10, activity picked up at the Jets’ table, despite the fact they didn’t own a first-round pick. Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff began whispering into the ears of the execs to his left and right, flipping through his draft binder. His right-hand man pulled out his laptop and put a privacy filter on the top. Cheveldayoff twice walked to the other side of the table, got down on one knee and huddled with three scouts.

He twice picked up his phone, once before No. 11 and once before No. 12, to call another table.

Both calls ended quickly.

There was probably only one player left on the board who could have kept Minnesota from pulling the trigger with the Jets, and that was Buium, a dynamic 18-year-old blueliner in an organization that’s starved for offensive-minded, puck-moving defensemen who can quarterback a power play.

In fact, earlier this week, Wild president of hockey operations and GM Bill Guerin said on KFAN that the Wild were going to take Buium if he somehow was there for them.

Well, the Wild didn’t take any chance that another team would leapfrog them. Director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett made the call to use the Wild’s 2025 third-round pick to move up a one spot to No. 12 in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers so they could select Buium, the top-rated American-born prospect by NHL Central Scouting.

“I think the Wild got an absolute steal at 12,” said Pioneers coach David Carle. “I think five years from now you’ll see that proves out even more in all the re-drafts that everybody likes to do.”

The Athletic’s draft experts, Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler, agreed. Pronman gave the pick an A+ grade and Wheeler called it “one of the best picks of the night.”

Buium, who plans to attend development camp in Minnesota next month, called the Wild selecting him “the best feeling in the world.”

“Seeing them trade up, I had a pretty good feeling that it could be me,” he said. “I couldn’t be more honored for them to make that decision to get me.”

Pronman called Buium “one of the best draft-eligible defensemen I’ve ever seen” at the college level and a player with “game-breaking potential” who “looks like a potential star No. 1 defenseman in the NHL who will put up big numbers.”

“At 13, we knew a lot of the draft would be dictated to us,” Brackett said. “You sit there anxiously watching players that we have interest in come off the board, trying to anticipate if it’s time to move back or hold tight. We were there with bated breath a bit. But when he was there and there was a chance, even if it’s one spot, to secure the player that we truly covet, we had to do it. It wasn’t much of a decision.”

Buium recorded the first 50-point season by a Denver freshman in 40 years, leading the team with 39 assists and adding 11 goals as the second-youngest player in college hockey in 2023-24. His 50 points ranked second on the Pioneers and marked just the sixth time a defenseman reached the 50-point threshold in the program’s 75-year history and the third such instance by a freshman rear guard.

Buium called Carle the best coach he’s ever had, and what a year the two had together.

With Carle as his coach, Buium scored the winning goal in the championship game to bring a gold medal to the United States in the World Junior Championship.

At Xcel Energy Center, an arena he has never lost in, Buium won a pair of championships in the spring: first, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff, in which he scored an overtime winner against St. Cloud State; and then the NCAA Frozen Four, in which he was the best player on the ice in both games, including against No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini and Boston University.

“To win two championships in that building already feels really good,” said Buium, a San Diego native who spent two years playing in Faribault at Shattuck-St. Mary’s and once spent an entire summer on Lake Minnetonka.

In the NCAA championship, it was Buium’s beautiful assist of now-fellow Wild prospect Rieger Lorenz’s goal that extended the Pioneers’ lead to 2-0.

“He cares about winning as much as any player I’ve ever coached, and he’ll do whatever it takes to win,” said Carle, who will again coach Buium at Denver as a sophomore and in the 2025 World Junior Championship. “Look at what he did at the world juniors. He didn’t play a lot of power-play time. But he led our team in plus-minus, did what he was asked, helped our team win a gold medal, scores the game-winning goal in the game, and he’s excellent all tournament long. And then he takes on a bigger role with us at Denver and helps lead us to a title.

“He’s a winner of a person, and that helps him become a winner on the ice, and I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Buium also won an Under-18 World Championship in 2023, was a first-team All-American and made the Frozen Four All-Tournament Team. He was also recognized as the NCHC Rookie of the Year, the NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year, was a finalist for the Tim Taylor Award as the national rookie of the year and a Hobey Baker nominee.

He tied for the team lead with his brother, Shai, and ranked fourth in the NCAA with a plus-33 — the highest rating for a Pioneer since the statistic first began being tracked in 2005-06. He tied for second on DU in power-play scoring with 14 points and ranked third on the squad with 41 blocked shots.

“A lot of people with his skill set would come in and just be like, ‘Yeah, I’m comfortable just putting up points and doing that,’” Carle said. “But Zeev wanted to work on his defense. He wanted to work on his gaps and closing plays and killing plays in the corner and being a better defender. And I think that’s his mindset. That’s what makes him so special. Zeev’s a competitive kid. He’ll work on his deficiencies, but that’ll continue to accentuate his strengths.

“That’s what we saw this year. We saw a player who wanted to work on that side of the game, and it only made his offensive game all the better because when you defend well, you don’t have to defend very long, and that’s something that Zeev has really been able to grasp on to.”

Guerin had a busy day Friday as he met with defenseman Brock Faber’s agents to begin initial contract talks toward a potential lucrative extension this offseason. He indicated that he’s been involved in trade talks, as well. The Wild have shown interest in Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine if half of his $8.7 million cap hit is retained for the next two years.

The draft resumes Saturday morning (10:30 a.m. CT) with Rounds 2 through 7. The Wild currently own picks at 45, 110, 140, 142 and 174, but Guerin was clearly already content after landing Buium on Friday.

Guerin doesn’t think Buium is far from turning pro. They’ll see how his sophomore year at Denver goes, but Guerin said his staff thinks Buium will “play for a long time in the NHL and have a big impact on our team. There’s a lot to like about him. His skill, puck-moving ability, hockey sense, character. He’s got a winning pedigree.”

Buium comes from a tight family whose parents, Sorin and Miriam, immigrated to southern California from Israel before Zeev was born. His mom played professional basketball in Israel. They had 80 family members and friends at the draft, including a handful who came in from Israel.

Funny enough, Carle said Buium unofficially committed to DU when he was 14 or 15 years old by tagging along on older brother Shai’s official visit.

“I mean, Zeev might have been 5-1 at the time,” Carle said, smiling. “You could tell his eyes were big and he was loving everything, had a smile on his face, just like he does today. I mean, he loves coming to the rink. There’s always a smile on his face. And when we offered Shai, Shai played it cool and was like, ‘Give me a day or two, I want to think about it.’

“Zeev looked at him and was like, ‘What are you waiting on?’” For us to then be able to go through the official recruiting process with Zeev was really special, and you couldn’t script a better year for them and for the brothers to win a championship together.”

Carle said family is everything to Buium.

“It teaches him a level of selflessness and that you’re a part of something bigger than yourself,” Carle said.

Said Buium, “It just felt so special. To hug my mom. To hug my dad. They made so many sacrifices for my brothers and I. To hug them was so special. Then to hug my two brothers who’ve mentored me this entire time feels even better. It’s a moment that I can’t fully explain. It was awesome.”

(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

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