Looking ahead to 2026-27, the breakout watch has to start with Vancouver’s Zeev Buium.
That’s the kind of leap teams dream on: a young player who arrives with a big reputation, settles in, and then starts looking like a fixture. Buium already fits that mold in a lot of ways.
He was dealt to Vancouver in the unforgettable December trade with Minnesota for Quinn Hughes, then had to make the jump from a strong Wild team to the league’s worst club while also taking on a two-minute bump in ice time to 20:21 as a Canuck. For a rookie defenseman, that was a heavy lift.
It took some time, but by the spring he was starting to find his rhythm. Vancouver used him in the right kind of rookie deployment, with more than 60% of his shifts beginning in the offensive zone, and he still managed to post a respectable 49.3% corsi for at five-on-five. Even with all the turbulence around him, the Canucks finished with the 14th-best power play in the league at over 21%, and Buium’s work as the young quarterback helped fill the void left by Hughes.
The fit beside Filip Hronek also matters. The 28-year-old right-shot defenseman gave Vancouver a strong anchor on the back end, and the pair finished last season looking like a pairing the club can trust at the top of the lineup heading into next year. If Buium is going to take the next step, that partnership gives him a real runway.
The résumé is already loaded for a player with just 76 professional games under his belt. Buium helped the United States win gold at the 2025 IIHF World Championships after coming straight out of Denver, then added back-to-back World Junior titles in 2024 and 2025.
Before that, he won gold at the under-18 championships in 2023. And in his freshman year at Denver in 2024, he helped deliver an NCAA DI National Championship while putting up 50 points in 42 games, second-most on the Pioneers.
With that kind of hardware, Buium passed on another shot to play for the United States at this summer’s IIHF, apparently choosing to focus on preparing for 2026-27 instead. That makes sense given what’s ahead.
Vancouver is coming off a last-place finish, but Manny Malhotra takes over behind the bench with a more structured approach, and the roster still has names like Hronek, Elias Pettersson, and Brock Boeser. There’s uncertainty around that veteran group, and the new regime will be trying to move past the forgettable one-and-done coaching stint from Adam Foote.
Buium may not be some hidden name no one sees coming, but he’s still the kind of young defenseman fans will circle on the schedule. After 12 points in 45 games in his Vancouver debut, he looks poised to take over the No. 1 power-play unit and could be logging around 23 minutes a night. If that happens, the Canucks will have a 20-year-old at the center of everything on the blue line, and Buium could start building the kind of point totals that make him their next No. 1 defenseman for a long time.
In Other News...
Canucks Rebuild Could Hinge On A Surprise Prospect Breakthrough
The Canucks rebuild is no longer just about the names at the top of the draft board. As the organization keeps looking for the next wave of help, attention is starting to shift toward the mid-to-late-round prospects who can change the direction of a roster without the fanfare of a first-round pick. Kirill Kudryavtsev, Dmitry Ivchenko, Lucian Bernat and Anthony Romani all fit that category, the kind of players whose development can quietly shape how fast a rebuild actually moves.
For Vancouver, the real pressure point is simple: successful late-round scouting can make a young core look deeper and the future look less fragile. Other NHL teams have found real value by getting more than expected out of those types of picks, and the Canucks are hoping some version of that happens here. The question hanging over this group is whether one of them can turn from a promising long shot into a legitimate piece of the next contender. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Face A Tough Crease Decision With Tolopilo This Camp
Nikita Tolopilo heads into camp as one of the more interesting pieces in the Canucks crease picture after spending the 2025-26 season between Vancouver and the AHL. His play was uneven in both stops, with a goals-against average above 3.00 at each level, but the organization still has to sort out what comes next for a young goalie who is expected to push for a backup or tandem role in 2026-27.
The wrinkle for Vancouver is that Tolopilo is not just competing for ice time, he is also forcing a larger roster conversation alongside Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen. His performance in training camp and preseason will shape whether the Canucks keep him in the mix as they navigate their rebuild, and how much they might be willing to explore other options if he does not seize the moment. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Lekkerimki Is Reaching A Make Or Break Canucks Season
Jonathan Lekkerimkis path has already included promising stretches in the American Hockey League with the Abbotsford Canucks and cameos across parts of three NHL seasons, but the next step matters more than any of the previous ones. At 22, he sits at the kind of crossroads that often defines a young forward on a rebuilding team: enough pedigree and offensive touch to keep hope alive, but still searching for the kind of sustained NHL role that turns potential into something more permanent.
For Vancouver, the 2026-27 season shapes up as a real proving ground for that leap. Projections point to regular ice time and even a chance to push into the top six, which would represent a meaningful stride for a club trying to sort out its future core. Another trip back to Abbotsford would not be a disaster, but it would clearly fall short of expectations for a player the Canucks need to start trusting at the NHL level. [Read more 🡒]