All eyes in Vancouver are going to be on Zeev Buium when the 2026-27 season opens. That comes with the territory when you’re the centerpiece of the Quinn Hughes blockbuster trade, and when you’re a 20-year-old defenceman with real pedigree stepping into a big role.
Buium’s first season with the Canucks gave a glimpse of why the organization valued him so highly. In 45 games in 2025-26, he scored three goals and finished with 12 points, a solid return for a young blueliner joining a team that didn’t have much offence around him. Now the conversation shifts to what comes next, and whether Vancouver should be looking to lock him up before the price climbs even higher.
That’s the tricky part with a player like Buium. The Canucks aren’t paying for a finished product. They’re trying to price in what he can become over the life of a new deal, and that means weighing a wide range of outcomes.
What they should not do is expect him to be Quinn Hughes.
Hughes set a ridiculous standard in Vancouver, becoming the franchise’s all-time defenceman points leader at age 25. He’s also one of only 13 defencemen in NHL history to post a 90-point season, doing it in his 2023-24 Norris Trophy-winning year.
Buium does not need to reach that level to matter. If he becomes even 70% of that player, the Canucks would have something they can build around for a long time.
And that’s the real appeal here. Buium is an offence-first defenceman who pushes play and can run a power play.
He was a force at Denver, helping lead the program to a National Championship in his draft year. But it was at the World Juniors where he really started turning heads.
In his first run with Team USA, he was the only draft-eligible skater on the roster and still produced three goals and two assists in six games. The next WJC, he took on even more responsibility, leading Team USA in ice time and becoming the main power-play facilitator.
In the 2025 WJC, he was all over the ice, joining the attack constantly and looking calm while doing it. If that style translates cleanly to the NHL, the Canucks could end up with a blue-line weapon that makes their offence harder to contain.
In the right setup, he has the kind of upside that could land him in the 75-85 point range at his peak. A souped-up version of Shayne Gostisbehere with more room to drive an attack is the kind of ceiling that makes people pay attention.
For 2026-27, though, the focus is less on the finished version and more on the runway. Buium still has plenty of room to grow, and the Canucks’ job is to put him in positions where he can sharpen the parts of his game that will matter most later.
The power play is the obvious place to start. He earned a spot on the first unit right away and scored in his first game with the team.
Vancouver eventually shuffled the units and moved him down, but there’s a good chance he gets a longer leash this time. He also should continue alongside Filip Hronek on the top pair, a combination that makes sense given how Hronek helped unlock another gear in Quinn Hughes before.
Trying to pin down Buium’s point total this season is no easy task. A lot depends on the talent around him, and players like Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser need to rebound after poor showings last season.
At the same time, the Canucks’ lack of depth could work in his favor, since it’s rare for a defenceman his age to be given that much control over a power play. If everything clicks, 45-50 points is at least in the range of possibility.
There are still warning signs, and they’re hard to ignore. Buium has not been great defensively to start his NHL career, though that’s not exactly shocking for a player this young.
Defending at this level takes time, and it may take a few seasons before he looks fully comfortable in his own end. He came into the league with a reputation for defensive IQ, so that part of his game will be worth watching closely.
His size is another issue. At exactly 6 feet, he’s a little below average for an NHL defenceman, and his lack of physicality and strength in puck battles could continue to show up, especially in his own zone if he doesn’t add more to his frame.
Even with those concerns, the upside is obvious. Buium is a true blue-chip piece for the Canucks’ rebuild and already looks like their best defenceman of the future.
He might even be their best blueliner as soon as this season. There’s a reason the Seattle Kraken asked for him in a Shane Wright trade, and there’s a reason Vancouver said no.
The growth areas are real, but so is the possibility that Buium ends up as the Canucks’ number-one defenceman of the future.
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