Wild Sign Defenseman Buium To Three-Year Contract

Israeli-American hockey player Zeev Buium signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild on Sunday, the team announced.

Buium’s three-year deal starts this season, which has one regular-season game at home against Anaheim, so the expectation is that he will make his debut Tuesday night against the Ducks. The Wild need at least one point from the game (a win or overtime/shootout loss) to clinch a playoff spot. (Editor’s note: He did not play Tuesday and may make his debut when the Wild open the playoffs in Vegas on Sunday, April 20).

The Wild drafted Buium (pronounced Boo-y-YUM) with the 12th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after the defenseman’s record-setting freshman season at the University of Denver. Buium helped lead the Pioneers to a national title as a freshman and back to the Frozen Four this year, losing to eventual national champions Western Michigan University in double overtime in the semifinals last week.

In the 2023-24 season, Buium’s 50-point season (11 goals and 39 assists) was the first for a Denver freshman in 40 years, and he was the sixth player in the program’s 75-year history to have 50 points as a freshman. He was the National Collegiate Hockey Conference rookie of the year, offensive defenseman of the year, first-team all-conference, and made the conference and NCAA all-tournament teams.

Yet, his just-concluded sophomore year may have better. He averaged more than 27 minutes of ice time per night (third in the nation), and led defensemen in scoring with 48 points (13 goals and 35 assists). He was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given out annually to the best player in college hockey, a First Team All-American, was selected as the NCHC player of the year, and the NCHC offensive defenseman of the year, and was one of two players to be a unanimous selection to the All-NCHC First Team. He was again named to the NCAA all-tournament team.