Zeev Buium is ready to exceed expectations - again

LAS VEGAS - Zeev Buium rose from his seat inside Sphere on Friday night, pivoted to his left, and wrapped his arms around his beaming mom, Miriam.

The hug lasted five seconds - an eternity when the dream of being selected in the NHL draft has become reality and the whole hockey world is watching.

"It just felt so special. To hug my mom. To hug my dad (Sorin). They made so many sacrifices for my brothers and I," the San Diego-born defenseman said. "And then to hug my two brothers, who mentored me this entire time, feels even better. It's a moment I can't fully explain, but it was awesome."

Buium was one of six consensus top defensemen in the 2024 draft class. He watched Artyom Levshunov (second overall), Carter Yakemchuk (seventh), Zayne Parekh (ninth), Anton Silayev (10th), and Sam Dickinson (11th) walk one by one to the event stage to shake NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's hand.

Considered a top-five talent by many draft pundits, Buium wasn't supposed to be available at 12. Philadelphia then dealt that pick to Minnesota for 13th and a 2025 third-rounder. The Wild weren't going to let their guy slide past 12.

"Seeing them trade up, I had a pretty good feeling it could be me," Buium said. "I couldn't be more honored for them to make that decision to get me."

Corey Pronman, the sport's preeminent prospect analyst, gave the Wild an A+ grade for the pick. Scouts believe Buium - who recorded 50 points for the University of Denver in his freshman year - can blossom into a top-pairing defenseman. He's the exact type of blue-liner the Wild needed for their prospect pool: a two-way puck-mover who might one day run the power play.

On a personal level, Buium's ready to exceed expectations - just as he has many times before as a California kid who welcomes challenges with open arms.

Miriam and Sorin Buium were born and raised in Israel. The Jewish couple moved to San Diego in their early 20s with around $1,000 and little grasp of the English language. Their oldest kid, Ben, now 23, was born a year later.

Their second, Shai, now 21, was the first family member to gravitate toward hockey. After watching a relative skate on local ice, Shai wouldn't stop talking about an expensive sport out of the mainstream in Southern California. Miriam, a former elite basketball player, and Sorin, who works in heating and cooling, eventually relented. Naturally, their youngest, Zeev, now 18, followed.

In those early years, Miriam would drive two-plus hours one way to Los Angeles for ice time. Three times a week, the Buium boys would eat meals and finish schoolwork in the car before skates at the L.A. Kings' practice facility in El Segundo. After a while, the family decided to move to Laguna Niguel - a mid-sized city between San Diego and L.A. - to halve the commute.

"It's a competitive, loving family," Denver Pioneers head coach David Carle said. "It's a family where everybody pushes each other and holds each other to a high standard. But they also have fun. They love to laugh and joke."

At different points, all three brothers moved to Minnesota to attend Shattuck-St. Mary's, a prep school located about an hour from the Wild's home arena, Xcel Energy Center. In his two years at Shattuck, Zeev learned how to be both a self-sufficient teenager - staying on top of schoolwork and laundry, for starters - and a dynamic blue-liner. He split his time between forward and defense in California but transitioned to full-time D duty at Shattuck.

"Being small forced me to use my hockey IQ and the creativity I developed as a roller-hockey player. I basically had to problem-solve with and without the puck, all the time," Buium recalled. "To this day, IQ is my biggest strength."

Jeff Pellegrini, Buium's second-year coach, said the defenseman would sometimes "take chances and try things that were maybe too risky."

"But you don't want to put handcuffs on Zeev," he said. "Nowadays, I see some of the escape moves he makes at the blue line, and the puck protection on the breakout, and everything else that makes him a special player, and I'm really impressed. We saw glimpses of that at a young age, but it's been polished and refined."

The next stop for Buium: Ann Arbor, Michigan, to represent his country every day as part of the U.S. National Team Development Program. While USA Hockey saw potential in the left-shot D-man, Buium didn't start the 2021-22 season as some hotshot from a southern state. He had to prove himself.

"As the year went on," NTDP assistant coach Chad Kolarik said, "Zeev dominated. He was on our top pair and first power play. In a way, it played out the way we thought it might. The way we hoped. But you never really know, and it just took him a little bit longer to push through and to assert himself."

Two things stick out to Kolarik about Buium's two-year run at the NTDP, which was headlined by 40 points in 63 games and an Under-18 world championship gold medal in Year 2. One: Buium's "infectious personality" and unique ability to connect with every player on the team. Two: his immense strength gains.

"You turn a kid into a man pretty darn quickly here," Kolarik said of the NTDP's emphasis on weight training. "He had the want and the care on and off the ice. He was always in the gym and would one of the last guys on the ice. He'd be shooting pucks when the Zamboni's in the entrance waiting for him to get off. He's that kid. The game doesn't really feel like work to him."

Buium was 5-foot-9 and relatively weak at the start of his NTDP tenure. He's since shed the "small" label thanks to measurables of 6 feet and 185 pounds as of early June. He's never going to be an imposing, shutdown defenseman. Yet he's perfectly capable of defending opponents of all sizes due to his strong skating, good stick, hockey sense, and overall commitment to winning.

Buium's tour of the Midwest brought him to Colorado last fall, and boy, did he deliver as the second-youngest player in college hockey. He led all defensemen in scoring with 11 goals and 39 assists in just 42 games. He played a starring role in a gold medal-winning world juniors for the Americans (five points in seven games, including a goal in the final game) and then was named to the Frozen Four All-Tournament team after winning an NCAA title.

The whirlwind of on-ice success culminated with an exuberant celebration with Shai, his Denver teammate and a 2021 second-round pick of the Red Wings. "It's f-----g unbelievable!" Zeev said live on ESPN. "Oh, sorry. Uh, it's great."

No matter what happens in the pros, Shai and Zeev will forever have the 2023-24 season. "It was super unique to play with him in college," Zeev said. "To be on the team that won, it is truly amazing. Hopefully when I'm 40, 50 years old and sitting in my basement, I'll be able to wrap my head around it."

That year left no doubts about Buium's ability to rise to the occasion. He isn't simply an offensive whiz who loves to fake out defenders at the offensive blue line. No, his game has substance and big-game qualities. His personal goal at the start of his draft year was to "be a guy who can be trusted to play in the final two minutes of the game if we're up a goal." Mission accomplished.

"He's not a guy who only gets excited to score the goal or set up the goal. He wants to kill a play on the other team's zone entry. He wants to go battle in the corner. He wants to pop the puck to the middle of the ice on our breakout," Carle said. "He just wants to impact the game in any way that he can to help the team win. From an actual practical standpoint, what did he get better at the most at Denver? I would probably say his defensive game."

This full package is what truly excited the Wild's front office Friday. General manager Bill Guerin believes in Buium's two-way ability. It's not difficult to picture him skating alongside Calder Trophy runner-up Brock Faber - a righty - for the next decade. The Wild's under-25 core of Faber, forwards Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Danila Yurov, Marat Khusnutdinov, Riley Heidt, and goalie Jesper Wallstedt desperately needed an injection of blue-line talent.

Buium recently got a giant tattoo on his left arm. It lists in Hebrew the dates for his U18 gold, world junior gold, and NCAA title. Whether it's another Frozen Four victory or, down the road, a Stanley Cup, Buium might not be done coloring his body with reminders of how far he's come and what he's accomplished. The hockey journey that started in San Diego is just beginning.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).