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Denver sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium has signed a three-year, entry-level contract starting this season with the Minnesota Wild.
Buium is predicted to make his NHL debut on Tuesday evening within the Wild’s regular-season finale in opposition to the Anaheim Geese at Xcel Vitality Middle in St. Paul.
The DU sophomore was named the NCHC participant of the 12 months throughout the 2024-25 season, and he led all NCAA defensemen in scoring with 48 factors whereas rating second amongst all skaters with 35 assists — solely teammate Jack Devine had extra helpers within the nation (44). A unanimous choice on the NCHC all-conference first group for the second consecutive marketing campaign, Buium recorded a career-high 13 objectives and registered a number of factors 13 occasions. He picked up factors in 30 of 41 video games he performed and tallied 38 factors (13 objectives, 25 assists) within the ultimate 31 outings.
A Hobey Baker Award hat trick finalist — Denver’s first since Bobby Brink in 2022 — Buium completed third total in scoring and blocked pictures (50), second in penalty minutes (44), and his plus-17 score was tied for the fourth highest on the squad. He was additionally named a primary group all-American for the second straight season, changing into one in every of 14 repeat all-Individuals in Denver’s historical past and joined Devine as the college’s first repeat first-team members since Henrik Borgstrom in 2017 and 2018.
Buium garnered NCAA Northeast Regional most excellent participant honors this postseason after combining for 5 factors on two objectives and three assists in victories in opposition to No. 2-seed Windfall and No. 1 Boston Faculty on March 28-30 to assist Denver safe its second straight Frozen 4 berth and its sixth journey to the ultimate weekend within the final 9 seasons. The rearguard tallied in each outings of regionals to stretch his aim streak to a personal-best three video games, and he picked up his fifth three-point outing of 2024-25 with a aim and two assists in opposition to the Friars within the regional semifinals.
The San Diego, Calif., native started the marketing campaign with three assists on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage and scored three objectives on Nov. 15 at North Dakota to turn into the primary Pioneer defenseman to file a hat trick since Ryan Caldwell on Feb. 14, 2004 versus Minnesota State. It was the tenth hat trick by a D-man at school historical past and was simply the third three-goal outing by a rearguard within the NCHC — Western Michigan’s Ronnie Attard had the earlier two on Oct. 19, 2021 at Colgate and Feb. 4, 2022 at Colorado Faculty. Buium additionally recorded a trio of factors on Nov. 9 vs. Lindenwood (three assists) and Jan. 10 vs. Miami (aim, two assists) and owns 10 such three-point contests in his collegiate profession.
He was named NCHC defenseman of the week 3 times this previous 12 months and 6 occasions in his profession, together with incomes the respect following a four-point weekend (aim, three assists) in opposition to Miami on Jan. 10-11. These have been his first video games again at Denver after serving to the US win its second straight gold medal on the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship. The defenseman served as an alternate captain on Workforce USA, averaged the second-most ice time amongst all gamers on the event (25:13) and had assists on each the game-tying and overtime-winning objectives within the championship ultimate in opposition to Finland.
A repeat winner of the NCHC offensive defenseman of the 12 months award in 2024-25, Buium finishes his profession ranked tenth all-time in scoring by a DU rearguard with 98 profession factors (24 objectives, 74 assists). It was essentially the most factors by a Pioneer blueliner of their first two seasons since Greg Woods had a pair of 52-point campaigns as a freshman and sophomore in 1975-76 and 1976-77.
Buium reached the half-century mark in his freshman marketing campaign at Denver in 2023-24, recording his fiftieth level on an help within the Frozen 4 nationwide championship recreation in opposition to No. 1 Boston Faculty to assist the Pioneers seize its NCAA-record tenth nationwide title. He completed the 12 months with 11 objectives and 39 assists in 42 video games.
He ranked second on the Pioneers in scoring behind Devine final marketing campaign, and it was the primary 50-point season by a Denver freshman since 1983-84 (John McMillan, 57; Dwight Mathiasen, 51). General, it was simply the sixth time a Denver rookie reached the mark and the third occasion by a Pioneer blueliner, with him becoming a member of Craig Redmond (54) in 1982-83 and Greg Woods (52) in 1975-76. The Californian was acknowledged because the NCHC rookie of the 12 months and was a finalist for the Tim Taylor Award because the nationwide rookie of the 12 months.
Making his collegiate debut on Oct. 7, 2023 at Alaska, Buium recorded his first level on Oct. 8 at UAF with a aim and in addition added an help for his first of 25 profession multi-point contests. Buium went on a personal-long 12-game level streak (4 objectives, 17 assists) from Nov. 3-Dec. 9, 2023 for the longest by a freshman defenseman within the NCAA within the final 21 years (on-line databases presently don’t return any additional than 2002), surpassing Boston College’s Lane Hutson’s earlier lengthy of 11 video games in a row from Dec. 11, 2022-Feb. 6, 2023. It was additionally the longest streak ever by a defenseman in NCHC historical past.
Buium registered a profession excessive in factors with 4 assists on Nov. 25, 2023 in opposition to Yale, tied for essentially the most helpers in a recreation throughout the season by a Pioneer and essentially the most by a DU freshman defenseman since no less than 2002. The efficiency additionally marked simply the third such occasion since 2016 by a rookie D-man within the NCAA (Boston College’s Lane Hutson, Feb. 3, 2023 vs. Maine; Minnesota’s Brock Faber, 5, March 27, 2021 vs. Omaha). General, it was simply the 14th time {that a} Denver defenseman recorded no less than 4 helpers in a recreation and marked simply the fifth incidence since 2004-05. He went on to tie his profession excessive in factors with one aim and three assists on Jan. 20, 2024 at Omaha.
General, Buium registered 12 multi-point video games and tallied three or extra factors on 5 events as a freshman. He tied for the group lead together with his brother, Shai, and ranked fourth within the NCAA with a plus-33 score — the very best ever by a Pioneer because the statistic first started being tracked in 2005-06. He tied for second on DU in power-play scoring with 14 factors (aim, 13 assists) and ranked third on the squad with 41 blocked pictures.
A product of the U.S. Nationwide Workforce Growth Program, Buium helped Workforce USA to gold medals in every of the final three seasons: 2023 IIHF U18 World Championship and each the 2024 and 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships that have been additionally coached by DU’s David Carle.
A communications main at Denver, Buium has additionally given again to the native Jewish neighborhood. He met with younger and aspiring Jewish hockey gamers from Aish of the Rockies a number of occasions over the previous two years, and he joined teammate Sam Harris in internet hosting a “stick and puck” session with these gamers at DU on Oct. 8, 2024.
Buium was chosen within the first spherical (twelfth total) by the Wild within the 2024 NHL Draft. The Pioneer was the primary American chosen eventually 12 months’s occasion and is the second-highest draft choose in program historical past (Craig Redmond, 1984, No. 6 total, Los Angeles Kings).
He gained a pair of championships with the Pioneers in 2023-24 on the Wild’s house area, Xcel Vitality Middle in St. Paul, incomes the NCAA title on April 13, 2024 and the NCHC Frozen Faceoff event on March 23, 2024. Buium was named to each the NCAA Frozen 4 and the Frozen Faceoff all-tournament groups that 12 months, and he tallied twice, together with his first overtime-winning aim, within the convention semifinals versus St. Cloud State on March 22, 2024.
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