- Pro Hockey Rumors tabbed Zeev Buium as its latest breakout candidate for 2026-27
- The centerpiece of the Quinn Hughes trade put up 12 points in 45 games with Vancouver
- Read below for the role waiting for Buium under Manny Malhotra
Zeev Buium is the player Vancouver got back for a Norris Trophy winner. Year two is when that starts to matter.
Pro Hockey Rumors named the 20-year-old defenseman its latest breakout candidate for 2026-27, pointing to the stride he found once he settled in with the Canucks.
Buium came over from Minnesota in the December blockbuster that sent captain Quinn Hughes to the Wild, a deal that also brought Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round pick to Vancouver. Hughes has since been working toward a record extension in Minnesota.
Here is his first sit-down after the trade:
His Canucks debut went about as well as a debut can go. Buium scored and added an assist against New Jersey, then skated over 20 minutes in 10 of his first 15 games.
Watch him get on the board against the Devils:
A rookie year on the league’s worst team was never going to be clean. He finished with 12 points in 45 games as a Canuck and a minus-24, though his ice time climbed from 18:28 a night in Minnesota to 20:21 in Vancouver.
Canucks fans liked what they saw regardless. They voted him the team’s Most Exciting Player:
Next season sets up simply enough. The Hockey News projects Buium on the top pair with Filip Hronek and running the first power-play unit, with a real shot at averaging north of 23 minutes.
Manny Malhotra takes over behind the bench after Adam Foote’s one season, and a more structured group should take some heat off a defenseman who is still sorting out his own zone.
The resume is already stacked. Back-to-back World Junior golds in 2024 and 2025, an NCAA title at Denver as a freshman, and world championship gold with the United States in 2025.
Now Buium has to hold down a top pair on a team that finished 32nd.
