LD Zeev Buium - University of Denver, NCAA (2024 Draft)

[57special]

It’s my belief that the combine is the first and last measurement you can ever trust in any players whole career.

yup, and sooner or later there will be a scandal saying that those who do the measuring at the combine could be bought for 100K/inch.

Ok, when player is still non-NHL affiliated prospect, it’s no problem for him and his agent to lie.
But if he’s NHLer? Don’t team take measurements at the start of training camp?

NHL teams don't care. If i'm Minnesota, and Kaprizov says I want to be 6' on our website, then he is 6'.

 

[DJB]

I think Buium is the best dman in the draft.

He has elite hockey sense and I love his skating. Hes a terrific playmaker with the puck and he’s very solid defensively.

Yes you wish he was bigger but he’s not soft and he competes.

I absolutely love his hockey IQ and I think he’s better offensively than some are saying.

He’s my #1 dman in this class

 

[Oak]

6'0 is not that small for what he brings to the table. 6'1 is really becoming the average amongst newer defensemen who can play the modern style game.

It's hilarious the nitpicking this kid is getting because there really isn't much more you can ask from him at this point in his young career. Easy first round pick. Where he goes from there nobody knows.

 

[scout20]

Duncan keith was a #54 pick, people. He was not considered to be a top tier player in his draft year, nor an elite player for years after his draft. Comparing Buium to him at the same times in their relative careers is not sacrilege.

There is even a thread on this site comparing him and Ballard, and wondering who would end being the best Dman, 5 years after his draft(2002). Here is one quote from 2007, and he was by no means alone;

"Ballard, and IMO, it's not even close. Maybe it's because I've seen a lot of Ballard, but from what I have seen of Keith, he's been rather unimpressive."

Keith had 15 pts in 41 GP in the NCAA in his draft year.

Buium had 50 pts in 42 gp in his draft year. It's not crazy to speculate on whether Buium had the potential to be the next Keith, though a lot of his success depended on him being surrounded by players like Kane, Toews, Hossa, Byfuglien, Seabrooke, Hjalmarsson, Crawford, etc.

 

[jfhabs]

6'0 is not that small for what he brings to the table. 6'1 is really becoming the average amongst newer defensemen who can play the modern style game.

It's hilarious the nitpicking this kid is getting because there really isn't much more you can ask from him at this point in his young career. Easy first round pick. Where he goes from there nobody knows.

Don't think that's necessarily the case with Zeev , but some 6ft guys are much tougher and harder to move than 6'3+ guys. Size isn't really an issue with him, it's not his game and he's big and fast enough to adapt to the next level.

 

[DJB]

He reminds me of a poor man’s Cale Makar. Hes so damn smart and skilled

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

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