Canucks Preach Patience With Buium After $75.04M Bet

PENTICTON, B.C. The Canucks are asking everyone to be patient with Zeev Buium. They were not patient about paying him.

Two weeks ago, general manager Ryan Johnson signed the 20-year-old defenceman to an eight-year, $75.04-million extension, the largest contract the franchise has given a defenceman. Buium has played 76 NHL games.

On Friday, after the second day of camp, he said the number changes nothing about how he approaches the work.

"You always want to outplay your contract, and whether you're making $15 million or $2 million, it doesn't matter," Buium said. "I think if I can play to my capabilities and come out every night feeling like, you know, I've played my best, I think I will like my results. It has nothing to do with my contract."

Buium was the centrepiece of the return from last December's trade that sent Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, and he split his rookie season between the two clubs. When the extension was announced, Johnson framed it as a long-term bet: "This contract isn't about Zeev the player today or tomorrow. It's where we see him in three, four and five years."

Head coach Manny Malhotra, whose staff spent the club's pre-camp press conference stressing that no prospect will be rushed, said the plan for Buium is the same as it would be for anyone.

"We recognize he will make mistakes like any other young guy in this league does," Malhotra said. "But we're just going to continue to encourage him, support him and develop his game as a whole with the mindset of: What's he going to look like in two and three and four years?"

The deployment hints at the same thinking. After spending most of his five-on-five minutes last season with Filip Hronek, Buium has been skating at camp with 36-year-old Luke Schenn, who signed on July 1 for his third stint in Vancouver and who partnered Hughes as a rookie in 2019. Malhotra has warned against reading much into two days of practice.

Buium has his own name for his new partner.

"He is papa bear," he said. "He doesn't treat me like a young guy; he just treats me like a player and a person."

The 12th overall pick in 2024 does not turn 21 until December.