LAS VEGAS — It took a little longer than most experts projected, but Zeev Buium’s NHL dreams came true Friday night.
The Minnesota Wild selected Buium with the 12th overall pick of the 2024 NHL draft at The Sphere just off the Las Vegas Strip. The University of Denver defenseman will eventually play his home games in the same building where he just won the 2024 NCAA championship in April.
Buium became the fifth player selected in the first round in DU program history and the first Pioneers player to go in the first round since Henrik Borgstrom in 2016.
A San Diego native, Buium had an incredible year ahead of this draft. He was the No. 1 defenseman on the NCAA-champion Pioneers, helping DU knock off Boston University and Boston College at the Frozen Four to claim the program’s record 10 title. Before that, he won a gold medal with Pios coach David Carle and the United States at the IIHF U-20 World Junior Championship in January.
He had 11 goals and 50 points in 42 games for the Pios. Not only did he prove to be an offensive dynamo at the college level, Buium earned praise for his 200-foot game and ability to defend players who were older, bigger and stronger than him.
Buium began the season as a potential first-round pick, but his great freshman year and solid work at the WJC helped him steadily climb draft boards to where he was projected as a likely top-10 selection and even into the top-five on some experts’ draft lists.
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