{"id":551732,"date":"2026-03-21T18:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T18:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551732\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T18:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T18:38:08","slug":"why-zeev-buium-believes-he-and-other-canucks-youngsters-can-reshape-the-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551732\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Zeev Buium believes he and other Canucks youngsters can reshape the culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> take on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, Zeev Buium<\/a> will have officially played more games as a member of the Canucks<\/a> than he did with the Minnesota Wild.It\u2019s been a whirlwind of a season for the 20-year-old rookie defenceman. Starting the season on one of the NHL\u2019s best teams, logging top unit power play time, and was one point shy of the points lead by a Wild defenceman. Then, his world was rocked when he was traded<\/a> and forced to change teams mid-season for the first time in his hockey career.<\/p>\n

At this point, Buium\u2019s rookie season went from contending for a Stanley Cup with the Wild to a rebuilding Canucks team. And while his first few games in a Canucks uniform were exciting, ripping off that four-game winning streak would be the last time the club would win consecutive games to this point.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to present day, and the Canucks are coming off a 6-2 loss<\/a> to one of the best teams in the league, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Following the loss, once the Canucks skated off the ice and down the tunnel, two players remained on the bench, sitting side by side, staring blankly ahead at the empty sheet of ice: Zeev Buium and Tom Willander.<\/p>\n

Buium described this moment as some time he took to soak everything in. He has a million things running through his mind as the game goes on, and wants to leave all of those emotions out on the ice so he doesn\u2019t take the negative parts of his job home with him. In saying that, there\u2019s a lot that a young defenceman like that can take from seeing how one of the top teams in the NHL plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see what a team that\u2019s first or second in the league compared to dead last. You see the difference; the fight, the compete,\u201d Buium told CanucksArmy. \u201cTo me, it was how connected they were. Everybody on that ice sheet knew where everyone was at all times. I think I had an experience like that in Minnesota, where I joined them in the playoffs. I was telling my brother \u2018I don\u2019t even have to look to pass. Like, I get the puck, and I\u2019ve got [Marcus] Foligno screaming \u2018hey, hey, hey\u2019, and I throw it there. I trust him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s something that our team, like Fil Hronek, he\u2019s unbelievable at communication. When you play with him, he\u2019s always talking, so loud. Even if what he\u2019s trying to explain to us is that it\u2019s not the perfect play, if I\u2019m telling him, \u2018reverse, reverse,\u2019 at least I know it\u2019s going there; he knows it\u2019s going there. So even if it bobbles or whatever happens, at least we know where it\u2019s going to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a big piece of something we need to learn as a team. It\u2019s something that\u2019s hard; you go down 3-0 or 4-1, and you don\u2019t want to talk. You want to feel sorry for yourself. You may want to do it yourself. But it\u2019s about staying connected, staying positive. It sounds clich\u00e9, but you just have to be basic and simple in these moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

With just 66 NHL games under his belt to date (62 regular-season and 4 playoff), there\u2019s going to be a learning curve as Buium adjusts to the pace and skill set at this level. Along the way, there will be mistakes, but there will also be flashes.<\/p>\n

And eventually, with his previous prowess throughout his hockey career, it\u2019s all going to click, and all the pieces of the puzzle will connect for him and the Canucks. But for now, it\u2019s about being patient through this development process, understanding that the lows are going to be low, and maintaining a middle ground. Fighting through those mistakes and playing the right way as a team will help the team turn the corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing is that you want to push the pace, you want to try and create something,\u201d Buium said. \u201cI think there\u2019s some shifts, some periods we\u2019ve had as a team where it\u2019s hard for all of us to generate or do the things we want to because we, you know, get disconnected. I think at the end of the day, you\u2019ve got to find it within our group, and you\u2019ve seen the last couple of games where it\u2019s like, the times we are playing well, everyone\u2019s connected, everyone\u2019s buzzing, the forwards are going, the D are going, goalies are making saves, everything\u2019s kind of just clicking together. I think if we just find more consistency with that, I think everybody will feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word connected stood out in the conversation. Buium described the Lightning as being so tough to play against because they were so well connected, while also mentioning that some of the Canucks\u2019 problems arise when they\u2019re disconnected.<\/p>\n

With so much change this season: a new head coach, different systems, and fresh faces in the door, friends out the door, that disconnect is a bit expected. With all those lineup changes, trying to form chemistry while also implementing a new system can be difficult for any player \u2013 let alone a rookie, who was traded halfway through the season.<\/p>\n

Despite all those challenges, the league moves fast and won\u2019t wait for anybody. It\u2019s ingraining that winning mindset and maintaining that \u201ccare factor\u201d when you\u2019re losing that is keeping Buium\u2019s confidence up through this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just human nature, honestly,\u201d Buium admitted when asked about the team\u2019s disconnect. \u201cWhen you\u2019re winning, it\u2019s easy to be in a winning mindset. For me, my experience over the years, I\u2019ve been on winning teams; we win at the end of the year every time. It\u2019s easy when you\u2019re in the mindset when you know you\u2019re going to win. You have the confidence of knowing that there\u2019s no way we lose this game. When you\u2019re on this side of it, which I have been before, it\u2019s easy to feel down on yourself, or you get scored on one or two times, you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, here we go again.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our challenge right now, especially as a young group, is finding that care factor of not caring about getting scored on or what the score is. I think the Nashville game<\/a> was a great example of us kind of fighting back. You know, we\u2019re down 3-1; on another night, it might be 5-1 by the end of that third, but we come back and win the game. It shows that we have it in our group; we just have to consistently bring it out every night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to know that we can do it. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing. Personally, in your own game, you make little plays, sometimes that might not lead to much, maybe it\u2019s not anything crazy, but it builds confidence in your game, knowing like, \u2018Okay, I can do this. I can see the spot now. I can feel it.\u2019 That just builds confidence when that moment is there to capitalize on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to want to play more connected, but it\u2019s difficult to have everybody pulling on the same rope in order to make it a cohesive five-man unit shift in and shift out. And according to Buium and his previous experiences, it\u2019s more about laying the proper foundation in the locker room first, before that camaraderie translates\u00a0to success on the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do think a lot of it is culture,\u201d Buium stated. \u201cLike my U17 year at NTDP, we won five games, we were the worst team ever. Seriously, the stats are out there. And then the next year, we were the best team of all time. We had the best power play, best PK, all of our centres had the best faceoff percentage, we had the most goals for, the least goals against, won the Championship at the end of the year, we won 14 straight games against College teams, which is unheard of.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t a different team. It\u2019s not like we became so much bigger and stronger the next year. I think the fact that we became a team, we became brothers, we actually cared for each other, we wanted to see each other succeed, you want to do it for the guy next to you. When you do all that, and you care so much about winning, like when I was at Denver, the biggest thing was every guy there I loved, the coaches I loved, everybody loved everybody. The biggest thing was we didn\u2019t want to disappoint each other, and losing was disappointing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to get to that point. Right now it\u2019s tough because I think everybody wants to do that, but at the same time, you\u2019re young, you want to prove yourself, there\u2019s a lot of other things going on. You know how it\u2019s been here, a lot of things have gone on the last two years. I think now that that\u2019s kind of settled down, we\u2019re finding that in our team, you can see the culture shifting into something bigger and better and everyone\u2019s on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

The culture \u2013 or lack thereof over the past few years \u2013 has been a talking point surrounding this team for some time now. But after the trade deadline, things began to change. The Canucks started to play a little tighter, their defensive coverage looked less chaotic, and players started showing that emotion after scoring a goal. Hockey looked fun again for the team.<\/p>\n

Understanding that all the noise surrounding the trade deadline is behind them and that the players in the room are the ones they\u2019re riding with throughout the final stretch of the season has sparked something in their recent play. And while it may not necessarily be one guy driving that bus, it\u2019s been a group effort to help uplift the culture around the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think knowing that this is our group,\u201d Buium shared. \u201cBefore the trade deadline, you don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to be a part of it and who\u2019s not. I think that makes it harder because, you know, you might put so much effort into something and then you\u2019re gone the next day or that guy\u2019s gone the next day. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s been one specific person; I think it\u2019s been the group, but I think that\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to be. It\u2019s supposed to be the group pushing it together; the young guys doing their job, the older guys doing their job; not being a divided team between the older guys and younger guys. Just being one.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a young player who was just traded here in December, surrounded by plenty of long-term Canucks and NHL veterans, it\u2019s not always easy to have a loud voice in the locker room. But given his past experiences, as he shared about his first year in the NTDP, Buium has dealt with a situation like this before. He\u2019s been through the struggles of a losing season where they finished dead last, but was also part of turning that situation around and becoming Champions.<\/p>\n

He now has the same opportunity in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

For Buium, team morale and having that connection off the ice is just as crucial as what happens on the ice. What happens away from the rink is valuable time spent getting to know your teammates as people, separating that from who they are as players on the ice.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so important to him that even as a teenager in the NTDP, he took matters into his own hands and hosted weekly team hangouts to build those off-ice relationships. It\u2019s that turning your teammates into brothers philosophy that Buium is hoping to bring to the Canucks culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019ve always been someone who likes to be a part of the guys,\u201d Buium stated. \u201cWhen I was at NTDP, we started having hangouts at my house on Sundays. Every Sunday, every guy on the team would be at mine. Just hang out, just talk, get things off your chest, whatever it is. It didn\u2019t have to be anything, could be nothing, but it\u2019s just being together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Rasmus Dahlin said something about like drinking beers or whatever, it\u2019s funny, but it\u2019s true, you know? Not saying you have to drink beers, but it\u2019s like, when you\u2019re together, you get to know each other, you get to know your teammate better, get to know him as a person. And then you care for them more.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Tom hangout a lot. So we\u2019re on the ice together, and I see him succeed, I\u2019m happy for him, and he\u2019s happy for me. We want to see each other succeed. With this group, I think that\u2019s what it\u2019s becoming: everybody just wants to see each other succeed. There\u2019s no odd-man out, and everyone\u2019s kind of in it together. That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to bring. I\u2019m trying to be connected with everybody and make it feel like we\u2019re not just a team, we\u2019re best friends, brothers. You spend so much time with each other, 8-9 months of the year, it\u2019s a lot of time. If you aren\u2019t close with each other, it\u2019s just going to be miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the season has gone on, we\u2019ve seen pictures of Buium and Willander chatting on the ice, laughing at practice, and even chirping each other at Dice & Ice in February.<\/p>\n

Both being rookie defencemen and so similar in age \u2013 10 months apart \u2013 these two have quickly developed the chemistry and friendship off the ice that Buium has previously highlighted as being so important to him. Buium shared that the two of them get along so well because they have each other to lean on. And that while they understand that losing isn\u2019t acceptable, they\u2019re doing a good job finding peace with it and continuing to bring that energy and work ethic to the rink every day, with a goal of bringing a Stanley Cup to Vancouver one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been awesome. We\u2019re both really motivated,\u201d Buium said on his relationship with Willander. \u201cWe both care a ton about the game and getting better. I think it\u2019s really cool to share passions with someone, and someone of his calibre, with how good he is as a player, how good he is as a person, it\u2019s easy to get along with him. We bounce ideas off each other. There\u2019s things he does out there that I\u2019m not as good at, and there\u2019s maybe things I do that he wants to get better at. So, it\u2019s cool to bounce those ideas off each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think we get along well. We both want to win a Stanley Cup. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing. We want to see this city explode. That\u2019s what you play for. I know Kevin Bieksa<\/a>, and he always tells me, \u2018You don\u2019t even know, the city is just unbelievable when you\u2019re winning.\u2019 [Tom and I] talk about how great [the fans] treat us when we\u2019re last in the league, imagine how great they\u2019ll treat us when we\u2019re making the playoffs and making pushes. I think we both have the same dreams and passions. I think we\u2019re trying to lead in our own way. Being a young guy, you can\u2019t be vocally as loud [in the room], but I think with our work ethic and showing the effort, I think that\u2019s kind of the biggest thing we can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that one day, we\u2019re going to be older guys and we can bring it down to [the younger guys]. They see us working on the ice, and they think, \u2018Okay, I need to be out there.\u2019 Even for us now, if the older guys see us, or even the younger guys see all of us working, then all the older guys start doing it. Now everybody\u2019s working and doing their thing. I just think that\u2019s what\u2019s been happening these last couple of weeks. Everyone\u2019s kind of coming together and being on the same page with what we need to do. It\u2019s a consistency thing. Just staying on top of it, even when things don\u2019t go our way. We might be struggling, but there\u2019s a lot of good pieces here. The older we get, the more experience we get, the better we\u2019re going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a long, exclusive chat with Buium, but one thing this author took from the interview was that Buium gets it. Although he\u2019s just 20 years old, he\u2019s a proven winner at every level he\u2019s played at, and is willing to be patient with the process to reach the level he wants to here in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

What matters to Buium first and foremost is making those off-ice connections with his teammates. Building a relationship with the guys away from the rink is going to translate to results on the ice.<\/p>\n

Buium\u2019s driven leadership, shaped by his past experiences, is what the Canucks need as they mould the next winning culture in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

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