Ванкувер Кэнакс хамгаалагч Зеев Буйумтай найман жилийн гэрээ байгууллаа

The contract

The Vancouver Canucks signed defenseman Zeev Buium to an eight-year extension with a $9.38 million AAV.

Harman Dayal: Seventy-five million dollars is a huge commitment to a 20-year-old who still has a lot to prove. Some will feel sticker shock, and others might shake their head at the idea of paying a player before he’s “earned it,” but this is undoubtedly a wise gamble for the Canucks to make.

Not only is the salary cap skyrocketing, but the restricted free-agent market also has radically changed over the last 12 months. Young players have more leverage than ever, and around the league, blue-chip RFAs are being paid early based on their potential. If teams decide not to play that game and wait for a larger sample of success before making a decisive long-term bet, the price tag will almost certainly go through the roof; just ask the Anaheim Ducks.

The big win for the Canucks is that they secured eight years of term. If Buium hits his ceiling as a top-pair defender, the second half of that contract will become a steal in this escalating cap world. To illustrate that, let’s do some back-of-the-napkin math.

Agent Allan Walsh said he’s heard the league is internally projecting the upper limit to reach $123 million by 2028-29. Buium’s $9.38 million average annual value would translate to 7.6 percent of a $123 million salary-cap ceiling. For reference, 7.6 percent of the cap was the equivalent of a $7.28 million AAV in 2025-26. And that would represent only Year 2 of Buium’s extension; imagine how favorable that number could look in Years 6 to 8. This is the kind of money that second-pair defensemen will make in the future, meaning Buium doesn’t even need to reach his best-case development outcome to live up to this contract.

It used to be easy to lock up prized RFAs for seven to eight years, but this summer saw the rise of medium-term contracts. It started with Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini and Leo Carlsson signing five-year deals that walked them to unrestricted free agency, but it also applied to less proven, non-star defenders such as Brandt Clarke, Simon Nemec and Pavel Mintyukov. Buium became only the seventh player with RFA rights to sign an extension for seven years or longer in the 2026 calendar year, joining Josh Doan, Zach Benson, Ivan Demidov, Pavel Dorofeyev, Tyson Foerster and Ville Koivunen. Kudos to the Canucks for getting that kind of increasingly rare term.

Buium’s play was up and down as a rookie, particularly defensively, but he showed promising flashes of his dynamic puck play, and the upside of his game is undeniable. Teams have been rewarded in recent years for aggressively committing to their young talent for as long as possible. Vancouver made a shrewd decision to follow that template.

Contract grade: A-

Corey Pronman: Buium was the key player acquired from the Minnesota Wild in the return for Quinn Hughes, among other assets. Buium was up and down as a rookie, but he was dominant in college and has a ton of upside. He’s an extremely intelligent puck-mover who can run a power play like a top defenseman. He makes high-end plays routinely and can break shifts open with his puckhandling and passes. Buium is a strong skater who can activate off the blue line and create off the rush. He has very good edge work and is proficient at making checkers miss. He has legitimate offense, but defense will be a minor question. He’s a competitor, but he’s not overly physical and lacks premier footwork to defend at his size. He projects as a top-four defenseman who could be a PP1 type.

The contract may seem like a big number for a player with 26 NHL career points, but given the deals handed out this summer, you could argue Buium is an talent analogous to Bowen Byram, as an example, but less proven. He is ahead of Simon Nemec/Pavel Mintyukov, who signed in the 7s on their second contract. This is a worthwhile gamble by Vancouver to get its future PP QB signed before he starts to produce consistently and have a lot better comps to choose from. There are obvious risks if he doesn’t continue to develop, but most NHL evaluators believe a lot in this player, and the risks in his profile aren’t substantial.

Contract grade: B+