The Vancouver Canucks made one of the most aggressive moves the organization has made in a while. At the same time, it’s one of the savviest ones the organization could make.
On Friday, the club inked 20-year-old blueliner Zeev Buium to an eight-year deal worth $75.04 million.
That’s a heck of a lot of money for a defenseman who has all of 76 games of NHL experience. Yet, first-year GM Ryan Johnson took a calculated risk. He bet on the fact that Buium will become the team’s number-one defenseman. And when he does, his price tag won’t be $9.38 million. It will be far more.
The @Canucks have signed Zeev Buium to an eight-year contract!
By signing Buium now, the Canucks locked in a fair price for the former first-round pick.
The rationale here is simple. Vancouver could sign Buium to a short-term deal following the end of his entry-level contract. A three or four-year deal might buy the organization some time to see if Buium is the real deal.
If he proves to be a legit top-pairing D, the organization can pay him. And then, the cost will shoot through the roof.
Would it be crazy to think that Buium could be worth $20 million per season in four years?
If he jumps into the Norris Trophy conversation soon, he could very well be.
Vancouver Need Certitude With Buium
The Canucks aren’t simply betting on what Zeev Buium is today. They’re betting on what they believe he is going to become.
At 20 years old and with only 76 NHL games under his belt, Buium still has plenty of development ahead of him. But if the Canucks believe he is going to become their top defenseman, waiting for that development to happen would have been a dangerous game.
The price would only go up.
Vancouver now has Buium under team control for the next eight seasons at a $9.38 million cap hit. That’s significant money, but it could look downright reasonable if the salary cap continues to rise and the price of elite defensemen keeps climbing.
More importantly, the Canucks now have cost certainty around what they believe will be the most important position on their blue line.
That’s exactly the kind of forward-thinking cap management a rebuilding team should be doing.
The Canucks aren’t just building for next season. They’re trying to make sure they know what their core will cost years from now.
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Canucks Got the Timing Right
There’s another reason this deal is so important.
The Canucks didn’t simply get Buium signed. They got him signed while an eight-year extension was still available to them.
That matters.
Under the incoming CBA rules, teams will only be able to sign players to seven-year extensions once the current window closes. Vancouver therefore had a limited opportunity to secure Buium for the maximum possible term.
Had the Canucks waited, they could have found themselves negotiating another deal after Buium had established himself as a legitimate top-pairing defenseman — and with one fewer year of control.
Instead, they essentially bought themselves a decade of certainty around their young defenseman.
That’s a huge advantage during a rebuild.
The Canucks can now confidently build around Buium without wondering whether he’ll become an unrestricted free agent just as the rest of their young core is ready to compete.
If Buium becomes the defenseman Vancouver thinks he can be, this deal could end up looking like one of the smartest moves of the rebuild.
Canucks Make Aggressive but Savvy Move in Locking Up Buium