Canucks: Zeev Buium is pumped for a breakout season despite the rebuild

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Zeev Buium learned to play free last NHL season.

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While the struggling Vancouver Canucks were handcuffed by injuries, indifference and indecision, his potential as a prize piece of the roster build started to pay dividends. His decisions were better, playmaking was more precise, and the confidence grew.

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It’s why the blossoming defenceman is buoyed by what awaits this fall — even amid the arduous climb to respectability — because opportunity to re-set with a new hockey operations department and acquisitions resonates with the driven 20-year-old Buium. And even before those moves, he could see light at the end of the dark tunnel.

“Those last 10 or 12 games for me were hard to find motivation when you really have nothing to play for, but it’s human nature and competitiveness to want to play for something,” the well-spoken Buium stressed to Postmedia on Monday following a training session in Southern California. “It was hard with the position we were in, but I got a lot out of them.

“Confidence in my game and I started to play more. I’ve always said it’s harder to play 12 minutes than 25. When you play more and are feeling free, you just grow with that and I can’t wait to get going.”

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Buium finished third in rookie defenceman scoring with 26 points (6-20) in 76 games last season. The 6-foot, 183 pound San Diego native logged 19:35 of average ice time — fourth among first-year blueliners — and a high of 25 minutes April 14 against the Los Angeles Kings.

Buium’s off-season training mission is more stamina.

“Prepare for worst-case scenarios on the ice when you’re really tired,” he admitted. “When stuck in your own end, the big focus is conditioning. Get to a point where you feel so good to play 30 minutes and not feel like you’re gassed or the legs are cramping.

“Last year, we got caught for a minute or 1 1/2 minutes and you need that extra gear to help break out pucks.”

Buium showed potential in a first pairing with Filip Hronek and first-unit quarterback on the power play. He also regularly referenced a need for team chemistry and developing a culture that’s inclusive and not divisive. It was hammered home by co-president of hockey operations Henrik Sedin in his first media address.

“They understand the patience behind being a young team,” added Buium. “Not accepting losses, but focusing on the culture. Little things that really add up. Everybody knows my stance on it. It’s the foundation of everything and if you don’t have it you’re not going anywhere.

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“It was pretty cool to see Carolina lift that brick every day because it weighs the same as the Stanley Cup. It had a greater meaning in the end. Hopefully I can build it.”

Culture also means being harder to play against. Big and nasty arrivals in veterans Luke Schenn and Jamie Oleksiak will support the back end and bowling-ball winger Brendan Gallagher will set grit quotient up front.

“I love it,” said Buium. “They have so much experience and playing against them sucks. They’re a pain and you definitely don’t want to be going down (in offensive zone) against them. It’s going to huge and so is not getting pushed around. In Gallagher, you play against a ball of energy who doesn’t care who you are or what size you are.”

Wrapped in all this is Buium’s eligibility for a contract extension entering the final year of his entry-level deal. The Canucks have until Sept. 15 if they want Buium tied up for eight years, because it drops to seven the next day.

If the current contact expires at the end of next season, he’ll be a 10.2(c) restricted free agent and exempt from an offer sheet. The first contract between ages 18 and 21 requires three professional seasons for an offer sheet. Buium would have two.

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“My whole career, I really don’t think about it or put energy into it,” he responded. “It takes care of itself if you believe you’re doing the right things. It all evens out in the end and works out. I feel I’m in the right spot.”

And there’s the rub.

Buium loves Vancouver’s scenery, restaurant options, and frenetic fan base that remained loyal despite franchise records for futility with an 11-game losing steak and 9-27-5 record at home.

Buium said fans in Minnesota were knowledgeable and supportive, but nothing like this.

“Seriously, I was blown away,” he gushed. “Beautiful city and how we’re treated. To be last in the league and get the treatment we got is pretty awesome. It was crazy. You get more recognition. They know the game and everything about the players. Pretty cool to see how invested they are.”

Buium bemoaned not getting here to soak up the World Cup atmosphere and what became of the U.S. exit.

“I wanted Argentina to win (Sunday) because I love Lionel Messi and it would have been pretty cool to see him get another one,” summed up Buium, who played soccer in elementary school and switched to basketball and hockey by middle school.

In the end, hockey won out.

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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