Vancouver Canucks News & Rumours: Hronek’s Commitment & Buium’s Big Chance – The Hockey Writers – Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks are in one of those stretches where the roster isn’t quite what it was, but it isn’t quite what it will become, either. There has been plenty of talk about the rebuild, young players coming into the organization, and which veterans might still be around when the Canucks are ready to compete again. That makes even the quieter stories worth paying attention to because they can tell us something about where the team is going.

Today’s Canucks News & Rumours looks at two players who represent very different parts of that transition. Filip Hronek is a veteran who has already committed to Vancouver and doesn’t seem particularly interested in running away from the rebuild. Zeev Buium, meanwhile, is one of the young players the organization hopes can become a significant part of its future. One brings commitment and experience. The other brings possibility. Both could be important to what comes next.

Filip Hronek Is Giving the Canucks Something You Can’t Put on a Depth Chart

Hronek has become a regular in my writing lately, so there is a perfectly reasonable question: Do we really need another story about him? Probably not if the story is about whether the Canucks should trade him. But this one is different. Hronek was asked about playing in Vancouver as the organization heads into a rebuild, and his answer was refreshingly simple. He likes the city, he likes the fans, and he meant what he said when he signed an eight-year contract. That’s worth paying attention to.

It is increasingly rare to find that attitude in professional sports. Players are often told to think about their careers, their next contract, their chances of winning and where they might have the best opportunity to succeed. Hronek seems to be saying something a little different: I signed here because I wanted to be here.

Now that things have changed, that doesn’t suddenly make the commitment meaningless. The Canucks are going in a different direction, but Hronek still wants to be part of it. That doesn’t mean Vancouver should refuse to listen if another team comes calling, and it certainly doesn’t mean his contract becomes irrelevant. Hockey is still a business.

But there is real value in having a player who has experienced what the Canucks were, has watched the organization change, and still wants to help build what comes next. Hronek was named the team’s MVP last season after taking on a much larger role following Quinn Hughes‘ departure. Now he’ll be asked to help lead a younger group. Maybe that’s not the role everyone expected when he signed his eight-year deal. But sometimes the best part of a long contract is discovering that the player actually meant it when he signed.

Best-Case Scenario: Zeev Buium Becomes the Canucks’ Next Breakout

There is a pretty simple reason the Canucks have a decision to make with Zeev Buium. He’s 20 years old, coming off a 26-point rookie season, and already looks like one of the most important young pieces to the organization’s future.

Vancouver can sign him to an extension now, but there is an argument for letting him play out the final year of his entry-level contract. The best-case scenario is also the one that would make that decision rather expensive. If Buium gets the opportunity to play a bigger offensive role and turns 26 points into something north of 50, suddenly that next contract looks very different.

The opportunity should be there. Buium averaged 18:28 with the Minnesota Wild before the Hughes trade brought him to Vancouver, where his ice time climbed to 20:21. The more interesting number, however, is what happened on the power play. Buium was getting almost three minutes a night with the man advantage in Minnesota, but that dropped to roughly 1:46 with the Canucks. He finished the season with 10 power-play points, only four of them coming after the trade.

Give him a more permanent role on the top unit and surround him with players such as Elias Pettersson, Marco Rossi and Brock Boeser, and there is an obvious path toward a significant offensive jump. Buium was an offensive force at the University of Denver, too, producing 50 points in 42 games as a freshman and another 48 in 41 games the following season. The NHL is different, of course, but the offensive instincts didn’t suddenly disappear when he turned pro.

The best-case scenario, then, isn’t simply that Buium has a nice sophomore season. It’s that he establishes himself as the young offensive defenceman Vancouver hoped it was getting in the Hughes trade. Hronek can continue to handle heavy minutes while Buium gets the freedom to become the team’s offensive quarterback and eventually one of its most important players.

If he reaches 50 points, Vancouver will have a problem next summer: pay him now, before the number gets even higher, or accept that a player who is already 20 and just beginning to figure out how good he can be will cost a lot more. For a rebuilding team, that’s the kind of problem worth having.

Canucks’ Rebuild Needs Players Who Believe

There is also a nice connection between these two stories. Hronek represents a player who still believes in Vancouver despite everything that has changed. Buium represents the reason there is something to believe in. The Canucks aren’t asking their veterans to simply hold the fort until the next generation arrives. Ideally, they’re asking them to help that generation arrive ready to play.

That’s why Hronek’s attitude and Buium’s development matter. Vancouver doesn’t need everything to happen at once. It needs the right pieces to develop at the right time. If Hronek remains committed to helping the young players, while Buium takes the kind of offensive step that turns him into a genuine top-pairing threat, the Canucks could look very different a couple of years from now. Sometimes, that’s how rebuilds begin to make a little more sense.