After several minutes of high-tension, three-on-three overtime play in the recent World Junior Championship gold medal game in Ottawa, future Minnesota Wild defenseman Zeev Buium had apparently seen enough.

Just over eight minutes into the extra session against Team Finland, Buium zipped a long pass up ice that found Team USA forward Teddy Stiga behind the Finns’ defense. Stiga corralled the loose puck, then beat the Finnish goalie between the knees to send the Americans home after a stop at the top of the podium.

Wild fans certainly hope that play was a preview of what they could see in Minnesota as soon as this spring — if Buium (which is pronounced “Boo-y-YUM”) opts to leave the University of Denver at the end of his sophomore season.

“He’s such a gifted skater. He’s extremely gifted offensively,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “From what I watched in this tournament, he was never forcing offense. He let the game come to him. So productive, eating minutes. Really, really, really good. He’s a stud.”

Buium, who turned 19 in early December, was the Wild’s first-round pick in last summer’s NHL Draft, going no. 12 overall, which is further than many experts thought he would fall. He came to St. Paul for development camp in July with notable success in Minnesota already on his resume. Buium was a member of the 2024 Denver team which won conference and NCAA titles three weeks apart at Xcel Energy Center.

Wild coach John Hynes marveled at Buium’s play for the Americans after he posted six points in their seven games.

“What a play he made there on the last goal. He was great,” Hynes said. “I had the chance to watch the last couple games, and (was) really impressed with just the amount of minutes he played. So, you can see in that tournament, on a really good team, how much confidence the coaches had in him. What you can see by his style of game, it’s exciting.”

Buium, who is originally from Southern California but played prep hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, rejoins the Pioneers for the second half of the college season with four goals and 16 assists in 18 games this season.

Wild sign minor league goalie

With Iowa Wild mainstay goalie Jesper Wallstedt battling an injury, the team took a step to ensure their goalie room at the AHL level doesn’t get empty, signing Dylan Ferguson to a one-year, two-way contract for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.

Ferguson, 26, owns a 3-4-0 record, 3.30 goals-against average and .900 save percentage in seven starts for the Iowa Wild this season.

Originally from Western Canada, Ferguson spent the 2023-24 season with Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, recording a 9-9-0 record with a 2.51 GAA and a .904 SV% in 23 games.

Ferguson has three career NHL appearances to his credit — one with the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 14, 2017, and two with the Ottawa Senators during the 2022-23 season. He was selected in the seventh round (No. 194 overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars.

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