All they need Tuesday is one point. If they can get to overtime vs the Ducks, Minnesota will officially make their 10th playoff appearance in the past 12 seasons. On paper, the Wild — who are heavy -260 favorites — should be able to secure an easy victory tonight over a hapless 35-37-8 Ducks team already thinking about the offseason.

Zeev Buium will NOT debut for Minnesota Wild on Tuesday

So, the Wild are not taking any chances. After signing his entry-level contract Sunday, former Denver Pioneer superstar Zeev Buium — the No. 2 overall prospect in the NHL (according to The Athletic) — is not in the Minnesota Wild lineup for tonight’s regular season finale.

Zeev Buium not in lineup. #mnwild

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) April 15, 2025

The decision is understandable, considering the circumstances mentioned above. As much as the Wild would like to see their shiny new toy in action, it’s too risky inserting him into a brand new lineup with a bunch of teammates he’s never even met, given a playoff berth is on the line.

Tuesday morning, Wild head coach John Hynes called it an “easy” decision to scratch Buium, not only because of the stakes tonight, but also because he just arrived and has yet to participate in a practice with his new team.

Buium could make debut during NHL Playoffs…?

Common sense says that, if he isn’t playing tonight, we probably won’t see Zeev take the ice in a Wild sweater until the start of the 2025-26 season, right? Maybe not. Hynes went on to tell reporters that the 19-year-old Buium could make his NHL debut in the playoffs, should Minnesota make win tonight.

John Hynes said it wasn’t an “easy” decision to not play Zeev Buium. It was combination of factors. Talked about Buium just getting here from Frozen Four, not having a full team practice, the high stakes of this game. Indicated could see action if make playoffs. #mnwild.

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) April 15, 2025

But wait, because I know Minnesota Wild fans will be disappointed that they cannot see Zeev Buium make his NHL debut Tuesday. There was more news that came from today’s press conference with John Hynes.

Related: Wild Division Rival Weirdly Obsessed with Minnesota at NHL Trade Deadline

Part of the reason why their top overall prospect isn’t playing vs the Ducks is because the Wild have gotten healthier since Sunday, when they played without two of their top defensemen vs the Vancouver Canucks.

Jared Spurgeon, Jake Middleton returning for MN Wild

Captain Jared Spurgeon was hit in the throat with a puck on Friday, which resulted in his absence Sunday. Meanwhile, Jake Middleton has been out of the lineup since April 4 with an upper body injury, after he took a nasty head-first spill into the boards 1.5 weeks ago vs the New York Islanders.

Spurgeon and Middleton in, Hynes said

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) April 15, 2025

So, while we all wanted to see Zeev Buium, it’s a good thing he isn’t playing tonight. Had either Middleton or Spurgeon not been able to go Tuesday, it’d be interesting to know whether or not the kid would have gotten a chance. No matter, because in this reality, he’ll be up in the press box.

This season, Jake Middleton (29 y/o) has played in 66 of the Wild’s 77 games, racking up 20 points on eight goals and 12 assists. His 95 shots are a career high, as is his 21:56 TOI. Jared Spurgeon has played 65 games, potting 7 goals and helping on 25 more. He’s averaging a career-low 20:26 TOI.

It was a good thing they showed up, too. The Wild needed all six of Kaprizov (2) and Ek’s (4) combined goals to beat the putrid San Jose Sharks 8-7 in OT — on a ridiculous Zuccarello to Kaprizov walk-off one-timer.

But it’s never too late to add talent, right? Not in the hockey world, which is why Thursday, when Minnesota Wild top prospect Zeev Buium and his Denver Pioneers lost to Western Michigan in the 2025 NCAA Frozen Four — ending the Hobey Baker finalist’s last season of collegiate hockey — ears perked up in the State of Hockey.

Minnesota Wild signing Zeev Buium – When will he play?

As expected, the 19-year-old still plans to go pro. According to Michael Russo (The Athletic), Buium will sign a contract with the Minnesota Wild — who selected him No. 12 overall in the 2024 NHL Draft — this weekend.

From there, it sounds like Buium — who put up 13 goals and 35 assists (48 points) in his sophomore season at Denver — is expected to make his professional debut in a Wild sweater for Minnesota’s regular season finale on Tuesday, vs the Anaheim Ducks.

On #mnwild prospect Zeev Buium, he’ll be at tonight’s Hobey Baker presentation in STL and then after lots of hockey, he’d likely need a couple days off. With the Wild playing in Vancouver tomorrow, I’d suspect he signs later this weekend, practices Monday and maybe debuts Tuesday

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) April 11, 2025

It’s unlikely Zeev Buium plays with the Minnesota Wild in the postseason. While he is arguably the best prospect currently under Wild control, he isn’t Brock Faber. So, why would the MN Wild burn a year of their prize prospect’s rookie contract just to get him into a game that (hopefully) shouldn’t mean anything?

Related: Wild Division Rival Weirdly Obsessed with Minnesota at NHL Trade Deadline

That’s the cost of doing business with top prospects in the National Hockey League. Not only does Buium receive a massive signing bonus and millions of dollars in salary by going pro, but one less year under team control sweetens the deal for a kid who still has multiple years of college eligibility remaining.

Zeev Buium went 12th overall lol.

Anyways, 2-0 Denver. pic.twitter.com/a21bAW0bTH

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) March 28, 2025

Stakes are too high for Wild to sign insert Buium this weekend

Thankfully, the Minnesota Wild walked out of Xcel Energy Center Wednesday night with two desperately needed points that now have them up four points on the Calgary Flames, with just three games remaining.

Late Friday night, the Wild happen to be in Calgary with a chance to mathematically solidify their spot in the Western Conference playoff bracket. Buium needs rest, but it’s unlikely President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin was going to debut him during a weekend that has so much on the line anway.

Minnesota Wild top prospects impress at 2025 World Juniors

While the present looks pretty damn good for Minnesota, injuries aside, it may be even brighter when you look to the future, where the Wild have a top-10 ranked prospect pool, according to multiple prospect rankings, including The Athletic and Elite Prospects.

Speaking of prospects, there were a few of the Minnesota Wild’s best amatuer youngsters turning heads at the 49th annual 2025 World Junior Championship (U-20), a top international prospect tournament that has been around since 1977. This year’s tourney began the day after Christmas and wrapped up earlier this week.

Zeev Buium (19 y/o) – USA

And there may not be a player in the entire field who impressed more than University of Denver defenseman and 2024 Wild draftee, Zeev Buium. Minnesota 12th overall pick in last year’s NHL Draft played a crucial role in USA Hockey winning gold for the second-straight time, something they’ve never done in the tournament’s history.

Not only did Buium score 2 goals and provide 4 assists, with a +10 (+/-), but he also assisted on the gold medal-winning overtime goal. It wasn’t just any assist either. This was a tape-to-tape stretch pass of 100 feet to spring a breakaway for Teddy Stiga, his first goal of the entire tournament.

Every team that passed on Zeev Buium (except for the San Jose Sharks, Macklin Celebrini) made a major mistake in my opinion.

The #mnwild have a STUD.

What a pass to set up the Golden Goal 🥇pic.twitter.com/lmWyDOwPem

— Vinnie Parise (@VinnieParise) January 6, 2025

Buium, 19, recorded the first 50-point season by a University of Denver freshman since 1983-84, leading the team to a 2024 NCAA National Championship with 11 goals and 39 assists. As a freshman, the left-shooting defenseman was the second-youngest player in all of college hockey.

Buium will one day bring quite an influx of two-way talent at a Wild blue line that already features 2020 2nd round pick Brock Faber (19), who’s already one of the most consistent defensemen in the sport, along with newly acquired 2022 1st round pick David Jiricek (21).

Jiricek who was recalled for the first time by the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday, in emergency fashion, after Faber — who had played 131 consecutive games to start his career — suffered an injury against St. Louis on Tuesday night.

Rasmus Kumpulainen (19 y/o) – Finland

Defenseman Aron Kiviharju and center Rasmus Kumpulainen of Finland also showed promise. In 6 games during the World Junior tournament, Kumpulainen (19 y/o) scored twice and added one assist.

Related: Minnesota Wild Recall New Defenseman to Replace Brock Faber

The Wild’s 2023 second-round pick (No. 53 overall) didn’t spend any time in the sin bin, either. One thing seems clear from watching some of his highlights. Nobody in the Minnesota Wild organization will have to encourage Rasmus to shoot the puck.

Finland finally breaks through at the end of the power-play to make it 3-0!#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/HhXrwxwEhC

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 2, 2025

zeev chucking a ufo tongue out looking like MJ pic.twitter.com/SngLp4aB4h

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) January 6, 2025

Aron Kiviharju (18 y/o) – Finland

Aron Kiviharju, 18, played in all seven of Finland’s games. He didn’t score any goals, but he did assist on three, and he played a huge role as a top-line forward. Finland’s biggest problem all tournament was their lack of offensive firepower.

That made Kiviharju’s role as a defensive setup specialist that much more important. A fourth round pick by Minnesota in 2024, Aron does need to learn how to be more responsible on defense, as pointed out by Rachel Doerrie (ESPN). One area he doesn’t need help in is self-confidence. We saw that at the draft.

Minnesota Wild fourth round pick Aaron Kiviharju walked right up to GM Bill Guerin and told him that he got the steal of the draft 👀

Kid’s got confidence 💪

(via @mnwild) pic.twitter.com/MTj7ohoRlX

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 1, 2024

He showed flashes of skill and is clearly a top player among his peers, but he will need to develop his ability to defend more effectively and make quicker decisions to carve out an NHL career.

Rachel Doerrie, ESPN

Sebastian Soini, 18, is another defenseman the Wild selected in the fifth round. He didn’t register a point over two games played, but was a +1 in the tournament and avoided the penalty box.

Related: Minnesota Wild Blue Line May Be in Injury Trouble Yet Again

It looks like president of hockey operations Bill Guerin is well on his way to building a Minnesota Wild roster that, — as long as superstar Kirill Kaprizov sticks around and budding talents like Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber continue to develop — is competetive now and sustainable for the future.

Youngsters like Zeev Buium, Aronn Kiviharju, Rasmus Kumpulainen and Sebastian Soini are a big part of what feels like a little bit of stability across the organization.