The Vancouver Canucks no longer have one of the best defencemen in the NHL patrolling their blue line. While that would usually spell doom for most teams, the Canucks appear set to weather that storm with their solid stable of young defencemen now led by 20-year-olds Zeev Buium and Tom Willander. In fact, with that duo leading the way – along with the surprising 21-year-old Elias Pettersson and veteran Filip Hronek – they might have a top four that rivals some of the best in the league in a few years.
Zeev Buium
Hughes is a generational talent who will undoubtedly go down as the best player the Canucks have ever had. He left the team first in points among defencemen all-time, and holds multiple records, not just among defenders, but players in general. So, it’s probably unfair to expect Buium to fill his shoes completely. Having said that, he has all the tools to be an elite top-pairing defenceman capable of putting up 60-70 points a season. I think most teams would take that in a heartbeat.
Zeev Buium, Vancouver Canucks (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
Like Hughes, Buium dominated the NCAA and made a name for himself with USA Hockey, winning gold medals at the World Juniors and World Championship. He is a winner and brings a swagger that veterans have already taken note of. Conor Garland described him as “confident, in a good way,” citing the 2025 World Championship where he said to his teammates before the gold medal game, “I’ve never lost at anything. I have five gold medals. We’re going to win.’” That type of confidence and swagger is what elite players are made of, and are usually the ones that lead teams to Stanley Cups.
At this point, Buium appears to be the player who will lead this defence corps into a new era without Hughes. He might even be captain material, although it’s probably too early to talk about that yet.
Tom Willander
Before Buium joined the pipeline, Willander was the Canucks’ top defensive prospect. Now, he’s playing second fiddle to his fellow 20-year-old and the two high-end draft picks, selected 11th and 12th in 2023 and 2024, respectively, look poised to be the faces of this new-look blue line.
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Like Buium, Willander’s strengths lie in his skating, mobility, passing, and hockey IQ. He’s also a product of the NCAA, having played two seasons with Boston University, where he scored six goals and 49 points in 77 games, and the World Junior circuit for Team Sweden, notching three goals and nine points in 14 games. He didn’t have the same success medal-wise, but was always a key defender for his nation whenever he suited up internationally.
Tom Willander, Vancouver Canucks (Bob Frid-Imagn Images)
This season, Willander started in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Abbotsford Canucks, but was quickly recalled after only five games. Since his NHL debut on Oct. 28 against the New York Rangers, he has been a regular in Kevin Dean’s defence corps, averaging 13:56 a night and pairing with Hronek on the second power-play unit. He’s stayed in the lineup over veterans like Pierre-Olivier Joseph, too, which shows the coaching staff’s trust in him.
The underlying stats back that trust up, as Willander has the lowest expected goals against (xGA) at five-on-five among defencemen who have played more than 20 games. In 27 games, he’s only been on the ice for 14 goals against. All in all, it’s looking like Willander will be a big part of the top four in the future – either paired with Buium to form a new super top pairing a la Hughes-Hronek/Cale Makar-Devon Toews, or anchoring his own.
Speaking of Willander anchoring his own pairing, Pettersson might end up being the ying to his yang when the new top four is established. His calm two-way game and physicality have already paired nicely with Willander, as Dean has joined the two Swedes at the hip over the last month or so.
Drafted in the third round by the Canucks in 2022, “D-Petey” has established himself in the NHL a lot quicker than people expected. He came over from the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) at the end of the 2023-24 season, and now has 62 NHL games under his belt, surpassing the 47 AHL games he accumulated over 2023-24 and 2024-25. He has only suited up for one game in Abbotsford this season, and already hit a new career-high in points with six, eclipsing the three he had in his rookie season.
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks (Photo by Derek Cain/Getty Images)
The Canucks have not had a defenceman like Pettersson since Chris Tanev, and he could end up being better offensively than Tanev was in Vancouver. He is also a lot more physical, dishing out a few Richter scale hits already in his short career. He has all the tools of a modern-day defensive defenceman like the Carolina Hurricanes’ Jaccob Slavin or the Colorado Avalanche’s Devon Toews – great defensively, but can also move the puck and put up points.
Canucks’ Top 4 & Beyond Is in Good Hands
Hronek has six more years left on his contract, so he will be the veteran rounding out this top four when these three youngsters are in their prime. The NHL is a skating league, and this foursome has all the attributes to form an elite group capable of playing 20-plus minutes a night and not only creating offence, but being stout defensively. The Canucks also have the likes of Sawyer Mynio, Kirill Kudryavtsev, and Victor Mancini in the pipeline that will complement them in the bottom pairings and when injuries strike.
Basically, the Canucks are in good hands when it comes to their future on the blue line, even without Hughes leading it. Now, all they have to figure out is the forward group, which is very much in flux right now.
