EP Rinkside’s Victor Nuno discusses Fantasy Hockey “real life vs. fantasy value” for several prospects today, including Red Wings prospect and University of Denver junior Shai Buium:
Shai Buium, LHD – Detroit Red Wings: It’s easy to understand the appeal of Shai Buium. He’s a 6-foot-3, extremely mobile defender. The Detroit Red Wings took him in the second round in 2021 where he put up over a half point-per-game in the USHL. In his past two seasons at the University of Denver, he has been an important part of a really good NCAA team. The Pioneers won the NCAA title in 2021-22 and Buium played nearly 20 minutes a night for them, dominating the Corsi For battle.
Buium sure seems like he will be an NHLer, adding to an already stacked blue line for the Red Wings, but I don’t think he will be so valuable in fantasy. Looking at his Hockey Prospecting, it would be a statistical anomaly if he scored over 0.45 points per game in his career. Additionally, the Red Wings blueline is quickly filling up with offensive players – further blocking his path to those minutes.
This might be a good player to move off of your fantasy team for someone with more upside.
Continued; Buium is probably going to become a strong two-way, middle-pair defender if he does in fact make the NHL.
