Buium helped the United States win the World Junior Championships in January, when the 6-foot, 185-pound left shot had five points (three goals, two assists) in seven games.
“When you draft kids, you certainly want them to play to their strengths and play to their gifts,” Bombardir said, “because that’s the type of player you want them to be and that’s what gives them confidence and what allows them to get better and develop.
“He’s still young too, so he’ll continue to develop. But you want to put him in situations where he can use his abilities and skills and that’s what we’ll definitely do. I know the coaching staff at DU has done a phenomenal job with him. Obviously they do a great job, that coaching staff, and they’ll continue to do the same thing.”
Bombardir said Buium’s “actually pretty close, fairly close” to being NHL-ready; Buium will return to Denver for his sophomore season.
“I think this year we’ll be on him to continue to play his game offensively with the puck and help create,” Bombardir said. “It’s always about defending. Getting down. Defining the details a little bit more. Defending in the defensive zone. About ending plays quicker. About supporting the puck and supporting the guy’s partner a little bit better.
“Those are the areas we want to work on with him. Just to help clean that part of his game up. Essentially, if he does that, it will allow him to have the puck more on his stick. That’s what we want a player like that to be able to do to have an impact on games.”
Buium says he wants to refine his skills and make sure they’re top notch heading into this season.
“The skating, I mean, you can always improve your skating, try to get better,” he said. “That and I think just try to take as much as I can from the coaches. Whatever they think I can do better and help me with, I’ll try to take with me into next year.”
And maybe win another title — away from St. Paul?
“That’s always the goal,” Buium said. “And eventually hopefully win another title here with the NHL someday, too.”
