Michael Bunting
Bunting with the Tucson Roadrunners in 2019
Born (1995-09-17) September 17, 1995
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 196 lb (89 kg; 14 st 0 lb)
Position Left wing
Shoots Left
NHL team
Former teams		 Carolina Hurricanes
Arizona Coyotes
Toronto Maple Leafs
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 117th overall, 2014
Arizona Coyotes
Playing career 2015–present

Michael Bunting (born September 17, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). Bunting was selected by the Arizona Coyotes, 117th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Playing career

Junior

Bunting played midget hockey with the Don Mills Flyers in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and captured the league championship during the 2012–13 season. The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds selected him 160th overall in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection.

Playing as a rookie with the Greyhounds in 2013–14, Bunting produced 42 points in 48 games. During the 2014–15 season, Bunting led the Greyhounds with 37 goals in 57 games and served as an alternate captain.

Professional

Arizona Coyotes (2015–2021)

Bunting representing the Tucson Roadrunners during the 2019 AHL All-Star Classic

The Arizona Coyotes made Bunting their fourth-round pick, 117th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Coyotes on July 23, 2015.[1]

Bunting made the jump to the Coyotes' professional ranks in the 2015–16 season with the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Coyotes briefly assigned him to the ECHL's Rapid City Rush early in the season but he returned in time to record his first AHL goal in a game against the Providence Bruins on December 6, 2015.

Bunting became a restricted free agent after the expiry of his entry-level contract. He signed a one-year, two-way deal to stay with the Coyotes on July 14, 2018.[2] While playing with the Tucson Roadrunners in the 2018–19 season, Bunting made his 200th AHL appearance on October 13, 2018, in a game against the Bakersfield Condors.[3]

The Coyotes recalled Bunting to the NHL for the first time on December 8, 2018. At the time, he ranked second on the Roadrunners with 18 points in 20 games.[4] Bunting scored his first NHL goal in his debut, beating Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask in the second period of a 4–3 Coyotes loss on December 11, 2018.[5]

After spending the entire 2019–20 season with the Roadrunners, Bunting returned to the Coyotes' lineup on March 31, 2021, and spent the rest of the 2020–21 season in the NHL. He registered a goal and an assist in his season debut, a 9–3 Coyotes loss to the Colorado Avalanche, before scoring his first NHL hat-trick against the Los Angeles Kings on April 5, 2021.[6] Despite playing just 21 games with the Coyotes in 2020–21, Bunting ultimately tied with Nick Schmaltz for sixth on the team with 10 goals.

Toronto Maple Leafs (2021–2023)

Bunting (middle) in between Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn in 2023

As a group 6 free agent after breaking out with the Coyotes, Bunting was signed to a two-year, $1.9 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 28, 2021.[7] He left the Coyotes franchise being the Roadrunners' all-time leader in games played, goals, assists, points, and penalty minutes.[8] Bunting spent most of the season as the left winger on the team's top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. On January 29, 2022, Bunting became the first player to score a hat-trick the same day his hometown was featured on Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada.[9] In his first year with the Maple Leafs, Bunting was named as a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy for the league's best rookie.[10] Although he would not ultimately win the award, Bunting was voted to the NHL All-Rookie Team.[11]

Entering his second season with Toronto, Bunting began to develop a reputation as an effective penalty drawing forward who was capable of agitating opponents; by mid-December 2022, he led the league in drawn penalties at even strength play by a sizeable margin, despite being reported to have a contentious relationship with officials.[12][13] Around the time this narrative began to gain some traction in media circles, Bunting began to experience a notable turn in referee calls, with him drawing noticeably fewer penalties while increasingly being disciplined for relatively minor infractions. In late December, Bunting was aggressively shoved off the ice by an official while being assessed a minor penalty, stirring a small controversy.[14] After a build up of what some commentators had perceived to have been light calls against over the next several months,[15] Bunting's relationship with the referees came to heightened media attention after he was assessed a 10 minute major penalty and a game misconduct for skating into an opposing players' dropped stick during a match on April 2, 2023.[16][17] In response, Maple Leafs' management announced that they would initiate a meeting with the NHL to discuss officiating bias against Bunting.[18]

Carolina Hurricanes (2023–present)

At the conclusion of his contract with the Maple Leafs, Bunting tested the free agent market on July 1, 2023 and was signed by the Carolina Hurricanes to a three-year, $13.5 million contract.[19]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2021 Latvia

Team Canada general manager, Roberto Luongo, invited Bunting to participate at the 2021 IIHF World Championship following the 2020–21 season, giving him his first opportunity to represent his home country on an international stage.[20][21]

Personal life

Bunting was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough to his parents Andy, a civil servant for the City of Toronto, and Lynda, a bookkeeper at Shoppers Drug Mart.[22] Andy and Lynda divorced early and Michael was primarily raised by his mother, a breast cancer survivor.[22] He has an older brother, Christopher.[8]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2012–13 Don Mills Flyers GTHL 28 27 12 39 44 — — — — —
2013–14 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL 48 15 27 42 34 9 5 1 6 4
2014–15 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL 57 37 37 74 39 14 9 5 14 10
2015–16 Springfield Falcons AHL 63 11 14 25 41 — — — — —
2015–16 Rapid City Rush ECHL 7 2 0 2 4 — — — — —
2016–17 Tucson Roadrunners AHL 67 13 15 28 52 — — — — —
2017–18 Tucson Roadrunners AHL 67 23 20 43 45 9 3 1 4 27
2018–19 Tucson Roadrunners AHL 52 19 22 41 84 — — — — —
2018–19 Arizona Coyotes NHL 5 1 0 1 2 — — — — —
2019–20 Tucson Roadrunners AHL 58 12 37 49 49 — — — — —
2020–21 Tucson Roadrunners AHL 16 7 12 19 14 — — — — —
2020–21 Arizona Coyotes NHL 21 10 3 13 12 — — — — —
2021–22 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 79 23 40 63 80 6 1 2 3 4
2022–23 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 82 23 26 49 103 7 1 1 2 15
NHL totals 187 57 69 126 197 13 2 3 5 19

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2021 Canada WC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 10 0 0 0 6
Senior totals 10 0 0 0 6

References

  1. ↑ "Coyotes sign Bunting to three-year, entry level deal". Arizona Coyotes. July 23, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Coyotes sign Bunting, Dauphin, Fasching and Murphy". Arizona Coyotes. July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Roadrunners 2, Condors 1". American Hockey League. October 13, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Coyotes recall Bunting from AHL". Arizona Coyotes. December 8, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Arizona Coyotes at Boston Bruins Box Score — December 11, 2018". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  6. ↑ Soto, Johnny (April 5, 2021). "Coyotes' Michael Bunting gets first career hat trick in win over Kings". ArizonaSports.com. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Maple Leafs sign Michael Bunting for two-years". Sportsnet.ca. July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  8. 1 2 Kinkopf, Alex (April 7, 2021). "Bunting Not Swinging for the Fences". Arizona Coyotes. National Hockey League. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  9. ↑ "With hometown in spotlight, Maple Leafs' Bunting erupts for storybook night". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Bunting, Zegras, Seider named Calder Trophy finalists". nhl.com. May 11, 2022.
  11. ↑ "NHL announces 2021-22 All-Rookie Team". NHL.com. June 21, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Maple Leafs' Bunting learning to master the line of drawing penalties from officials". Sportsnet. Rogers Sports & Media. December 13, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  13. ↑ Koshan, Terry (December 13, 2022). "Bunting keeping discipline in check as opponents' penalties mount". Toronto Sun. Postmedia Network. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  14. ↑ McGran, Kevin (December 21, 2022). "'I have history with everybody.' Leafs forward Michael Bunting responds after linesman's shove in eventful night". Toronto Star. TorStar. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  15. ↑ McGran, Kevin (April 3, 2023). "Michael Bunting is getting the Nazem Kadri treatment. The Leafs need it to end before playoffs". The Peterborough Examiner. Metroland Media Group. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  16. ↑ Alter, David (April 3, 2023). "Michael Bunting is Getting a Raw Deal with Officials, but How he Handles it Could Make or Break the Maple Leafs in the Playoffs". The Hockey News. Roustan Media. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Michael Bunting gets one of the softest misconducts in the history of the league". Blades of Steel. H&L Media, Inc. April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Keefe says Dubas will talk to league about Bunting calls". The Sports Network (TSN). Bell Media. April 3, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Canes sign Bunting to three-year contract". Carolina Hurricanes. July 1, 2023. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Hockey Canada Names Management Group for 2021 IIHF World Championship". Hockey Canada. April 20, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  21. ↑ Friedman, Elliotte [@FriedgeHNIC] (May 9, 2021). "Michael Bunting, who had 10 goals in 20 games, invited to Worlds for Canada" (Tweet). Retrieved May 9, 2021 – via Twitter.
  22. 1 2 Siegel, Jonas (October 13, 2021). "'I'm a mama's boy and she's my rock': How new Maple Leaf Michael Bunting's journey led him back home". The Athletic. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
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