Toronto Maple Leafs: Michael Bunting Is NHL’s Best Value

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting has one of the best contracts in the NHL right now.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Michael Bunting this off-season, people expected him to make the team, but nobody really expected him to have the impact that he’s having. If he played 10 minutes per night and only had seven assists in 25 games, that’d be okay for a player making $950K, but instead, he’s finding the scoresheet almost every night.

The seven assists and zero goals remark was clearly a dig at Nick Ritchie, who’s currently making $2.5M to play on the fourth line and contribute zero offensively, but fortunately for the Leafs, Bunting is out-performing his contract so much that it makes people forget about what Ritchie is doing (or not doing).

Speaking of Ritchie, based on his price-tag and experience, he was viewed as a player who’d replace Zach Hyman. Instead, it’s been Bunting who’s fit in beside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner seamlessly.

Prior to joining the Leafs, Bunting had very little NHL experience, but that didn’t stop the Leafs from signing him. The previous Soo Greyhounds product was someone who’d always been on the radar for Kyle Dubas and it felt like he was the type of player who hadn’t found the right situation yet.

He’d scored 37 goals in junior and followed that up with a 23-goal season in the AHL, so he clearly had a goal-scoring ability. He just hadn’t been given a real chance to play with quality NHL teams and play legitimate NHL minutes.

Now that’s been given that chance, he’s shined in 26 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs thus far.

Bunting Is One of the Best Value Contracts in the NHL

Everybody loved Zach Hyman when he was a Leaf. The local-kid wasn’t a high-end prospect who was projected to do great things. He was a blue-collar, hard-working type of player that made everyone in Toronto proud that he was on our team.

Nobody wanted to see Hyman leave, but when the Edmonton Oilers offered him a seven-year contract at $5.5M, we wished him good luck and moved on with our day. The team was never going to be able to afford him at that price-tag and although he was an awesome player with the Leafs, the team had to find a similar style of player for one-fifth of the price.

Let’s play a fun game right now:

• Player A:
  • 23 Games: 11 goals, 18 points, 18:57 TOI
• Player B:
  • 26 Games: 7 goals, 18 points, 14:27 TOI (stats: NHL.com)

One of these players makes $5.5M, while the other makes $950K.

So, yep, you guessed it. Player A is Zach Hyman and Player B is Michael Bunting.

Even though he’s averaging four less minutes per night, Bunting has the same amount of points as Hyman and is doing it for $3.5M cheaper. The fact that Toronto has been able to replace Hyman this easily is a credit to the front office and to Bunting.

The Scarborough, ON native could have signed for more money in a different market, but he decided to play for his hometown team because he understood that he’d be given a solid opportunity to play in the team’s top-six, with a combination of either Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and/or William Nylander.

Bunting had never been given a chance to play regular minutes in the NHL so if he keeps this play up for the remainder of the season, he may never play another game in the AHL ever again, because he’s showing just how valuable he is at the best level.

For the foreseeable future, Bunting should continue to play on the top-line with Matthews and Marner because he’s not only a great player beside them, but he’s feisty and can play with an edge. He complements the Toronto Maple Leafs top-two forwards so well and deserves ever minute of ice-time that he’s getting.

At $950K, for a player who’s not even on their Entry Level Contract, there’s arguably no better value than Michael Bunting this season.