{"id":115904,"date":"2021-07-28T13:56:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T17:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=115904"},"modified":"2021-07-28T13:56:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T17:56:45","slug":"michael-bunting-signed-by-toronto-maple-leafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/07\/28\/michael-bunting-signed-by-toronto-maple-leafs\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Bunting Signed by Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed left winger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/buntimi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bunting<\/a> to a two-year deal worth $1,9 million. The deal will carry an AAV of $950,000 and will carry him through the 2022-23 NHL Season. Bob Mackenzie reported the news moments ago.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Michael Bunting\u2019s deal in TOR is two years, with an AAV of $950K.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TSNBobMcKenzie\/status\/1420421136093954056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Michael Bunting Signed<\/h2>\n<p>Michael Bunting was originally drafted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/coyotes\/\" target=\"_self\">Arizona Coyotes<\/a> in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to signing his entry-level contract in the Summer of 2015, Bunting spent two seasons with the OHL\u2019s Soo Greyhounds under head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/keefesh01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sheldon Keefe<\/a> and general manager Kyle Dubas. He spent the better part of four seasons in the AHL under Coyotes affiliates Springfield Falcons and Tucson Roadrunners before a brief five-game stint with the big club. Bunting scored his first NHL goal in his first game. He spent the entire 2019-2020 season in the AHL, putting up a respectable 12 goals and 49 points in 58 games.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Bunting had seven goals and 19 points before being called up to Arizona on March 31. He had a goal and an assist in his season debut and scored his first career hat-trick in his fourth game. Despite playing just 21 games, Bunting finished the year with 10 goals and three assists for 13 points. The Scarborough native signed with his hometown team today \u2013 the first day of free agency.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means Going Forward<\/h3>\n<p>The Maple Leafs decided to bring in Bunting on a cheap two-year contract to help fill the void on their left side. It\u2019s a similar move that we\u2019ve seen Kyle Dubas make in the past. They have their top four forwards taking up 50 percent of the cap and need to filter in players that could potentially contribute up and down the lineup. Bunting is expected to get a chance to fill some of the minutes left by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hymanza01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Hyman<\/a> after he decided to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/07\/28\/zach-hyman-signed-oilers\/\" target=\"_self\">sign as a free agent<\/a> with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/oilers\/\" target=\"_self\">Edmonton Oilers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bunting is due for some regression. He scored his 10 goals last year on only 38 shots \u2013 a shooting percentage of 26.3%. The Maple Leafs can\u2019t expect that to continue. However, there is a significant level of familiarity between the player and management. That relationship should help Bunting settle in nicely to his new team.<\/p>\n<p>The Maple Leafs made two other corresponding moves. They traded for the rights to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/menelbr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brennan Menell<\/a> and signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/a\/amadimi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Amadio<\/a> to a two-way contract.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">TRADE: We\u2019ve acquired the rights to defenceman Brennan Menell from Minnesota in exchange for a conditional seventh-round selection in 2022. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LeafsForever?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#LeafsForever<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MapleLeafs\/status\/1420406211770474499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hearing <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Leafs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Leafs<\/a> are bringing in F Mike Amadio, possibly on a two-way contract.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Terry Koshan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@koshtorontosun) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/koshtorontosun\/status\/1420426789990670341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p>LOS ANGELES, CA &#8211; APRIL 05: Arizona Coyotes Left Wing Michael Bunting (58) celebrates after scoring his second goal on Los Angeles Kings Goalie Cal Petersen (40) during NHL game between the Arizona Coyotes and the Los Angeles Kings on April 05, 2021, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Rob Curtis\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Bunting Signed; he Toronto Maple Leafs have signed left winger Michael Bunting to a two-year deal worth $1,9M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3917,"featured_media":107429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4547,34],"tags":[5107],"class_list":["post-115904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","category-hockey","category-news","tag-michael-bunting"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3917"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}