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Speculation: Michael Bunting (a realistic look at)

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shaner89 said:
Needs way more ice time. Been arguably the leafs best forward minus Willie.
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He is averaging about what he should which is 14-15 mins, he is in the Kerfoot/Kampf range without much time on special teams. I think that is pretty fair.

EVTOI/GP
1. Matthews
2. Tavares
3. Marner
4. Nylander
5. Bunting

Looks like it should to me.
 
notbias said:
He is averaging about what he should which is 14-15 mins, he is in the Kerfoot/Kampf range without much time on special teams. I think that is pretty fair.

EVTOI/GP
1. Matthews
2. Tavares
3. Marner
4. Nylander
5. Bunting

Looks like it should to me.
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Ya you're right. I was only looking at last nights game and he had 12 mins in an OT game which is way too low.
 
Same birthday as Alexander Ovechkin and Auston Matthews.

this alone is enough to make Bunting-Matthews-Nylander line
 
Jimmy Firecracker said:


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would love to have both of them (for thr rigjt price of course)...but got to give Dubas credit for swiftly finding a Hyman clone to replace the departing Hyman.

Dubas really looks to have done a great job this offseason, Kampf, Kase and Bunting look like home runs - Ritchie has his warts but enforcers with hands are an absolutely rarity in the NHL - i think he has significantly reduced the violent attention our top guns have gotten and the smaller pesky guys like Kerfoot and Bunting (along with Simmonds helping out)...so i think its money also well spent.

like i said Dubas even acquired Rodriguez as a throw in for Kapanen amd Rodriguez is now playing like a 2nd liner. looking forward to seeing what else Dubas.might have up his sleeve.
 
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How did Dubas sniff him out? Was there analytics evaluation or did we have someone scouting him? Love the pickup. Didn't even know who bunting was before this season.
 
14 points in 23 games for us. Pacing for 21 goals. I guess it's a home run grand slam signing then?

Mess said:
Wouldn't a career AHLer, now 7 years removed from his draft year, and a career 26 NHL games and 14 points total making $950k getting 15-20 goals be considered a home run grand slam?
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Mess said:
I posted these stats earlier of 4 players of which 3 are new ones battling for a roster spot from the 2014 including Bunting. It interesting to see/hear the expectation for Bunting being the highest yet based on NHL games experience, size, contract and draft position if you looked at all the factors it would seem he should be near the bottom of this list (below).

Ho-sang was a former 1st rounder and taken 20 spots after William Nylander, Amadio is approaching 200 NHL games and has the most NHL points so clearly the most proven. Engvall the player the Leafs already have has the biggest contract and is approaching 100 games played and would seem the most secure for a roster spot.

Bunting has the least NHL games (only 26 games), was drafted later than Ho-Sang and Amadio as mid 4th rounder and the least amount of NHL points (only 14), and is the smallest as in sub 6' feet in size. Yet Bunting comes with highest expectations from this draft class that is going to have the biggest impact on the Leafs it appears. This seems like recency bias from a small sample set at the end of the last season, where the stats really wouldn't back that up when you looked at the data only objectively.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Training camp battles: (ranked by draft position of 2014 draft class)

Josh Ho-Sang (PTO)
Age 25 - RW - 6'0" / 175 lbs
Drafted: 2014 round 1 #28 overall by New York Islanders

NHL Stats: 53 games 7 goals 17 assists 24 points

vs.

Michael Amadio (@ $750k)
Age 25 - C/RW - 6'1"/ 205 lbs
Drafted: 2014 round 3 #90 overall by Los Angeles Kings

NHL Stats: 173 games 16 goals 24 assists 40 points

vs.

Michael Bunting (@ $950k)
Age 25 - LW/RW - 5'11" / 195 lbs
Drafted: 2014 round 4 #117 overall by Phoenix Coyotes

NHL Stats: 26 games 11 goals 3 assists 14 points

vs.

Pierre Engvall (@ $1.25 mil)
Age 25 - C/LW - 6'5"/214 lbs
Drafted: 2014 round 7 #188 overall by Toronto Maple Leafs

NHL Stats: 90 games 15 goals 12 assists 27 points
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MattySnipes said:
How did Dubas sniff him out? Was there analytics evaluation or did we have someone scouting him? Love the pickup. Didn't even know who bunting was before this season.
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Bunting was a greyhound in juniors, he played for Sheldon Keefe. Also Dubas was the gm of the greyhounds in Buntings first junior season. think Bunting is second row 5th from right?

2013_14 – Soo Greyhounds
 
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I think it was obvious bunting was coming to Toronto. Good on dubas for taking the gamble on him, and getting him for only .950 instead of like 1-1.2, but it felt like before the season even ended, he was coming to Toronto
 
Easily Dubas's best off season acquisition

He's a fiesty guy who will drive the net, and works his ass off on the forecheck! Also he's on par to pot 20 goals, and can play up/down the lineup... and all for the very cheap cost of 950K!
 
James Blackley said:
Easily Dubas's best off season acquisition

He's a fiesty guy who will drive the net, and works his ass off on the forecheck! Also he's on par to pot 20 goals, and can play up/down the lineup... and all for the very cheap cost of 950K!
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hes been great, but kampf is in the running for that honour as well imo. obviously different type of impact, but impactful nonetheless. most of the offseason signings have been great so far(ritchie being the outlier lol)
 
Probably should try to get that extension done asap in the off-season, I think we've learned better to get it done earlier rather than later.
 
WTFMAN99 said:
Probably should try to get that extension done asap in the off-season, I think we've learned better to get it done earlier rather than later.
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Can’t sign him yet. He’s got another year left.

But I think a long term deal around 3-3.5 makes sense for both sides.
 
I’d rank the nhl signings
Kampf
Bunting
Kase
Ritchie
Mrazek

kampf gives us a legit shutdown line + a natural pk Center. He’s been good offensively too

bunting looks like 2018-19 Hyman, he’s been great at drawing pp and creating chances left and right

Kase started to get into a groove, I see top 6 talent in him. 45-50 points if given the opportunity Still a candidate for 15-20 goals

Ritchie has been bad, but some games he’s opened up some space for Matthews and Marner when he plays there. If he does that in the playoffs, I’ll be happy. Do hope he pots one soon

mrazek has been injuried, can’t say much but he wasn’t that great either in his games
 


I thought it was ambitious banking on this guy to be a Hyman replacement but I was wrong.
 
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1specter said:


I thought it was ambitious banking on this guy to be a Hyman replacement but I was wrong.
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and let's all agree that when it comes down to crunch time in live or die moments, we're probably better off having the scrappy poor scarborough kid in our corner rather than the silver spooned north toronto boy.
 
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