The Curious Case Of Michael Bunting

At the start of the offseason, most folks likely said Michael Bunting was a sure bet to land a multi-year NHL contract worth tens of millions of dollars. However, now, one day removed from opening puck drop on the NHL regular season, Bunting is a man without a contract, without a team, and perhaps without a path back to the NHL. The 31-year-old winger is one of the most prominent remaining free agents, despite being an established NHLer who can play up and down a team’s lineup and still scores at a reasonable rate.

Bunting had 14 goals and 19 assists in 74 games last year, split between the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars. While it was a down year for him, he still put up points at a solid clip, as he has throughout his 418 career NHL games, where he has registered 252 points. That type of production would warrant an NHL contract, one might think, or at the very least, a PTO. So why is he still without an NHL contract? The issue is multifaceted and likely stems from several factors.

The answer probably isn’t a single issue; it’s likely the sum of several factors that have converged to create a very disappointing summer for the veteran. One likely cause was a contract demand that was too high coming into the summer. AFP Analytics pegged Bunting for a contract around four years at $5.8MM annually; he’s obviously going to fall well short of that, but it’s not the first time that’s happened. Back in 2023, AFP projected that Bunting would get a five-year deal at $5.26MM, before he ultimately settled on a three-year deal worth $4.5MM per season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Make of that what you will, but generally players do better than AFP projects. In Bunting’s case, he’s fallen short twice.

Back in 2023, Bunting had a stronger case for a payday. He was a 27-year-old coming off back-to-back 20-goal seasons and had posted 112 points in 161 games over the two years prior to hitting the market. If he fell short of contract expectations then, it was fairly likely he would do so again, which he has. No one really knows why that is at this point, but if it’s happened twice, Bunting’s camp may have asked for too much money initially and had to temper expectations and lower their target dollar figure. In 2023, Bunting settled quickly and signed on July 1st, but this summer he never signed. Read into that what you will.

Bunting’s final run in Dallas certainly didn’t boost his free-agent stock. He struggled after the trade, posting just a goal and an assist in 13 games and a single assist in the playoffs. Bunting was a healthy scratch in the playoffs and reportedly dealt with a lower-body injury late in the season. It was a quiet ending to a season that had promise before the trade, and it likely cost Bunting tens of millions of dollars.

Bunting brings more than scoring, but it’s hard to put a dollar figure on the intangibles he adds to the lineup. He is one of the most annoying players in the league to play against. He buzzes around the crease, gets to the net, draws penalties, and can hang with skilled guys. But those attributes apparently don’t scream $6MM player for teams that might feel they already have young pieces in the system who can do what Bunting does. Or could there be something more to it?

At the very least, it’s interesting that Bunting earned less than anticipated on his first trip through free agency, but the second time could reflect something that happened during his time in Pittsburgh. In October 2024, Bunting was healthy-scratched after starting the season with just an assist in his first six games. Bunting had ended the prior year with 19 points in 21 games with the Penguins after a trade at the trade deadline. In the game before the scratch, Bunting started on the second line but ended up taking fourth-line shifts by the end. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan then opted to scratch Bunting in favour of Anthony Beauvillier, who took top-line minutes alongside Sidney Crosby, despite being a massive anchor on that line. There’s no definitive proof anything nefarious happened, but it is an interesting story. Bunting was traded to the Nashville Predators a few months later, marking the second of three trades during his three-year contract.

That’s another warning sign. Bunting has been dealt every year of his prior three-year contract. Now, sure, it shows teams value his contributions enough to trade for him, but it also shows they were willing to move on from him quickly.

There is still plenty to like about Bunting’s game, but the longer this drags on, the harder his path back to the NHL becomes. He’ll likely still get an NHL deal like Logan Stanley did, but it won’t resemble the one he was projected to sign or the one he just completed. It might come down to which team suffers early-season injuries and needs reinforcements for its forward group. Until then, Bunting might just need to keep waiting.