If the Oilers are serious about becoming a team built on four-line, two-way hockey and reliable defense, Michael Bunting makes a lot of sense as a fit.
Bunting has bounced around plenty lately. The veteran forward most recently skated for the Dallas Stars, and before that he spent time with the Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Arizona Coyotes/Utah Mammoth.
He has also been traded in each of the last three seasons. Even with all that movement, he has kept producing, posting at least 30 points and more than 15 goals in each of the last five seasons.
That production comes with a few tradeoffs. His scoring has trended down over the past three seasons, and he has also piled up penalty minutes. In four of the last five seasons, Bunting has finished with a negative penalty differential, which means he has taken more penalties than he has drawn.
That is part of the package with a player like this. Bunting is the sort of two-way forward who can chip in offensively, win pucks along the boards, and shrink the ice for opponents.
That profile matches what Mike Babcock appears to want from Edmonton’s roster. Babcock wants players who can track down the puck, play with discipline at both ends, and bring speed. Bunting’s pace would not stack up with Connor McDavid’s - his 65th percentile ranking in that area sits well below McDavid’s - but he does check the other boxes.
The fit gets even more interesting when you start imagining usage. One possible look would have Bunting on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jason Dickinson, with Mattias Ekholm and Connor Murphy behind them as the defensive pair. In late-game situations, that group could be useful for keeping opponents out of the offensive zone by winning battles, forcing clears, closing space, and generating blocked shots.
That kind of versatility could matter on the penalty kill too. Even if Babcock had to choose between Nugent-Hopkins or Dickinson to skate with Bunting and leave room for two defensemen, Bunting would give him options. At the very least, he could help the Oilers roll two lines that can handle penalty-kill duty.
The cap picture is tight, though Edmonton does have $1 million in room. One way to bring Bunting in would be through a professional tryout agreement for the rest of preseason, then decide whether to make it official with a contract. If that happens, the deal would likely be a one-year “prove it” arrangement, with Bunting trying to show he can help at both ends while getting his scoring back up.
That contract would probably top out at $2 million per year. To make it work, the Oilers could move Mattias Janmark or Matt Savoie, both of whom are on IR, to LTIR and use that space to maneuver Bunting into the lineup.
LTIR becomes an option when a player is expected to miss 10 regular-season games and 24 calendar days. Since Matt Savoie and others may be out until late-October, that would satisfy the 24-day threshold and push Edmonton beyond 10 regular-season games, putting him in position to be shifted to LTIR.
For the Oilers, the path is there. A one-year deal for Bunting would not carry a huge cost in either cap terms or roster construction. And if he fits the way Babcock wants to play, Edmonton could end up with exactly the kind of useful role player it needs.
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The challenge is that interest alone does not make a deal realistic, especially with the cap landscape tightening for everyone involved. Darren Dreger noted there are real hurdles here, from the kind of assets it would take to pry Marchenko loose to the contract commitment needed to get him in the fold, which could make this more of a long-shot discussion than an immediate fit for Edmonton. [Read more 🡒]