The Maple Leafs have already been busy this offseason, but the work does not appear close to done. Toronto still has room to keep reshaping the roster, and one familiar name has surfaced as a possible fit in free agency: Michael Bunting.
In a recent matchmaker piece for The Score, Josh Wegman identified a return to Toronto as a strong match for Bunting. It is an idea that makes some sense on paper.
Bunting posted a career-best 63 points in 2021-22 with the Maple Leafs while skating alongside Auston Matthews, who won the Hart Trophy that season. Wegman also pointed to the kind of game Bunting brings, describing him as a native of Scarborough, Ontario, who plays with the “heart and soul” Toronto appears to be seeking under its new leadership group.
He added that Bunting is “pesky and a strong offensive play-driver who could play up and down the lineup,”
Bunting, now 30, is a UFA after finishing the three-year, $13.5 million deal he signed with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2023. Last season, he produced 33 points - 14 goals and 19 assists - in 74 games split between the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars.
His two-year run in Toronto was highly productive, and the chemistry with Matthews stood out then just as it does now in hindsight. If the price is reasonable in both money and term, Toronto should at least check in on what a reunion would take.
There is one obvious hurdle: cap space. The Maple Leafs do not currently have enough room to make a move like this work.
But if GM John Chayka can clear salary - possibly a contract such as Morgan Rielly’s - then circling back to Bunting on the open market could become a realistic option. Chayka also knows Bunting from their time together with the then-Arizona Coyotes, which only adds another layer to the fit.
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