Through the first month, maybe the first month-and-a-half of the 2024-25 season, I am not sure there was a bigger individual disappointment on the Pittsburgh Penguins roster than forward Michael Bunting.
It was not that I had super high expectations for him, it was just that I anticipated him being something closer to the player he was at the tail end of the 2023-24 season after he came over from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Jake Guentzel trade.
He brought a different element to the forward group.
He had that garbage goal mentality where he could park himself near the net and score the ugly goals the Penguins had been lacking.