The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to miss Michael Bunting next season more than people probably think.
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost Bunting when he signed on as a free-agent with the Carolina Hurricanes this summer.
The Leafs were right to let him walk, as his $4.5 million cap hit was pretty expensive (though in retrospect, he’d certainly be a better investment than Max Domi, or John Klingberg).
The Leafs basically replaced Bunting with Bertuzzi, which is not an upgrade. Bertuzzi has never had a season like Bunting did 2 years ago when he posted one of the best 5v5 seasons since the year 2000, and scored the same amount of points as Connor McDavid 5v5.