Former Leafs reveals what he thinks the Leafs should do with Bunting, praises Keefe's coaching in series
Former Leaf, albeit for half a season, Kris Versteeg was on TSN's Leafs Lunch yesterday and offered his thoughts on the Michael Bunting situation and Sheldon Keefe's coaching so far in this series.
Vertseeg believes that the Leafs and Keefe should get Bunting back in the lineup now that his suspension is over. "It's not about making everyone happy. It's about going with who's going. He should go back to Bunting no doubt about it. Take out Zach Aston-Reese or Sam Lafferty it doesn't matter. That's a hard decision to make. These are things he's gunna have to do to make up for past appearances for himself that he wasn't good enough. I hope they go back to bunting. Look back at Nazem Kadri, he goes to Colorado and everyone realizes they screwed up. Kyle Clifford takes a dumb penalty, doesn't go back to Clifford. This is his chance to go back to a guy. To make a hard call, and go to a guy they're gunna need," said Vertseeg about Bunting and as much as many Leaf fans don't think Bunting should go back into the lineup right now, myself included, it would seem that he will be back for game 5 based on Keefe's comments yesterday.
Vertseeg also offered some praise for Keefe and how he has adapted to the Lightning this post-season compared to last year. "Cooper was playing chess while he was playing checkers and now he's starting to play chess as well." Aside from the lineup changes and line switching, Keefe has taken a page out of Cooper's book during this series in using the media to downplay certain things and create a public record of others. So far, it has worked with the Leafs up 3-1 and able to close out the series at home Thursday night.
With the Leafs scheduled to practice shortly, we will know exactly where and if Bunting will be in the lineup for game 5 and who will be coming out.
