Michael Bunting admits that it was his decision to leave Toronto, reveals why he chose to sign in Carolina
The Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the teams who dealt with a great deal of turnover last summer, following a disappointing second round loss to the Florida Panthers. Not only was there a lot of roster turnover, but the organization also opted to part ways with Kyle Dubas after 9 years with the organization, bringing in Brad Treliving to replace him as GM.
There were a lot of players that the Leafs' fanbase were hoping would stay when free agency came around on July 1st. Some of the more noteworthy names were, of course, Ryan O'Reilly, Luke Schenn and Michael Bunting. However, when the dust had settled, all 3 players had left the organization and signed new deals with other teams - O'Reilly and Schenn going to Nashville and Bunting going to Carolina.
Obviously, we know that O'Reilly and Schenn were the ones who chose to leave the organization for their own reasons, but we didn't really have much clarity on what resulted in Bunting's departure. Most had assumed that the organization simply had no interest in bringing him back after he had built a bit of a reputation with the officials as being a bit of an embellisher, however, that does not appear to be the case at all. According to Bunting himself, he chose to leave the organization as well.
During a recent appearance on Spittin' Chiclets, Bunting revealed to Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney and Rear Admiral that while he and the Leafs did have preliminary talks, he jumped the gun on July 1st and signed in Carolina to avoid anything dragging out into the summer.
With a lot of things that were switching up with the organization, I didn't know where I would stand. It was back-and-forth and then July 1st hits and I've got to make a decision... early in the summer, there wasn't really a firm offer. Just preliminary talks and I had to make a decision that was best for me at that time."
Bunting may well have been extended in Toronto had he simply chose to wait a day or two for the dust to settle. In the end, however, Brad Treliving went out and signed Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi instead to help replace some of the sandpaper lost when Bunting opted to sign with the Hurricanes.
Obviously, as fans, we don't know what it's like for a player when free agency hits. For Bunting, he may have just jumped at the first deal available to avoid losing money as teams started spending it hand over fist. As we saw with several players this past summer, waiting a few days can result in teams spending all their money and then you're stuck with whatever's left over, sometimes costing yourself millions. For Bunting, I'm not sure how much less than his $4.5M AAV that he would have accepted to remain in Toronto or if the Leafs had any legitimate interest in offering anywhere close to that amount of money. Unfortunately, we'll never know, as Bunting opted to take the money and run.
Bunting's initial run in Carolina has been very positive, with the feisty winger having already amassed 10 goals and 31 points in 47 games. He's well on his way to surpassing the 49 points he posted in Toronto last year, though he likely won't reach the 63 points that he had posted just one year prior in his first season as a Leaf. Still, he's been producing very respectable numbers on a very defensively sound Hurricanes team this season.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 3 | 993 ANSWERS Michael Bunting admits that it was his decision to leave Toronto, reveals why he chose to sign in Carolina Do you wish Michael Bunting was still a Leaf? | ||
| Yes, I miss Bunts a lot | 344 | 34.6 % |
| No, it was time to part ways | 278 | 28 % |
| $4.5M is too much for Bunting anyway | 371 | 37.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
