Michael Bunting

Michael Bunting (born September 17, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey winger for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Bunting played midget hockey with the Don Mills Flyers in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and captured the league championship during the 2012–13 season.

The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds selected him 160th overall in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection.

Playing as a rookie with the Greyhounds in 2013–14, Bunting produced 42 points in 48 games.

Bunting was selected by the Arizona Coyotes, 117th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

He has also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes.

During the 2014–15 season, Bunting led the Greyhounds with 37 goals in 57 games and served as an alternate captain.

The Arizona Coyotes made Bunting their fourth-round pick, 117th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Coyotes on July 23, 2015.

Bunting made the jump to the Coyotes' professional ranks in the 2015–16 season with the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League (AHL).

The Coyotes briefly assigned him to the ECHL's Rapid City Rush early in the season but he returned in time to record his first AHL goal in a game against the Providence Bruins on December 6, 2015.

Bunting became a restricted free agent after the expiry of his entry-level contract.

He signed a one-year, two-way deal to stay with the Coyotes on July 14, 2018.

While playing with the Tucson Roadrunners in the 2018–19 season, Bunting made his 200th AHL appearance on October 13, 2018, in a game against the Bakersfield Condors.

The Coyotes recalled Bunting to the NHL for the first time on December 8, 2018.

At the time, he ranked second on the Roadrunners with 18 points in 20 games.

Bunting scored his first NHL goal in his debut, beating Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask in the second period of a 4–3 Coyotes loss on December 11, 2018.

After spending the entire 2019–20 season with the Roadrunners, Bunting returned to the Coyotes' lineup on March 31, 2021, and spent the rest of the 2020–21 season in the NHL.

He registered a goal and an assist in his season debut, a 9–3 Coyotes loss to the Colorado Avalanche, before scoring his first NHL hat-trick against the Los Angeles Kings on April 5, 2021.

Despite playing just 21 games with the Coyotes in 2020–21, Bunting ultimately tied with Nick Schmaltz for sixth on the team with 10 goals.

As a group 6 free agent after breaking out with the Coyotes, Bunting was signed to a two-year, $1.9 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 28, 2021.

He left the Coyotes franchise being the Roadrunners' all-time leader in games played, goals, assists, points, and penalty minutes.

Bunting spent most of the season as the left winger on the team's top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

On January 29, 2022, Bunting became the first player to score a hat-trick the same day his hometown was featured on Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada.

In his first year with the Maple Leafs, Bunting was named as a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy for the league's best rookie.

Although he would not ultimately win the award, Bunting was voted to the NHL All-Rookie Team.

Entering his second season with Toronto, Bunting began to develop a reputation as an effective penalty drawing forward who was capable of agitating opponents; by mid-December 2022, he led the league in drawn penalties at even strength play by a sizeable margin, despite being reported to have a contentious relationship with officials.

Around the time this narrative began to gain some traction in media circles, Bunting began to experience a notable turn in referee calls, with him drawing noticeably fewer penalties while increasingly being disciplined for relatively minor infractions.

In late December, Bunting was aggressively shoved off the ice by an official while being assessed a minor penalty, stirring a small controversy.

After a build up of what some commentators had perceived to have been light calls against over the next several months, Bunting's relationship with the referees came to heightened media attention after he was assessed a 10 minute major penalty and a game misconduct for skating into an opposing players' dropped stick during a match on April 2, 2023.

In response, Maple Leafs' management announced that they would initiate a meeting with the NHL to discuss officiating bias against Bunting.

At the conclusion of his contract with the Maple Leafs, Bunting tested the free agent market on July 1, 2023 and was signed by the Carolina Hurricanes to a three-year, $13.5 million contract.

He made his debut with Carolina on October 13, 2023, scoring the Hurricanes' first goal of the game against Joonas Korpisalo in a 5–3 win over the Ottawa Senators.

On his return to Toronto on December 30, he scored the Hurricanes' first goal in the game, a 3–2 win over the Maple Leafs.

He played in 60 games with Carolina, scoring 13 goals and 36 points.

On March 7, 2024, Bunting was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with Ville Koivunen, prospect Cruz Lucius, Vasili Ponomaryov and two conditional 2024 draft picks, in exchange for Jake Guentzel and Ty Smith.

Team Canada general manager, Roberto Luongo, invited Bunting to participate at the 2021 IIHF World Championship following the 2020–21 season, giving him his first opportunity to represent his home country on an international stage.

Bunting was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough to his parents Andy, a civil servant for the City of Toronto, and Lynda, a bookkeeper at Shoppers Drug Mart.

Andy and Lynda divorced early and Michael was primarily raised by his mother, a breast cancer survivor.

He has an older brother, Christopher.