Now that Patrick Kane and Anthony Mantha are off the market, the free agency frenzy is now more of a murmur. This was already a poor free agency class, but we’re down to the bottom of the barrel as we head to the end of July.
The top free agents in some order are Michael Bunting, Patrik Laine, Vladimir Tarasenko, John Klingberg, and James van Riemsdyk. There’s zero chance they circle back on Laine. Tarasenko and JVR feel like bad fits at their current age. They don’t need a defenseman like Klingberg, but Bunting is intriguing.
See, Bunting is the type of player the Canadiens need. He plays that style they were hoping to get from Josh Anderson but never really worked out. They want a guy who can contribute 15-20 goals and hit a guy when they absolutely need him to. Something has been off with that, since he only had 45 hits last season, but he is still getting into the tough areas and coming out with the puck.
Bunting has not been able to get settled with any team. He’s been traded midseason in each of the last three seasons. That might be why he’s waiting out free agency, as he’s looking for another year or two on his contract. However, it’s getting to the point where a second year is off the table. Most teams have settled on their rosters and are looking at prospects and PTOs to battle for those final spots.
The Dallas Stars felt like their playoff lineup was better without Bunting, who had a rough 16 games with his new franchise. Then, he finally got a chance to get in a game, and he was great. His line dominated in chances and high-danger chances, beating the Minnesota Wild 4-0 in the latter stat. His line even scored a goal despite Bunting getting just 13 shifts in the entire game.
There are certain players who are much better in the playoffs than the regular season. Despite his counting stats being weak, Bunting’s underlying numbers are great in the postseason. In his first playoff run with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022, his line had 64 percent of the high-danger chances at 5v5 with him on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. In 2023, he was once again dominant with 63 percent of the HDCF.
Michael Bunting isn't a regular season signing, he's a playoff signing for the Montreal Canadiens
On a team like the Canadiens, those analytics would turn into goals. There are so many finishers on the Canadiens that they need a guy who just gets the puck where it needs to go.
Is Bunting going to give the Canadiens 25 goals in the regular season? Probably not at this point in his career, but he turns it on in the playoffs. That is much more important to this version of the Canadiens.
Montreal has Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Nick Suzuki, and Lane Hutson can all show up in the regular season and accumulate enough to get the Canadiens to the postseason. They need to get a guy who plays at his best when the lights are brightest.
Marty St. Louis just has to have the smarts to play Bunting despite what he looked like in the regular season. That was where the Stars went wrong. If Bunting played every game, it might have been the difference in that first-round series.
It might be insane to think about, but we’re serious here. The Stars got knocked out in the first round in a series that was razor-thin. Bunting would have made a difference.
Would Bunting have helped the Canadiens beat the Hurricanes last season? No, there was a clear difference in level there. However, adding Bunting to a roster that is also expected to see massive growth from the young stars and this becomes the final piece of the puzzle.
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