Ever since the emergence of Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov, and Tyler Johnson at varying stages of their careers in Tampa Bay, teams have been looking in the minor leagues for the next big thing. Funny enough, a lot of current/future NHL stars that were in the minors were also developed by Tampa Bay. We are talking about players like Carter Verhaege, Jonathan Marchessault, and now possibly Ross Colton. None of those players were first-round picks, only one was a second-rounder, and a couple were straight UDFA signings.

I bring all these names up because we may have one to add to the list in Michael Bunting, who just signed in Toronto:

Bunting turns 26 years old in November and has just 26 career NHL games. This past season, he had 10 goals in 21 games but did so shooting 26.3 percent. If he shoots 13 percent instead of more than double that, we probably aren't even having this conversation. Funny how this game works sometimes.

It isn't as if this came out of nowhere, though. Bunting was second on his AHL team in scoring in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. In those two seasons, he averaged 2.9 shots per game. Personally, I take notice of any AHL player bordering on three shots per game, and that's close enough for me with Bunting. That wasn't anything new for the winger, he had 52 goals in 105 OHL games spanning his draft year and his draft+1 year. This is a guy with a history of scoring in junior, in the AHL, and he had a great small sample in the AHL. No, he won't repeat his goal pace ever again, but at half the shooting percentage, he still works out to roughly 20 goals playing 16-17 minutes a night. That will work for a depth scorer.

What is key here for Bunting is he's a left shot and a natural left winger. If there's one position the Leafs are thin, it's left wing. After losing Zach Hyman and Alex Galchenyuk, their top left winger right now is probably Ilya Mikheyev. They are also relying on guys like Rodion Amirov or Nick Robertson making the team out of camp. All this is to say, Bunting doesn't really need to be great to earn a top-6 role with Toronto, and playing on either of the top two lines is a massive improvement for him. The team has also started to split PP time in recent seasons, much more so than earlier in Auston Matthews's career, so Bunting could easily earn some time there. Despite going from a barren Arizona roster to a somewhat stocked Toronto roster, there's room for him to have a more prominent role if he earns it. Playing top-6 in Toronto with even secondary PP minutes puts 25 goals and 50 points within reach.

Naturally, this hurts the prospects of the two young kids already named. If Mikheyev is relied upon as a two-way winger and Bunting in a scoring role, at least one of them is in the bottom-6 with the other in the AHL.

This is a great bet by Toronto and there is upside for a guy that was over a hit per game last year on top of his scoring. There is a 20-goal, 100-hit season waiting in the wings here.

Who this helps

Michael Bunting

Auston Matthews

Lawson Crouse

Who this hurts

Christian Dvorak

Nick Robertson

Rodion Amirov