Bunting is a most unlikely Calder finalist
Twenty-six-year-old led all NHL rookies with 63 points
One of these days, Michael Bunting might become a firefighter.
“That was the plan,” he said, “until this hockey stuff. We’ll see.”
The hockey stuff, though, seems to be working out. Bunting was all smiles Wednesday upon learning he was a finalist for the Calder Trophy, recognized by the voters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association that he was one of the top three rookies in the NHL this season. Red Wings defenceman Moritz Seider and Ducks dazzling forward Trevor Zegras are the other finalists.
But the Maple Leafs winger is the most unlikely of the finalists, qualifying as a rookie by the skin of his teeth. He turned 26 on Sept. 17, young enough to qualify by two days. He played 21 games last year for Arizona, few enough to qualify by four games. Another disqualifier is having played more than six games in each of the previous two seasons. He played five in 2019-20. More remarkable is his backstory. He was a Scarborough kid raised by a single mother who couldn’t afford to put her son in rep hockey. But a high school coach at Cardinal Newman persuaded him to give it a try, and his GTHL Don Mills Flyers helped with the costs. And even that didn’t guarantee anything. He was twice passed over in the OHL draft before the Soo Greyhounds, then managed by Kyle Dubas and coached by Sheldon Keefe, took him in the fourth round in 2013.
He was hurt in his first OHL season, but the Coyotes took him in the fifth round of the 2014 NHL draft. He toiled mostly in the minors before signing as a free agent with the Leafs.
“My attitude is, keep it going and keep grinding away and having be- lief in my skill,” Bunting said. “It’s been quite the journey to get to the NHL for me. I was able to make it and solidify myself. I just kept that same attitude every single day and night in and night out. So I think I did a pretty good job.”
He started this season on the fourth line. He finished on the first line, a feisty-in-your-face player, leading rookies in scoring with 23 goals and 40 assists.
“It’s terrific for him and his family,” Keefe said. “It’s a testament to the journey that you’ve been through. And for a guy like him, it’s taken a lot longer. So he’s had to put in a lot more work. He’s had to stay resilient and he’s had to continue to believe in himself and he’s had to take advantage of opportunities that came his way.
“Yet he had to earn those opportunities.”
Seider is likely the favourite for the Calder, an elite defenceman who led all rookies in time on ice and a cornerstone of the Red Wings future.
Zegras wowed fans with his electrifying lacrosse-style goals. Neither played with anyone nearly as talented as Matthews or Marner.