TORONTO — Call Michael Bunting “a greasy rat” and he’ll grin. It’s because he must have had an excellent night.
Such was the case for Bunting when he scored a hat trick in the Maple Leafs’ 4-0 preseason win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. It was teammate Kurtis Gabriel who interrupted Bunting’s intermission interview with the compliment, and while Bunting admits Gabriel “scared me a bit” jumping in with the comment, it was the type of praise Bunting appreciates.
“I think that’s the way I get into a game is getting the other team after me or to get in their head,” Bunting said after practice on Thursday. “I feel like that’s when I’m playing my best. When they’re chasing after me and not worried about the game that helps us out so I don’t mind playing that role.”
Neither does coach Sheldon Keefe.
“One thing I know about Michael Bunting is he usually leaves the game as one of the most hated players on the ice,” Keefe said. “I’ve come to expect that from him in terms of reactions that he gets from other teams. But I think that’s a positive thing; he’s not out there to make friends, he’s out there to score goals and help this team win and he make some apologies about how he goes about it. I like that about him.”
Keefe has more experience watching Bunting than most, and is familiar with the unconventional path he took to the NHL.
Growing up in Scarborough, Ontario, Bunting didn’t get recruited to any of the Greater Toronto Area’s elite squads and cut his teeth playing high school hockey. He finally earned one season with the AAA Don Mills Flyers’ U-18 team in 2012, and then was drafted 160th overall by the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds in the 2013 Ontario Hockey League’s Priority Selection.
It was in the Soo that Bunting met then-general manager Kyle Dubas (now GM of the Leafs) and Keefe, who was the Greyhounds’ head coach. Bunting parlayed a strong rookie season in the OHL (42 points in 48 games) into being selected by the Arizona Coyotes in the fourth-round, 117th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
And then Bunting’s real work began.
The now 26-year-old would bounce around the American Hockey League for the next four years, not making his NHL debut until December 2018. He appeared in five games for the Coyotes and was sent back to the AHL, where he remained under another recall in March 2021.
Back in the NHL, Bunting never left. He tallied 10 goals in 21 games for Arizona to finish the season and became a coveted unrestricted free agent in July. Weighing multiple offers from interested parties, Bunting ultimately decided to sign a two-year, $1.9 million deal with the club he cheered for as a kid – and gave Toronto a hometown discount to boot.
“I was a late bloomer,” Bunting said. “The road I took to get here isn’t the normal one that everybody takes so I take pride in that and I [embrace] it every day that you can’t take this thing for granted, it can go just as fast as it can come. You appreciate it a little bit more [because] it did take a little bit for me to get here, it has been a grind.”
Wayne Simmonds, who also grew up in Scarborough a few years ahead of Bunting, can appreciate his path to success more than most.
“Scarborough sticks together,” Simmonds said. “We had a lot of time to chat [since meeting in training camp] and [compare] our life’s paths. Like how we grew up playing and both of us played double A. He didn’t get to junior until he was 18 and I didn’t play junior until I was 18 as well. So what we went through as young kids playing hockey was the same and we have a pretty strong bond because of that.”
Just like Simmonds before him, Bunting is ready to make his mark on the NHL. Keefe slotted him onto a line with John Tavares and William Nylander to start training camp last week, and Bunting has tallied four goals in two preseason games thus far. And he hasn’t used exhibition as an excuse to go easy on the opposition, hence Gabriel’s approval of his pestering.
“He certainly is a guy that makes no friends on the ice, and that’s part of what makes him who he is,” Keefe said. “Just in terms of the hunger and the competitiveness he has around the net, [it’s] because he’s always looking to get an edge on you. I’m really happy that he’s gotten the results that he’s gotten here in the first two games. It allows his confidence to grow, allows him to settle in here with us.”
When Zach Hyman left the Leafs for Edmonton in free agency last July, there was plenty of concern about who would take his place as a top-six left winger in Toronto. Bunting isn’t the same player as Hyman, but his skill set is something the Leafs are lacking. And Bunting has used all resources available to him in trying to perfect it.
Back in Arizona, Bunting picked the brain of former head coach Rick Tocchet on how to toe the line between skill player and general annoyance. Tocchet played more than 1,100 NHL games and scored 952 points doing just that. In stature, Tocchet was larger in stature (6-foot, 214 pounds) than Bunting (5-foot-11, 196 pounds), but he was happy to share tricks of the trade with a fellow Scarborough offspring.
“I think he was a little tougher than me,” Bunting said of Tocchet. “But he’s not afraid to mix it up, and we would talk about that and he would give me advice about how [to] play on the edge and be able to put it in the net as well because he was able to put up numbers.”
So far, Bunting has been able to do exactly that in the NHL. Granted it’s still early in the Leafs’ exhibition schedule, and critics are quick to point out Bunting’s sample size last season was too small to really judge him on. But Bunting is used to being doubted – it’s helped create the player he is. And that’s everything the Leafs are looking for.
“I know the history of Bunts…he’s just got a chip on his shoulder, in terms of how he’s how he’s come up through the hockey ranks,” Keefe said. “He plays with a lot to prove every night and he’s out there to try to make the best of every opportunity he can and I like those qualities about him. That’s what I think makes you believe a player like him always has a chance, and here he is in the NHL. Those are the kind of guys you don’t want to bet against.”
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
