Michael Bunting is Getting a Raw Deal with Officials, but How he Handles it Could Make or Break the Maple Leafs in the Playoffs
Michael Bunting was on the wrong end of some questionable officiating on Sunday. Fair or not, the Toronto Maple Leafs forward needs to find himself on the right side of it or risk becoming a liability in the playoffs.
It has reached a point where the Toronto Maple Leafs want to talk to the officials about the standard of officiating when it comes to Michael Bunting.
On Sunday night, Bunting saw a lot of the penalty box. First, he received an embellishment penalty when he was knocked down several times on a hard cross-check from Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman.
Having been a target by officials this season with numerous embellishment penalties, it's hard to doubt this is anything but a reputation call. But unfortunately for Bunting and the Maple Leafs, things escalated quickly after the forward left the penalty box.
With just over two seconds remaining in the second period, the 27-year-old Bunting was involved in a big scrum involving several Red Wings players along with teammate Timothy Liljegren. The end result saw Bunting receive a 10-minute misconduct.
It's not clear if Bunting was called for dragging Moritz Seider's stick with his feet or if something else occurred, but Toronto's forward was the only player assessed a misconduct. With the playoffs set to begin in a couple of weeks, it's beginning to be a concern for the Maple Leafs and head coach Sheldon Keefe was not surprised that his forward was assessed a misconduct given who was handing it to him.
"Surprised? I mean, based on the way that he's been officiated of late, no, I'm not surprised at all," Keefe said. "Bunts has got to do his best to stay on the line and in terms of how he's been officiated, Kyle (Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas) will deal with that with the league."
There was some discipline by Keefe on Bunting for his part in the fiasco. The forward was benched for most of the third period after his misconduct expired and was limited to just two shifts for the remainder of the game.
"He eats three cross-checks and he gets taken to the box with it. I don't know if he had four or five punches in the face in the scrum and he ends up with a misconduct so it's tough for him," Keefe added. "But he's got to find his way through that and Kyle will deal with the other stuff."
When he isn't scoring, Bunting's greatest asset is to be an agitator who goes to the net. And while he did it successfully during his first season with Toronto, he has struggled to shake his reputation with officials. It really doesn't matter if it's Bunting's fault or not. The problem exists and it could affect how Bunting is deployed.
The Maple Leafs know that special teams will play a large role if they are to have any success against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.
To Bunting's credit, he tried to talk to officials at the start of the third period, but they eschewed him away.
Bunting is far from the only Maple Leaf who has had issues with the officiating. Last season, the club started putting photos and names of the officials on the inside of their bench as a way to get in their good books by addressing them by name.
This followed incidents where a player like Auston Matthews wasn't getting the benefit of the doubt. During a game with the Arizona Coyotes, Matthews was hooked by Jakob Chychrun. Since that time, Matthews hasn't been on the wrong end of those types of calls.
There are times when Keefe himself gets animated with the officials. He was fined $25,000 earlier this season "demeaning conduct directed at officials" in a game against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 27.
There's still hope for Bunting between now and the playoffs. His style of play (if he can find the line) is best suited for the postseason. He was injured for a lot of the first round of their series with Tampa Bay last year, missing Game 1 before returning in Game 2. A fully healthy Bunting who is on the right side of the officials can make or break the Maple Leafs.
Now more than ever, the Maple Leafs need him to find it.
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