Michael Bunting has been a nice addition to the Pittsburgh Penguins power play and still has one more year after this remaining on his contract with the team.
We continue with our “keep or trade” look at potential trade chips for the Pittsburgh Penguins by examining the case of forward Michael Bunting.
Previous entries:
Trade or keep: Rickard Rakell
Trade or keep: Kevin Hayes
As difficult as it had to be for the Pittsburgh Penguins to trade Jake Guentzel, they did pretty well for themselves in the return for a rental. Prospects Vasily Ponomarev and Ville Koivunen are having nice seasons in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, while the second-round pick turned out to be defenseman Harrison Brunicke who is already looking like another promising prospect coming into the system.
Along with the prospects, they also received a legitimate NHL player in Michael Bunting.
For the most part, Bunting has been a welcome addition to the lineup. There is nothing overly impressive about his skillset, but he brings an element to the forward group that had been lacking and he has really helped improve the power play.
He is still signed for next season at $4.5 million, so just as was the case with Rickard Rakell and Kevin Hayes there is no immediate rush to move him over the next few weeks.
So let’s talk about what to potentially do with him.
The argument for keeping him
It is a matter of value.
The first question you have to ask yourself with players is this: Does their value around the league (their trade value) outweigh their actual on-ice value to you as a player?
If it does, that is when you should be looking for a trade.
If it does not, then it is probably not in your best interest to move the player.
In Bunting’s case, I am not entirely sure his value around the league is greater than his current value to the Penguins.
That is not to say that he is a core player or somebody whose contract should be extended beyond what it already is. It is just that I am not sure you move him and get enough of a return that it makes it worth to create another hole on your lineup that you have to eventually fill.
Are you going to get a first-round pick for him? Or an A-or B-level prospect? Given that he was only one part of a five-piece return for a rental player (even if that rental player is great) a year ago, I am having a difficult time seeing that sort of value coming back for just him.
He is good, but he is not somebody that teams are going to fight each other over.
His contract is not bad, but it is not entirely cheap, either.
He brings a little bit of a sandpaper element to the forward group, he has been really good on the power play, he can score the type of garbage goals the Penguins have been lacking since Chris Kunitz and Patric Hornqvist left, and he is going to score you 20-25 goals overall. That’s not nothing.
If he was a pending unrestricted free agent after this season that you had no interest in re-signing, like an Anthony Beauvillier or Matt Grzelcyk, then by all means flip him for a third-or fourth-round pick and call it a day.
That is not the case, however. You still have him for another year. You can still try to get something out of him as a player.
The argument for trading him
You are not going to make the playoffs this season, and it would take some major improvements to make the playoffs next season. So, really, does it matter if you are trading away a productive and useful player for a little less than their actual value? In the grand scheme of things, probably not. Especially if it gives you some sort of a future asset that might eventually turn into something when you are good again.
Even more so if you are just going to simply trade him at the deadline next season when his value will be lower than it is now just simply based on the fact he will be a rental at that point instead of still having term remaining on his contract.
In keeping with the efforts of the rebuild, or re-tooling, or whatever you want to call it, it does make some sense to shop him this season.
Trade or keep
Unless I am badly missing on what Bunting’s trade value would be, I honestly think I am coming up with more reasons to keep him than trade him at this point this season. I am also not sure Kyle Dubas would be in any hurry to move him, anyway. Dubas loves his guys that he has a history with, and Bunting is very much one of his guys. When March 8 roles around I would be stunned if Bunting were playing for another team in the NHL.