Quick change: Why would the Maple Leafs’ Michael Bunting run naked

2021-12-06 20:04:42 By : Jane Xu

Toronto Maple Leafs forward and Scarborough native Michael Bunting talked about his willingness to adapt to any role required by his growing team.

A quick mix of things we gathered from the hockey week, serious and not-so-serious, rolling four lines. The Montreal Canadiens wanted to hire me, mais mon français n'est pas bon.

1. Just because Michael Bunting's task is to take on the heavy work on the left wing of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, doesn't mean that he is trying to become the next Zach Hyman.

No, he would rather be the best self.

And, recently, the person they called "Bunts" was driving it out of the park.

On Friday, when asked by reporters whether he had studied Hyman's shift with arguably the most talented duo in the east, Bunting said no.

"I stick to my game. I stick to what I bring to the table. And I think I can complement this line well and what I can do," Bunting replied.

"Both of them have always wanted ice hockey. When it is in their hands, good things will happen."

Tied for second in the rookie scoring game, Bunting will withdraw from the Toronto Maple Leafs this weekend, as much as he has played with the Arizona Coyotes (26).

Although he may have scored more goals as a Coyote (11-6), due to his high shooting percentage, Bunting's role as a top-line supplement resulted in more assistants (11-3) and a higher profile in Toronto .

His addiction to penalty kicks (14 times, second in the NHL), his ubiquitous smile, his humble hat shooting percentage, and his late underdog story make the fighting spirit 26-year-old Ska Burler became a fan favorite.

If he didn't help the frontcourt check or dig for rebounds, he would raise the referee's arm and let the big men participate in the power game.

"Punishment often happens in dirty places-this is where I am," Bunting said. "I want to go to the right place."

The fact is that Bunting did not fight alongside Matthews and Mana outside the goal, even if this was his losing position.

He did not win enough ice hockey games or help generate enough goals in the early days, which led to his relegation to the bottom six and made fans feel sad for Hyman.

But since he returned to Line 1, Bunting has seized his confidence and had a great time.

"He is more comfortable," coach Sheldon Keef said. "Although on the surface you think it is easier to play with players of this level, I think some of the challenges that follow are more difficult than playing low in the lineup. Some of them are mental. In fact, Many may be spiritual."

Despite his age, Bunting's NHL career has only a history of 50 games. He needs time to establish his position in the league, so Keef hopes to "reset him a bit" by reducing playing time and allowing him to restore basic knowledge.

check carefully. Chasing the hockey puck. Put them in the right hands.

now? The Greybeard of the freshman class of 2022 flies high with five consecutive victories and has the most interesting experience since he won the 2017-18 excellent Tucson Road Runners in the AHL.

"I just want to make it simple, play my game, and play with confidence. I don't think I was that confident at the beginning of the year. I didn't insist on [ice hockey] like I am now," Bunting said, looking like Matthews. Like Mana, he is a lottery winner.

"I often hang out with these two guys under the ice. So, playing with them on the ice is fun. I just tried to open, try to retrieve the puck and let them do their magic. Now, We are rolling."

2. The Toronto-Minnesota tilt on Saturday will be one of the top four offenses for the NHL and the Maple Leafs.

Yes, believe it or not, the wild has become a scoring superpower, averaging 3.74 goals per game (the 11th-ranked Leaf Offense has risen to 3.08).

During its 21 years of existence, Wild only scored 5 goals at a rate of 3 goals per night. Before that, their most effective offense was 3.21 goals (2020-21 and 2016-17).

What makes this red light explosion interesting is that Game of Thrones in Minnesota is terrible. Wild's PP ranks 27th (13.5%), the worst of all playoff teams.

Calder champion Kirill Kaprizov lied about the downturn of the second-year students with a team-leading 28 points, but Ryan Hartman stood out with an incredible surprise.

The 27-year-old suddenly shined in his career. He leads the NHL in terms of plus and minus (22 plus), ranks third in average intensity goals (12) and game winners (4), and ranks in the top 10 in field goal percentage (84).

Dude is his fourth NHL team. His salary cap is as high as $1.7 million, locked to 2024, which makes him the eighth highest paid forward on the list. Great story.

This rotation and shooting by Ryan Hartman (@RHartzy18) is simply perfect. pic.twitter.com/rHj3iqlHwV

3. Keefe revealed some tidbits about Leafs' top power teams.

A healthy discussion entered the camp about handing this over to 21-year-old Rasmus Sandin, who had some opportunities in that prime position at the end of 2020-21.

However, the new assistant Spencer Cabry wanted Morgan Reilly to take the lead, so the element of veteran status came into play.

But what this tells me is that Keef likes Sandin's progress, and his lineup is safer than Justin Hall and Travis Demot. If Leafs' resuscitated PP does stagnate at some point, or Rielly is injured, we will see Sandin hit it off on PP1. (Now that Rielly is re-signed, there is no risk of angering key players during the contract year.)

"You may have the best shooter in the world (one of the units). A young man can easily hand the hockey puck to a 34-year-old," Santin said. "If I'm playing Power Game 1 or 2, it doesn't matter to me.

"Coming to this year, I know I can play powerball. I feel very comfortable and confident."

Bunting added: "He sees the next game even before the ball is on the club. So when he anchors it, good things will happen."

Sandin got inspiration from fans' imitation of Boney M.'s "Rasputin"-Ra-Ra-Ras Sandin, the savior of the special group!

"I love it. It's funny," Sandin said. "The fans are very enthusiastic. They like hockey games, but I was a little surprised."

Sandin's brother tuned this song many times during the summer training, Rasmus' father Patric turned this song into his ringtone

"He likes it," Sanding laughed.

There is no special reason, I will only post here: #FanCASTic @TheLeafsFancast pic.twitter.com/paF3DjVHV1

-Danny Mags (@TheDannyMags) September 26, 2021

4. San Jose Sharks' penalty kick has made a significant change.

As a mid-range team (80.4%) last season, the Sharks' PK is now the best team in the West (88.1%), ranking second in the league. Only Pittsburgh is more efficient.

With a pair of few goals, the Sharks' net PK percentage (91.5) also ranked second (behind Edmonton).

"This may be the biggest pressure you see in the NHL," Kiefer said. "Since ice hockey, they have come. They will not lay off staff. Execution in it is a huge challenge."

The improved PK indicates a defensive buy in this group. In terms of allowed field goal percentage, they have jumped from the bottom third to the top third.

They ranked third in every 60 blocks (16.03), up from 14.29 last season.

"Those who have gone through all of this, are trapped here, you are tired of losing," Eric Carlson told reporters after winning the 2-1 overtime game on Long Island on Friday. "You are trying to find new ways to develop and transform into the team you want to be."

Jared McCann: 5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points, 5 losses

Alexander Kraft: 4 goals, 12 assists, 16 points +13

(McCann does have five powerball goals; Kerfoot doesn't see any PP time.)

6. Look at the "hockey chair".

The details of this matter are crazy.

Furniture manufacturer Tony Belbeck devoted more than 100 hours of labor to design and build this incredible La-Z-Boy from the hockey god who my wife banned me from bidding.

The current maximum bid is $8,000. Proceeds will be donated to Easter Seals as part of the Brad May Celebrity Hockey Classic.

7. Colorado's blue line has an incredible 25 goals. Ten of them are from Cale Makar's canes, and he already has nine balanced powers.

When asked if Makar could score 30 points this season, Avalanche coach Jared Bedner did not blink.

"Yes," Bednar said. "He is someone who can score from long distances, which always helps.

"The sky is the limit."

Even with all-star strength and a strong top six, Colorado's active D Corps is still its most unique weapon.

"Cale Makar led their team with 5 to 5 goals. How many teams in the league are like this?" Keefe said. "Their defense is very active, very fast and full of energy. They act on the ice. They put pressure on you in a hurry; they emphasize to you their performance in the offensive zone.

"In my opinion, they lead the league in backdoors and empty net catches-because they play too many games. This is largely because you are attracted to the dynamics of movement, speed and defense, and in the end you will Chase them around."

8. Find someone who talks about you like Nathan MacKinnon talks about Makar:

"I think he has been the best D in the league for two years. I think he should have won the Norris Award last year (Makar ranked second in the voting, Adam Fox) and this year he might run away. I mean, he Scored a lot of goals and made an amazing performance. We are fortunate to have such a defensive player in our team....I think we have the best first pair combination in the league, Toewser [Devon Toews] and Cale."

The two halves of the pair are averaging points per game.

MacKinnon has seen Makar's confidence increase and his role without ice hockey. He still skates 24 minutes a night, but Bedner is slowly trying to incorporate Makar into the role of a penalty killer, adding another arrow to his quiver.

Makar slipped a total of 5 minutes and 51 seconds in PK as a rookie in the 2019-20 season. His game time this season is 12:30 and should set a career high in this category.

9. In addition to Nazem Kadri's incredible ice production, who is cheering for Colorado's second-tier team, MacKinnon said that what Kadri has brought to the locker room cannot be ignored.

"He brings vitality to the team, brings a lot of confidence, and brings a lot of perseverance. He has some interesting chirps. I won't fight with him, that's for sure. You will Scorched," McKinnon said.

"He told someone that he could wash clothes. If he played for eight minutes tonight, he would fight him. But his performance was much better than me."

"This is the secret of a good tweezer." Nazem Kadri of @Avalanche joined @SNChrisSimpson's The Big Picture before returning to Toronto to talk about his excellent start to the season, Brad Marchand's reaction to Artemi Panarin's glove tossing, etc. pic.twitter.com/7SB4abUNm0

10. Nothing fascinates me more than the Canadian goalkeeper situation.

Just like Jack Eicher south of the border, you must believe that Carey Price is trying to strengthen his health and conditioning next month to enter Beijing.

However, when you look at the current NHL Canadian team’s average number of goals (Tristan Jari, 1.97), saves (Jari, 532), lore (Jari, 3), wins (Kam Tal Bot, 12) and save rate (James Reimer, .934), they all have one thing in common: they are not selected for the national team's Olympic long list.

"He is very stable," Canada captain Sidney Crosby said of Jarrie. "From the way he looks, he looks calm there, so this is important."

So, should Jarry participate in the Olympic dialogue?

"I don't know, but I see him every day, he is very strong," Crosby said. "I don't want to be the one who has to make these decisions. There are many great players in every country to choose from, but he is stable there, and he played great hockey. This is also part of it-in the right He played great hockey in his time. He has done it for us."

After a disappointing playoff game, Jarry's change is a great encouragement.

"Just get better," Jarrie said. "This is my mindset when I enter the summer."

I would not say that the gap between Jarry and Carter Hart is now so large that it is controversial.

However, since the price is a question mark, the long list player Darcy Kumper (upper body) is injured, and the long list player Jordan Binnington is now out due to COVID-19. If Jared is the hottest healthy Canadian goalkeeper in January, it will happen. What?

Will the country make an exception for Calder's front-runner Lucas Raymond, like Sweden, who is not on his country's long list?

11. Despite all the (deserved) hype of Troy Terry and Trevor Zeglas in Anaheim, another young duck forward needs some love.

Sonny Milano's delayed appearance in Orange County is a little-known surprise.

Milan scored 5 goals in 19 games and scored 16 points.

Selected by Columbus in the first round in 2014, the skilled Milan is helping teammates Zegras and Rickard Rakell break the deadlock and create a lot of scoring opportunities.

Think about it, the Blue Jackets, always eager to score goals, traded Milan for Devin Shore when the left-wing winger was only 23 years old.

Shore completed all six games for the Jackets in 2020, after which he was not qualified and played against Edmonton the following season.

A decisive trade victory for the Ducks.

Some analysis has already mentioned this, and Sonny Milan seems to have finally fulfilled his potential. In his draft year, he was predicted to be the TOP6 winger in the future, and his performance so far this season is like that! Another proof that some talents take more time than others. pic.twitter.com/dhWtWRzxi6

— Andy and Ronuo (@HockeyStatsCZ), December 1, 2021

12. ICYMI: Gilbert Gottfried's impression of Brady Tkachuk is very worth seeing...

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