Newcomer Michael Bunting ready to ‘play my game,’ as Rick Tocchet shuffles his lines for Ottawa
“They know what I’m all about, and I know what I’m all about,” said Bunting, who signed with the Flyers on Tuesday. “They just told me to play my game. I’m here for a reason, so don’t overthink it.”
OTTAWA, Ontario ― Michael Bunting, the newest Flyer, hasn’t even been to Philly yet. The team initiated talks Tuesday, just before he signed, and he hopped on a plane from Toronto the same day to join the team in Ottawa for Thursday’s game.
“It was about 40 minutes, so it was nice and easy,” Bunting said after morning skate. “I was happy they weren’t on their West Coast swing or something like that when I was joining the team. It was a really easy transition.”
Bunting said he “wasn’t anticipating” going into the beginning of the season unsigned, but he spent most of the summer training with fellow NHLers in Toronto. Since then, he has been training with the Ontario Hockey League’s Brampton Steelheads, with whom Porter Martone played junior hockey, and Oshawa Generals. He previously played under Rick Tocchet in Arizona in 2019 and 2021, and also with assistant Todd Reirden in Pittsburgh in 2023.
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“They know what I’m all about, and I know what I’m all about,” Bunting said. “They just told me to play my game. I’m here for a reason, so don’t overthink it.”
Bunting, who had 14 goals last year split between Nashville and Dallas, has notched at least 19 goals in four of his five full NHL seasons. He also has developed a reputation for agitating his opponents.
The forward looks likely to draw into the Flyers’ lineup for the first time on Thursday, after he took reps on the fourth line with Noah Cates and Noel Acciari and also on the second power-play unit as the net-front on Thursday morning.
The winless Flyers (0-2-2) are in desperate need of a shakeup. They’re 0-for-11 on the power play and have been outshot 158-77 over the first four games. After a practice down in Tampa that Rick Tocchet said focused mostly on “battle drills,” the Flyers added Bunting, a player that fits the grittier mold Tocchet is looking for.
“Energy,” said Tocchet when asked what Bunting brings to the group. “A lot of stuff around the net, loose puck battles, things like that, I think that hash-mark game, he’s good at, so yeah, a little energy for us.”
The 31-year-old has 66 career power-play points, including 36 power-play goals, in 418 career games. Teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes have made use of him at the net-front, due to his ability to score greasy goals and deflect the puck.
Tocchet said the Flyers have gotten a few good looks on the power play, but said they’ve struggled to capitalize on two-on-ones and other net-front opportunities. Instead of making better passes, they keep throwing pucks into the middle of the ice, according to the coach.
“When we don’t have those looks, we’re really egregious on the mistakes, you know, giving pucks away,” Tocchet said. “The same thing, simplifying, getting pucks to the net, there’s not a lot of things where you want to put too much in their head, but we’re missing these opportunities.”
Line blender
It looks like Tocchet is making significant changes to the lines after “a bad 10 days.”
With Rasmus Ristolainen still likely sidelined, Jamie Drysdale hopped up to the top pair with Travis Sanheim, and Cam York slid down to the second pair with David Jiříček. Nick Seeler and Simon Benoit practiced together on the third pair. Ristolainen, who remains day-to-day, was on the extra pair with Helge Grans.
With Bunting seemingly entering the lineup, Carl Grundström was an extra during breakout drills. Sean Couturier, who has been playing on the fourth line, was promoted to the top line to center Travis Konecny and Porter Martone, and Christian Dvorak centered Trevor Zegras and Owen Tippett. Zegras, who has played center to start this season, skated much of last season on the wing besides Dvorak. Denver Barkey centered Tyson Foerster and Matvei Michkov, while Bunting slotted into the fourth line with Cates and Acciari.
The wholesale changes aren’t a tremendous surprise for a group that just hasn’t been able to find the right combinations to spark offense and puck possession.
“Obviously you need more energy,” Tocchet said. “We talked about one-on-one battles. We talked about getting pucks to the net and defending, but you can’t harp it every day. You can’t give these guys 10 different things. Their brain will be fried. We’re just trying to dial a couple of points here and there the last couple days and just get back to our base.”
Breakaways
Former Flyers goalie Ray Emery’s family will ring the bell at the Canadian Tire Center ahead of the Senators’ home opener in honor of their late son.
