As the Carolina Hurricanes explore the trade market, teams have expressed interest in trading for forward Michael Bunting.
“There is word around the league that when Carolina was looking to clear some cap room and maybe make a move for a goaltender, Bunting’s name came up,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported during the Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “He was a bit lower down the lineup at the time. He’s still seventh or eighth [on the Hurricanes] in ice time. There was some talk about if he could be the person moved in order to create the room.”
After signing a three-year, $13.5 million contract with Carolina in the off-season, Bunting is on pace for his lowest goal total since the 2020-21 season.
However, the 28-year-old did score his eighth goal of the season Saturday against his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, boosting his point total to 25 points over 36 games. With his new club, Bunting entered Saturday’s contest averaging just 14:50 minutes of ice time per game — the second-fewest minutes he has averaged in his five-year NHL career.
The Hurricanes entered Saturday with the sixth-best record in the Eastern Conference at 19-13-4, despite getting an NHL-worst .882 save percentage from their goalies.
Carolina’s 34-year-old netminder Antti Raanta cleared waivers on Dec. 17, and posted a 1-0-1 record, 2.90 GAA and .875 save percentage in two AHL games before being recalled on Tuesday. He picked up the win in his return to the NHL crease, stopping 18 of the 21 shots he faced in a 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens.