After Michael Bunting scored what would wind up being the first game-winning goal of his still-young NHL career Saturday in the Arizona Coyotes’ 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues, a graphic flashed on the screen during the Bally Sports Arizona television broadcast.
It listed the NHL’s leading goal scorers since March 31, the night of Bunting’s first NHL game of the season after his call-up from the American Hockey League’s Tucson Roadrunners. The list was a who’s-who of the NHL’s top offensive producers today, including Austin Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs (nine goals since that date), Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins (eight), Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche (seven) and Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers (seven).
That’s a group that in recent years has combined for three Calder Memorial trophies, given annually to the NHL’s rookie of the year, and seven first- or second-team NHL postseason All-Star nods.
The fifth name listed: Bunting, who started this week with only 15 career NHL games under his belt. But Bunting’s game-winner Saturday not only gave him seven goals in his first 10 NHL games, but showed his potential staying power with the NHL club.
His success brings a harsh reality for Roadrunners fans. They may never see Bunting, a fan favorite for five seasons and the Roadrunners’ career leader in games played, goals, assists, points, shots on goal, penalty minutes and pretty much any other offensive stat one could dig up, playing in Tucson again.
Roadrunners team president Bob Hoffman recalled a conversation he had with Adrian Denny, the club’s director of communications and broadcasting, the morning Bunting notched his first career NHL hat trick on April 5. That came as part of a 5-2 Coyotes’ road win over the Los Angeles Kings, in just Bunting’s fourth NHL game this year.
“Adrian walked into my office the next morning. We’re chatting about the game, how good the Coyotes looked,” Hoffman said. “I said to him at that point, ‘We’ll never see him again.’”
It’s the highest praise someone in Hoffman’s position can offer, even if he admits that it’s bittersweet.
Sweet, of course, because another Roadrunner is finding his place at the NHL level. Bunting made his NHL debut actually came in 2018-19, when he saw action in five games. He’s one more than two dozen Roadrunners who have made the NHL jump to the Coyotes since 2016. Just this season, forward Lane Pederson and goaltender Ivan Prosvetov were added to that list, earning their first career NHL appearances. Defenseman Jordan Gross did it last year.
And the bitter? It’s really not that bitter at all, Hoffman adds, noting the purpose of AHL teams to prepare players for future NHL opportunities. Either way, the Roadrunners (9-14-2-0) return to Tucson Arena Thursday at 6:30 p.m. for the first of three matchups this week with the Colorado Eagles (11-9-2-1).
That reality may be even a tougher pill for Roadrunners’ faithful to swallow this season, of all seasons. Bunting’s last four games in Tucson — March 16, 17, 20 and 21 — happened to be the first four of the year where fans were allowed inside Tucson Arena. And even then, attendance was limited to 650 a night.
Alyssia Kuhn, a Roadrunners season ticket holder who attends games with her husband, Jason, and 11-year-old daughter, Ella, also follows the Coyotes regularly. Kuhn said her family is happy they’ll likely still get to see one of their favorite players on a regular basis, even if it’s up in Glendale. But Kuhn said she’ll miss him in Tucson.
“You get to have almost a relationship with them here in Tucson that you will never have again when they’re (at the NHL),” she said of the close-knit nature a minor league franchise often builds with its fanbase. “It doesn’t have the same intimacy.”
Kuhn did agree with fellow fan Ysette Higgins, a season-ticker holder since the Roadrunners’ first season in 2016-17, that seeing players grow from the AHL to NHL is rewarding for fans, too.
“Watching the Coyotes now is like watching the 2016-17, or 2018 Roadrunners. You always like to see somebody progress in their field,” Higgins said. “But it is hard to get attached to a player, because you know if they’re good enough, you don’t know when the last time you might see them play (up close).”
Hoffman is used to it. Personnel comes and goes within major league farm systems. But this one is a bit different, he noted of a player who was every bit the face of the franchise within the Southern Arizona community, and with team marketing efforts. Bunting’s likeness, after all, was plastered across the side of a 60-foot-long SunLink Streetcar for multiple years.
“He’s certainly on the Roadrunners’ Mount Rushmore and a guy that may be the No. 1 figure in Tucson hockey at this point. And I know our fans have really loved what he does on the ice, the energy,” Hoffman said. “But it’s off the ice, too. He’s so good.”
Hoffman said the club will likely commemorate Bunting’s contributions to the franchise and Tucson at some point.
“I’d love to get him back down here for a Michael Bunting night, or some celebration. Get him down here and let our fans see him in street clothes,” Hoffman said, “just to let him know how important he’s been to Roadrunners hockey.”
Higgins noted Bunting’s penchant to goat his opponents into penalties that helped the Roadrunners, suggesting a bobblehead night — “or maybe a Michael Bunting Rock-’em, Sock-’em, because he’s so good at getting under guys’ skin. He plays that mental game. That’s what he was more known for in his first two years in Tucson.”
Even down the line, Hoffman sees Bunting being remembered as an all-time Roadrunner.
“We’re in our fifth anniversary season. When we look at 10 years, and we’re talking about the greats that have come through Tucson, and the people who have defined Tucson hockey,” Hoffman said, “Michael’s going to be at the top of that list.”
