Pucks, piss, and vinegar: Dallas is getting a good deal and a lot of intensity in Michael Bunting

He's good. That's enough in my book.

The Tyler Myers trade I was a little lukewarm on. I still don’t like that we’re kicking the right-handed can down the road for a top four defender year after year. But as I’ve thought more and more about it, I think it’s less about the value Myers provides, and more about the flexibility it gives Dallas to run different defense pairs who can give opponents different looks. As it stands, Dallas’ blue line top six is set.

And so it brings me pleasure to write that my feelings on Michael Bunting, who Dallas just acquired for a 2026 third rounder, are not lukewarm at all.

It’s peanut gallery philosophy, I know, but when it comes to trades, the calculus should always be the same: does the player add on-ice value? That’s it. Nothing else. If they do, then the trade can only ever be varying degrees of good for what happens on the ice. If not, then the trade can only ever be varying degrees of bad for what happens on the ice. Does Bunting add on-ice value? Yes!

And then some. I’ve already talked about Bunting back in mid-February. I won’t belabor too many points I’ve already discussed. The cliffs notes? He has shades of Nazem Kadri, stimulates even-strength offense at a high level, and draws lots and lots of penalties. His defense is questionable, however. Speaking of last month’s piece, anyone who voted for the bottom two choices better show yourself.

But jokes aside, we can discuss a few more things, because Bunting is a very layered forward despite profiling like a classic sparkplug, and it highlights a larger discussion with the Dallas Stars as a team.

One of the things I’ve been fascinated by is Dallas’ progression in identity. We heard it first from Glen Gulutzan about the new philosophy he wanted out of these Stars: heavy, more physical, hard checking, etc. I was never interested in analyzing this because until it happens on the ice, it doesn’t really matter. And besides, Dallas still is not a heavy, nor physical team. They don’t throw a ton of hits (bottom 10 last I checked, and 32nd in hit plus-minus), and when you look at the offense they create on forecheck, it doesn’t actually exist. So where’s the beef?

It turns out the Stars have needed time to develop new elements of their game; elements of their game in direct contradiction to Pete DeBoer’s approach. DeBoer wanted a rush attack at all costs. But it burned them on defense and eliminated cycle play. Gulutzan has gone in the opposite direction, building a team that is more about extending offensive zone time, letting his horses ride, and doing a much better job of creating an absorb defense system that loses speed in favor of slowing games down and keeping high danger chances low. It’s worked. It’s not perfect, but it’s worked.

I bring this all up because Bunting has all the process indicators to grade out as the perfect addition for the more cycle-oriented offense that Gulutzan has slowly been trying to create. Great on exit kills (first bar under ‘checking’), and recovering dump-ins and generating takeaways in the opponent’s zone (second bar), Bunting will help deliver on what Gulutzan initially promised.

As always, sticktap to Louis Boulet and Corey Sznajder for their work here. You won’t get this information anywhere else. For a full glossary, click here. And yes I will write an explainer over the summer.

Again, there are warts to his game that are worth mentioning. He’s something of a one-track mind when it comes to attack-attack, but few players are perfect. Ultimately it’s a matter of how a team leverages a player’s strength, and mitigates their weakness. This seems like a team that will be able to leverage his strengths more than his weaknesses.

As far as where he ends up, I don’t think there’s any doubt. Justin Hryckowian has done an admirable job playing a much larger role than his current status warrants, but playing on a line with Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen (or potentially Rantanen and Roope Hintz) requires an offense-focused mind — along with offense capable hands — that can more consistently capitalize on their offensive zone play.

Once healthy, the end product is looking pretty good. (Discuss in the comments over who you’d rather have where.)

Jason Robertson — Wyatt Johnston — Mavrik Bourque

Michael Bunting — Roope Hintz — Mikko Rantanen

Sam Steel — Matt Duchene — Jamie Benn

Justin Hryckowian — Radek Faksa — Colin Blackwell

Esa Lindell — Miro Heiskanen

Thomas Harley — Tyler Myers

Lian Bichsel — Nils Lundkvist

What’s important is that Bunting isn’t just a good forward added to the team. He’s a good forward who adds more texture to Dallas’ existing strengths.