Bunting deserves the Calder this season

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By now you are familiar with Toronto Maple Leafs winger Michael Bunting – an undersized, frenetic winger who loves to create turmoil in front of opposing goaltenders. His season has been so good, it’s drawn significant Calder Trophy attention.

Bunting is not your typical Rookie of the Year candidate, but we have seen this movie before. A late bloomer – either one who developed over the years in the American Hockey League or in competitive international leagues – has won the award in the past.

Minnesota Wild sniper Kirill Kaprizov won it a season ago at the age of 24; Russian winger Artemi Panarin was the same age when he won it back in 2015-16 with the Chicago Blackhawks. At the age of 26, Bunting would be the oldest winner since Calgary Flames winger Sergei Makarov captured the award in 1989-90 at the age of 31, which prompted a rule change that makes players eligible for the Calder only if they are no more than 26 by Sept. 15 of their rookie season.

Last summer, Toronto’s front office cited Bunting’s increasing goal production and general tenacity as key reasons for bringing him into the lineup. Bunting has delivered in spades on that front. Playing inside of the top six for most of the regular season, he’s scored 20 goals and 27 assists (47 points) in 59 games. On a per-minute basis, Bunting’s scoring grades in the 85th percentile, and that’s with extraordinarily little time on the power play.

The raw scoring numbers are fantastic. But points alone shouldn’t dictate a Calder Trophy candidacy – it hinders defencemen and goaltenders in a given race, it makes cross-position comparisons impossible, and devalues important defensive contributions from the player.

To that end, regression-based measures like