{"id":517235,"date":"2026-03-06T02:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/517235\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T02:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:50:10","slug":"stars-acquire-michael-bunting-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/517235\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars Acquire Michael Bunting \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

5:05 p.m.:\u00a0Both teams have announced the trade as reported.<\/p>\n

4:23 p.m.: The Dallas Stars are bringing in a formidable middle-six forward for their playoff run. According to Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman<\/a>, the Stars have acquired Michael Bunting<\/a> from the Nashville Predators. TSN\u2019s Pierre LeBrun reported<\/a> that the Predators will receive the Seattle Kraken\u2019s 2026 third-round pick from Dallas.\u00a0Beat writer Robert Tiffin reported<\/a> that Dallas has reassigned forward Arttu Hyry<\/a> in a corresponding move.<\/p>\n

Moving to Dallas, Bunting will suit up for his fifth team in the last four seasons. Bunting was acquired by the Predators at last year\u2019s deadline (along with a fourth-round pick) from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Thomas Novak<\/a> and Luke Schenn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bunting, 30, was having a strong year in Nashville, headed into his third trip through free agency. Before the trade, Bunting had scored 13 goals and 31 points in 61 games, averaging 14:48 of ice time per game. If that scoring trend continues with the Stars, Bunting will finish a 41-point campaign.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not the most physical winger in the league, but he brings a strong possession game to Dallas for a team that needed reinforcements. Tyler Seguin<\/a> has already been ruled out for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, including the playoffs, while Roope Hintz<\/a> and Mikko Rantanen<\/a> have each been dealing with injuries of late.<\/p>\n

Given the injuries to Dallas\u2019 top-six, it\u2019s likely that\u2019s where Bunting will begin his tenure with the Stars. Assuming everyone except for Seguin returns for the playoffs, Bunting can provide additional scoring punch to the team\u2019s third line.<\/p>\n

Despite being an expiring asset, a third-round pick as a return must feel underwhelming for the Predators. Only a few days ago, Nashville sent fourth-liner Michael McCarron<\/a> to the Minnesota Wild for a second-round pick. Yes, McCarron is making $3.6MM less than Bunting, and is a center, but Bunting is outscoring him by more than double.<\/p>\n

Regardless, it\u2019s clear that general manager Barry Trotz is intent on accumulating draft capital for the next regime. Assuming the third-round selection is within the next three years, the Predators will have 16 picks in the first three rounds of the next three drafts. This will provide the next GM with significant control over team building.<\/p>\n

Image courtesy of Tim Fuller-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5:05 p.m.:\u00a0Both teams have announced the trade as reported. 4:23 p.m.: The Dallas Stars are bringing in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[204564,757,43,145231,760,44,4247,41,39,42,40,4584],"class_list":["post-517235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-arttu-hyry","tag-dallas-stars","tag-headlines","tag-michael-bunting","tag-nashville-predators","tag-news","tag-newsstand","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-transactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}