I would like to start this out by thanking Kustic Gabriel on behalf of the Union of Leafs Internet for dubbing the name Greasy Rat upon Michael Bunting. You have turned him into a franchise legend and it’s not even October yet.

But how could you blame anyone. Bunting has already scored four goals in two preseason games, including a hat trick last night. In his first game against the Habs, he scored a greasy goal in front of the net and was the biggest positive surprise from the night (unless you ask me and I say it was Timothy Liljegren). And again last night he was the star of the show. On a roster made up of players fighting for jobs, he fought the hardest and there’s no way at this point he doesn’t get a meaningful role on the Leafs.

Why the Leafs believe in Michael Bunting

Whether it’s next to Matthews or Tavares, he’s gotta be in the top-six. Leafs fans everywhere would riot if Bunting had to start the year in the bottom six because of seniority and despite his performance. At the moment, it’s a very easy case to make that he’s ahead of Ritchie, Kerfoot, and Mikheyev on play alone. He plays a fast pace and is all-out on the forecheck shift after shift. He’s smart with how he plays the puck and where he can find little holes to sneak into (sorry Ritchie). And he has a surprising amount of finishing ability that launches him over the likes of Kerfoot and Mikheyev.

I think we were all expecting Bunting to be on the fourth line this season, but now that’s he shown us what he can do, it’s now a dogfight for the guys around him to stay off the fourth line.

In short, Michael Bunting is a Greasy Rat.

Now I just need to remember his number, #58.

This is nitpicking, but could we get this guy a better number? He wore #27 in the Soo, but that’s Frank Mahovlich, so I guess not. Ah well.

Also here are his three goals from the game:

Various Leafs and Branches

Pre-Season Game 3 Recap: Greasy Rat beats Ottawa 4-0 | By Brigstew

Maple Leafs Notebook: Why Toronto’s best players should see minutes drop | by: Luke Fox

How the IIHF should react to alarmingly soft Denyskin suspension | by: Elliotte Friedman

Blue vs. White Scrimmage is going to be on Friday night at 6pm. Mark your calendars!

The Leafs are adding some AHL bodies ahead of splitting the camp in two. Expect the team to now star to put their NHL-team players together and have Greg Moore started on the AHL camp.

From The Branches