Penguins left-winger Michael Bunting underwent surgery to remove his appendix yesterday, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters, including Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He doesn’t have a timeline for a return but will miss at least a few weeks.
The 29-year-old Bunting had two points in his last five games, including an assist in Tuesday’s 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Flyers. He’s the third NHLer to undergo an appendectomy this season (at least among what’s been publicly disclosed), joining Ducks netminder John Gibson and Canadiens blue-liner Kaiden Guhle.
His absence is relatively insignificant for Pittsburgh at this stage of the season. Now out of the Eastern Conference playoff race and on pace to finish the season with 75 points, the Penguins will likely be selling off additional assets ahead of the trade deadline after dealing Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson to the Canucks before the 4 Nations break. Bunting, signed through next season at a $4.5MM cap hit, wasn’t expected to be one of them.
Acquired from the Hurricanes in last season’s Jake Guentzel trade, Bunting has been underwhelming in 2024-25 after finishing the 2023-24 campaign with 19 points in 21 games for the Pens. He’s been durable, playing 58 of 60 games, but his point production has dropped to 14-15–29. His 0.50 points per game are tracking as his worst offensive performance in his five seasons’ worth of extended NHL ice time, accompanied by his lowest usage at 15:15 per game.
A solid complementary top-six winger for Auston Matthews during his time in Toronto, the late-blooming Bunting burst onto the scene with a 23-goal, 63-point campaign for the Leafs at age 26 in 2021-22. He had just 26 NHL games to his name with the Coyotes before signing a two-year, $1.9MM deal in Toronto in the 2021 offseason, arguably the highest-value contract in the league during his time in the Canadian metropolis. He’s struggled to replicate that level play in a similar role alongside Evgeni Malkin in Pittsburgh, though, despite how promising his scorching finish to the 2023-24 campaign was. The duo hasn’t had a consistent right-winger this year, seeing names like Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass, and Philip Tomasino rotate through. With Bunting and Malkin on the ice together, the Pens have been outscored 19-10 at 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick. They’ve each fared far better apart from each other.
If Gibson’s and Guhle’s return timelines are any indication, Bunting should miss around four to six weeks. That means he should be back in the lineup with a few games left on the Penguins’ schedule, although it’s fair to describe his likelihood of returning this season as uncertain.
Pittsburgh’s injury list is relatively brief. Bryan Rust recently returned from a lower-body injury and illness, and recent AHL call-up Bokondji Imama is the only other forward carrying an injury designation. He’s on IR but could come off today to face the Flyers after missing four games with an upper-body injury. Bunting’s absence, however, could mean the Penguins wait before demoting Matthew Nieto to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if he clears waivers today.