I was really on the fence about this one. At first I voted Bunting and started typing a post:
“Neither will get primo PP time, Bunting clearly will outpoint Marchment and better plus/minus, but Marchment brings hits. I think this comes down to likelihood they sign Bunting at a team-friendly (say $4m AAV or less), which is a reasonable bet. I’d go Bunting, the upside next to Natthews/Marner and likely lower (or similar) cap hit seals it for me.”
But I changed my mind. There is a more than negligible chance that Bunting has priced himself out of town on this next deal, and you’d lose him if he cashes in as a UFA with another squad. Leafs will either extend him, which would actually likely cost at least $4m (and probably closer to a Hyman $5.5m number) given Bunting already took a sweetheart deal to come home ($950k AAV for 2 years), or they’ll be forced to let him walk. That said that slot he has is super kushy, so maybe he signs an extension for $4m or so and then cashed out as a UFA a few years from now. Tough to say.
So in my mind, given your uncertainty, go with the known commodity in Marchment. He’s a reasonable get to give you 45-50 points, and possibly closer to 55-60 given 2nd line deployment, and he’ll provide solid peripherals.
But i’m really interested in hearing from Leafs fans on the Bunting situation!