This one is an interesting game issued jersey from the Tucson Roadrunners legend and new Toronto Maple Leafs winger Michael Bunting.
It was sold as a 2019-2020 game issued jersey by the Meeps. The details around it are a bit more hazy, however, and it seems possible it might be a 2020-2021 game issued instead.
Michael Bunting moving the puck against the Stockton Heat on February 22nd, 2020 while wearing a kachina sweater. (photo credit: Chris Hook)
In the “this is definitely from 2019-2020” column, we have the LOA itself (dated as 2019-2020 GI) and the lack of an alternate captain’s “A”. Bunting did not wear the “A” on his Kachina sweater(s) in 2019-2020 for at least some portion of the games the set was worn in. I have yet to find a pic of him with the “A” that season on the Kachina, actually.
In the “it might be from 2020-2021” column, we have a few points. For one, Bunting spent half or more of the season with the @arizonacoyotes which would make a second jersey going unused quite possible. For two, there is no @tmobile sponsorship patch on this sweater. Tucson had T-Mobile sponsorship on the Kachina alternates in 2019-2020, but did not in 2020-2021. To me that remains the oddest piece of this sweater. Perhaps they don’t always apply sponsorship patches until the jerseys are going to hit the ice, however. We do know that they do it sometimes, however, because Barrett Hayton’s 2019-2020 red game issued jersey has a sponsorship patch despite never being worn.
Either way, this thing is a beaut from arguably the greatest Roadrunner in franchise history.
It completes my set of home/away/alternate for Michael Bunting just in time for him to sadly leave the organization and join his hometown team.
He will definitely be missed.