Edmonton Oilers sign Justin Bailey to one-year, two-way contract
By Zach Laing
11 months agoThe Edmonton Oilers have signed forward Justin Bailey to a one-year, two-way contract.
As part of the signing, Bailey was placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
Bailey signed with the Condors on Sept. 8 and has appeared in 16 games with the team this year scoring four goals and 10 points. Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round of the 2013 draft, he’s played in only 82 NHL games over his career scoring five goals and nine points.
The Oilers had brought Bailey into town on a professional tryout, but it didn’t work out.
I asked Oilersnation’s prospect and Condors guru Bruce Curlock for some thoughts on Bailey’s game this year, and this is what he had to say:
Justin Bailey is an absolute terror of a right-shot power forward. He’s a big, big man who skates incredibly well for his size. He’s also got very soft hands. Despite all of these traits he has not scored as much as most would have projected. Some of this is injury related as Bailey has suffered a myriad of injuries in his career including off-season shoulder surgery this summer. The other part relates to his inability to use his teammates better when he has the puck. His last 5 games have been much better this way and it shows in his point production 0-5-5. This is a player that could help a bottom-six group with his size and speed.
He’s spent time within the Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks’ organizations appearing in 312 AHL games with their affiliates. In those games, he’s scored 115 goals and 208 points so his strengths have lied in being a strong organizational depth player.
With Bailey’s signing today, the Oilers now sit at 45 out of 50 contracts.
BAILEY’S CAREER SO FAR
| NHL Totals | 82 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 18 | ||||||||
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PGP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 70 | 20 | 25 | 45 | 16 | -7 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2015-16 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2016-17 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 52 | 23 | 13 | 36 | 35 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2016-17 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 32 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2017-18 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 37 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 28 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2017-18 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | -2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2018-19 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 37 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 18 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2018-19 | Lehigh Valley Phantoms | AHL | 17 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 12 | -4 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2018-19 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2019-20 | Utica Comets | AHL | 53 | 28 | 19 | 47 | 39 | 10 | |||||
| 2019-20 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2020-21 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2021-22 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -5 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2021-22 | Abbotsford Canucks | AHL | 30 | 15 | 12 | 27 | 20 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2022-23 | Edmonton Oilers* | NHL | Statistics Unavailable | ||||||||||
| 2022-23 | Bakersfield Condors | AHL | 16 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 22 | -2 |
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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