On Friday, the San Jose Sharks announced their nominees for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The trophy is “awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.” Nominee Justin Bailey is probably not the favorite for this award given the hardships other players have gone through during the season, but he is definitely a favorite, even if many fans around the league are probably unfamiliar with He is a player who deserves to be nominated. his story.
Bailey's backstory
To thoroughly examine Bailey's story, you need to start with his draft year. He was a second round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, selected by his hometown team, the Buffalo Sabres. As a great power forward, a lot was expected of him. He spent several more seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) as a member of the Kitchener Rangers, eventually joining the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound, he made his professional debut with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) in the 2015-16 season. He played well in the AHL and did well enough to be recalled and make his NHL debut during the same season. Unfortunately, he was unable to take advantage of that opportunity and failed to register a point in eight games with the Sabers.
It took until the following season, 2016-17, for Bailey to record his first NHL point. However, he only scored 4 points in 32 games, so he again spent time in the AHL. This became the norm during his time with the Sabres, and while he was a phenomenal AHL level player, he just couldn't seem to make it work in the NHL. During the 2018-19 season, the Sabers traded Bailey to the Philadelphia Flyers for a player in a similar situation, Taylor Reier. However, both players went in very different directions here. Reier got his chance as an American in the AHL, but after a season and a half without a chance at the NHL level, he left North America and has been playing in Europe ever since.
Bailey played a few games at the NHL level with the Flyers, but once again failed to find his footing. But he was determined to make it work. He signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Vancouver Canucks on July 4, 2019, and appeared in 19 games with the Canucks over three seasons, most of which was spent as a member of the Utica Comets and Abbotsford Canucks. . AHL. His last game at the NHL level took place on January 27, 2022, and at the time it appeared to be his last chance at the highest level of professional hockey. He finished the season with the AHL Canucks and then signed a one-year AHL contract with the Bakersfield Condors. He played well there again, so the Edmonton Oilers gave him a two-way NHL contract, but he never appeared for them. Now, the 2023-24 season is finally starting.
join san jose
Bailey signed a one-year AHL contract with the San Jose Barracuda as management looked to add high-end skills to the roster to develop the Sharks' future prospects. He was the perfect addition for the Barracuda, who needed a step forward given their parent club's rebuilding situation. However, as you can imagine, things never go as planned. Although he played well, the Sharks were plagued by injuries early in the season, so he was rewarded with a two-way contract and eventually promoted to the Sharks. From there he never looked back.
Bailey got off to a strong start, scoring five points in his first eight games back in the NHL. His production dropped significantly from there, but he worked himself into head coach David Quinn's nightly plans and played in a career-high 56 games in the NHL this season, setting career highs in every offensive category. . As of this writing, he has five goals and nine assists for 14 total points on the season.
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After going through a lot of adversity, Bailey has apparently become a fine NHL player. He's played on basically every line imaginable this season, but has spent most of his time on the fourth line, and his game is certainly suited to that role. He's not the type of player who's going to be on the scoresheet every night, and he's not the type of player that is going to be impressive with his skill. He plays a tough, powerful game and has a lot of speed as well. He's the typical grinding fourth liner, and while it's not a pretty role, it might allow him to survive in the NHL.
