The Toronto Maple Leafs provided a bit of good news prior to their 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, as the club announced the signing of undrafted free agent forward Casey Bailey to a two-year entry-level contract.
The 23-year-old native of Anchorage, Alaska led the NCAA’s Big-10 Conference with 22 goals for the Penn State Nittany Lions and had interest from a number of NHL teams, most notably the Buffalo Sabres, who have a strong connection to the Pennsylvania university through their alumnus owner Terry Pegula.
“He’s a big bodied guy that’s had an excellent year in college. His release is something that you’ll notice right away.” GM Dave Nonis said. “We showed interest as soon as he was eliminated and there was several other teams involved, but he liked the fit in terms of opportunity with us going through what we’re going through right now and some of the changes we have to make.”
Check out Bailey’s quick release at the :55 second mark
A determining factor that swayed Bailey towards Toronto was the willingness to use up the first year of the two-year contract by playing in the NHL this season, while the Sabres preferred that the 6’3” 195 lb. winger start his pro career next season.
“Until today, I thought he was going to Buffalo,” Bailey’s father Glen said to the university’s newspaper on Saturday, but things changed after a phone call from Leafs Team President Brendan Shanahan.
“Toronto was the one that wanted to play and play as soon as they can get him up there,” the elder Bailey said.
By burning the first year of the deal this season, the 23-year-old will become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2016 season and become eligible to earn more than the $925,000 maximum of the entry-level contract. The Leafs used the same tactic with Matt Frattin, who played the final game of the 2011 season after finishing his senior year at North Dakota.
“Our hope and expectation is that we’ll get him to Toronto as soon as possible and then get him on the ice and see when and if it makes sense to put him into a game, but I would expect that will happen before the end of the season.” Nonis said.
The signings of Bailey and KHL forward Nikita Soshnikov to a three-year entry-level contract on Friday were attributed to the scouting of Leafs director of player personnel Mark Hunter and player development head Jim Hughes and having opened up space under the 50 pro contract limit at the trade deadline. Another factor was that four of the six picks made by Toronto in the 2014 NHL Draft were US or European prospects, who will not be signed for another two-to-three years.
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McEichel Race – Points(Games Played)
8. PHILADELPHIA 74(74), 7. NEW JERSEY 73(72), 6. COLUMBUS 70(72) 5. CAROLINA 62(71), 4. TORONTO 60(73) 3. EDMONTON 53(72), 2. ARIZONA 50(72), 1. BUFFALO 47(72)
Current Leafs odds at winning Draft Lottery(9.5%) Same
Saturday’s Results : Columbus wins in OT over Calgary and moves 10 points in front of the Leafs, which puts the Jackets out of realistic range. Carolina earns a single point in 3-2 OT loss to the NY Rangers and moves two points ahead of Toronto with two games in hand.
With Toronto losing their fifth game in a row, Edmonton has entered the picture as possibly catching the Leafs in the standings. The Oilers 5-4 win over Philadelphia on Saturday moved the Albertans within seven points of Toronto(with a game in hand) and forward Taylor Hall returned to the lineup on Saturday.
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The OHL regular season finale between the Niagara Ice Dogs and Erie Otters Sunday afternoon was of particular interest to the Maple Leafs brass, as Mark Hunter witnessed center Dylan Strome eclipse London’s Mitch Marner three-point lead for the league’s scoring title with a 6-point performance(4 goals, two assists) in an 8-7 Erie victory.
Dylan Strome from Mississauga. Grew up #Leafs fan. Said "I grew up playing for the Marlies for 7 years, so I kind of bleed blue and white."
Toronto appears well positioned to snag one of the OHL’s top scorers in June’s entry draft, but the order of the teams in front of them will matter if they favor the 6’2”, 179 lb Strome over the 5’10”, 164 lb Marner.
Buffalo currently leads Arizona by three points in the race for 30th and their pair of meetings in the next week will go far to determine who will be guaranteed to pick Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.
If Buffalo holds onto last place, the selection of McDavid/Eichel would fit in perfectly to their rebuild to go along with ’14 second overall pick Sam Reinhart as the club’s future top two centers, but if they finish 29th and a team below them wins the lottery, they will miss out on both McDavid and Eichel.
The expected third pick is Boston College blueliner Noah Hanifin, but the Sabres have significant young depth on defense(first rounders Ramsus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov and Mark Pysyk, prospect Jake McCabe and 2008 lottery pick Zach Bogosian) that could make them understandably opt to skip Hanifin and select Strome or Marner.
If Arizona or Edmonton select third, it would seem to guarantee Toronto having their choice of Strome or Marner, since both the Coyotes and Oilers have more pressing needs on the blueline than up front.
2015 Team Canada World Junior heroes Max Domi and Anthony Duclair, ‘14 draft choices Brendan Perlini and Christian Dvorak and ’12 top pick Henrik Samuelsson head a very loaded forward prospect group for Arizona, which makes the pick of Hanifin a good fit as a future top pairing partner for All-Star Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
The last thing the Oilers need is another top pick forward with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins,’14 top pick Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov. Hanifin added to a young group that includes Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse could give Edmonton a defensive core that will make their rise to playoff contention in the next few years more likely.
If the Leafs win the lottery, then all these questions are moot. :)
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