Toronto Maple Leafs: Can Josh Bailey Be a Fit For the Organization

Could the Toronto Maple Leafs bring in a hometown kid to finish out his career and play left wing in the upcoming season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should take a long look at former ninth overall pick Josh Bailey after he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday morning for the purposes of being bought out of the last year of his contract.

Bailey was drafted by the New York Islanders back in 2008 with the ninth overall pick and would go on to play over a 1,000 career games with that organization.

This past season he had his lowest output collecting just eight goals and 25 points in 64 games, but has collected 580 points over his career.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Can Josh Bailey Be a Fit For the Organization

The former Clarington Toro’s star was going to be entering the sixth year of a contract that he signed back in 2018 with former GM Garth Snow that carried a cap hit of $5 Million, but has since been traded along with a second-round pick to the Blackhawks.

Chris Johnston reported that Bailey had been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout.  CapFriendly shows that Bailey was set to earn $3.5 Million this upcoming season, however he will now receive two-thirds of that contract paid out over the next two seasons.

Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson stated that he respects the career that Bailey has had, however did not see a fit in Chicago so he wanted to give him the opportunity to find that elsewhere.  Bailey is a respected player in the league and had served as one of the alternate captains for the Islanders in five of the last seven seasons.

Can Leafs Get Another Hometown Veteran?

Bailey will be 34 years old prior to the season opener and if he would be willing to come to the organization at the league minimum contract, the player and team could be a fit for each other.

In recent seasons, the organization has been able to dry hometown veterans to take smaller contracts such as Jason Spezza, Mark Giordano and Wayne Simmonds.

At current, the top player the Toronto Maple Leafs have to play in the top six on left wing is Matthew Knies and it is completely unknown what he can do over an entire season.

Bailey could fit in a role where if the Toronto Maple Leafs strike out in adding offense during free agency he could slide up into a supporting top six spot.  If Knies, along with someone else fit better in the top end of the line-up, Bailey can drop down to play on the third line.