Canucks re-sign winger Justin Bailey to a 1-year deal

Right-winger Justin Bailey agreed to a one-year, two-way deal with the Vancouver Canucks today.

The Vancouver Canucks announced they have re-signed right-winger Justin Bailey to a one-year, two-way contract. He received a qualifying offer in October.

The financial terms are still unknown but the team’s official Twitter account confirmed the signing Thursday afternoon.

The 25-year-old only played two games with Vancouver last season and with limited minutes.  In 53 games in the AHL with the Utica Comets, Bailey scored 28 goals and got 19 assists for 47 points. He was second on the Comets in goals and third in points.

The Buffalo-born winger is known for his size and his speed.  Bailey was drafted in the second round in the 2013 Entry Draft by the Sabres. He mainly spent time with the AHL’s Rochester Americans but he played 52 games with the Sabres from 2015-2018 scoring five goals and three assists in 52 games.

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Bailey was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Taylor Leier and played eleven games in with them the 2018-19 season where he got one assist.  He mainly spent time with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms scoring six goals and two assists for eight points in 17 games before signing a one-year two-way deal with Vancouver in July of 2019.

Bailey will be among a few forwards like Zack MacEwen, Jayce Hawryluk and Nils Hoglander who will fight for a spot in the bottom six. He provides physicality, speed and a pretty good shot.  While he wasn’t in the NHL for very long last season, his game, particularly his speed brought some attention to fans. Down on the farm with Utica, he looked pretty fun to watch.

It will be interesting to see how well Bailey performs at camp and he has to really impress if he wants to crack the opening night roster.  It also feels good to have some actual news, even minor because hockey can’t come back soon enough.