By Brian Bohl
UNIONDALE, N.Y.- Josh Bailey soon discovered that the NHL is a steep step up from junior hockey. The Islanders prospect was called for hooking on just his third professional shift when the Flyers’ Andreas Nodl crept up faster than the centerman expected, leading to an offensive-zone hooking penalty.
Bailey was also whistled for high-sticking with his team down a goal with 2:40 remaining in the Isles eventual 3-1 matinee loss to Philadelphia Tuesday at Nassau Coliseum. But while Bailey spent four minutes in the penalty box, his veteran teammates said the teenager showed promise.
“I think Josh is going to be a player,” said Doug Weight, a four-time All-Star. “It’s no secret that when he came into camp, guys had certain expectations. But every day, he turned everybody’s heads. He’s got a great savvy for the game and I think he’s going to be a great player in this league.”
“He’s very stoic, very calm. I think he has that urge to be great.”
The Islanders traded down from the fifth spot to ninth in last spring’s draft, where they picked Bailey as a cornerstone of what the front office keeps insisting is a rebuilding project. The 19-year-old was inactive with an undisclosed lower body injury through the first 14 games. Yet the centerman logged 12:30 of ice time centering the fourth line between Tim Jackman and Jon Sim. The teenager recorded an even plus-minus rating and won seven of 11 faceoffs.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Bailey said. “It was nice to feel like you’re apart of things again. The first period, I needed to make a couple of adjustments; a couple of plays, I was a little slow on. As the game went on, I got more comfortable out there.”
After watching the power play finish 0-8 while surrendering a Mike Richards shorthanded goal, first-year Islanders coach Scott Gordon could take at least one positive out of the game in witnessing Bailey’s debut. Despite a season built on the promise of a youth movement, Bailey and 2006 first-round pick Kyle Okposo are the only two prospects with substantial upsides on the roster.
“He looked like he belonged out there,” Gordon said. “Outside of the penalties, I don’ think we could be critical about too much of anything he did.”
Labor rules allow the Islanders to keep Bailey on the NHL roster for eight more games before it must make a choice. General manager Garth Snow can either send Bailey down to AHL Bridgeport at that time or keep him with the big club and see the first year on his three-year entry level contract kick in.
“He certainly didn’t do anything today that says he can’t play at this level,” Gordon said. “If Josh can play well, we want him to play.”
Bailey turned 19 on Oct. 2 and is coming off a stellar season for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. The 6-1, 188-pound centerman recorded 29 goals and 67 points in 67 games at the junior level. By trading down, the Islanders passed on Nikita Filatov, who many scouts placed right behind No. 1 overall pick Steven Stamkos as the draft’s most skilled forward available. Columbus snatched up the Russian, and it will be a few years before the Islanders can see if it made yet another draft-day blunder.
But with little to cheer about, Islanders fan should still get excited. After blowing four multi-goal leads in a five-game stretch, the Isles entered Wednesday with a 4-9-2 record and a league-low 10 points. Okposo has just one goal in 15 games and no player is near a double-digit goal total mark. Perhaps a player barely old enough to drive can ignite a dormant offense.
“You dream of playing in the league and you take yourself back a bit when you get out there,” Bailey said. “I’m pretty much going day-by-day. I have to play desperate and work my way onto the team. That’s what I plan on doing.”
So while Bailey is still two years away from legally having a beer, he might be the only reason to watch a club that insists it is going with youth even as it trots out the 37-year-old Weight and 38-year-old Guerin on the power play. As goalie Rick DiPietro continues his rehab from another knee operation, the maturation process of the organization’s few prospects is the only thing that could make coming to Nassau Coliseum worthwhile.