Undrafted 4th year center Matt Bailey(27) started 2015/2016 under a minor league contract with Stockton Heat but only appeared in a career low 17 AHL games.
He was also reassigned lower to affiliate Adirondack Thunder for 6 ECHL games and detonated the score sheet for his brief spell in the lower league with 3 goals, 6 assists and a +6 rating.
This type of offensive explosion was more like what he was able to accomplish in his fourth and last year at University Of Alaska-Fairbanks, when he was a point per game player with 20 goals and 18 assists.
The 6’1″ 189 lbs. forward originally signed a two-year entry level deal with Anaheim Ducks but was mostly reassigned to affiliates, where he was a healthy scratch probably more times than he wanted.
With more limited playing time he decided that he’d had enough and split for Sweden’s tier 2 Allsvenskan signing with Mora IK.
In his 7 contests before playoffs rolled around he had 3 goals and 3 assists, then added another 7 goals and 2 assists in 9 postseason match-ups.
This output was good enough for him to secure a new agreement for 2017/2018 as the team ascends to the higher level, SHL.
The 26-year old may have found his spot.