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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Lifelong Islander Josh Bailey’s most lauded attribute is his “Hockey IQ,” and while coaches, teammates, and former teammates all praise his hockey sense, his presence on the new-look top line with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat makes little sense to fans that have watched the 33-year-old struggle this season.
Per Natural Stat Trick, Bailey has an Individual Point Percentage (IPP) of 58.82 through 50 games this season, the third lowest of his career. IPP shows how frequently a player was awarded a point in an event his team (a) scored and (b) the player was on the ice.
As a comparison, Brock Nelson has had an IPP of over 70 in each of the last two seasons. This means when Bailey is on the ice for a goal this season, he’s often been a non-factor. Granted, players such as Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri have even lower IPPs than Bailey, but they are goal-scorers, not play-makers. Lee’s IPP was 60.19 in 2017-18, and he scored 40 goals that season.
We know Bailey put up a 71-point season with John Tavares; they even once put up multiple points in five consecutive games that year! (his IPP was 73.20). But what is the appeal for Lane Lambert now?
"Josh has been a top-six forward in this league for a long time, produced a lot of points, played in a lot of games. He's more than capable of doing the job." - Lane Lambert
Recently, Bailey had been demoted to the fourth line and was playing Matt Martin and Aatu Raty. When asked why Bailey was moved down, Lambert answered that it was “a result of us trying to find solutions to not winning hockey games.” Now the solution includes playing Bailey with Barzal and Horvat.
Skating alongside Barzal, who has been playing with “extra juice” since the trade, Bailey was on the ice for Horvat’s first goal as an Islander vs. Seattle but didn’t factor into the scoring. He played 12:49 overall, of which 10:46 was playing with Horvat and Barzal. Bailey had one SOG and three giveaways.
His 35 giveaways are the second-most among forwards, behind only Barzal (65) without possessing the puck nearly as much. So, what does Lambert want and need to see from Bailey for him to stick on this line?
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