The Ducks and San Jose Sharks swapped power forwards Wednesday, exchanging Pavol Regenda for Justin Bailey.
Bailey, 29, has 141 games of NHL experience, but will report to the Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate in San Diego.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 215-pound Bailey is in his 10th pro season, and in eight of the previous nine he has seen NHL action with Buffalo, Philadelphia and Vancouver. Last season in San Jose, he set career highs at the NHL level in games played (59) and points (14). In 141 career games, he has 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists).
His finest AHL season came in 2019-20 when he posted 47 points in 53 games with a plus-10 rating for the Utica Comets, who were Vancouver’s affiliate at the time.
A Buffalo native, he was a 2013 second-round selection by his hometown Sabres after catching the eye of former Sabres, Islanders and Rangers great Pat Lafontaine at the Under-16 level. Lafontaine coached against him initially and then later guided him after a move from Buffalo to Long Island for one season before Bailey played major junior hockey as a Kitchener Ranger.
Lafontaine wasn’t Bailey’s connection to the pros: Bailey’s father was Bills linebacker Carlton Bailey, who later also played for the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers.
Regenda, 25, departed the Ducks’ organization after scoring three points in 19 NHL appearances across the past two seasons. Only a couple pounds separate him and Bailey, as they’re nearly identically sized.
The 2021-22 campaign represented a breakthrough for Regenda, who won a bronze medal at the 2022 Olympics with Slovakia while chasing a point-per-game pace during an impressive season in the top Slovak pro league.
That piqued the Ducks’ interest and they signed him as an undrafted free agent. He would debut in the season opener in 2022-23, notching a pair of assists in his third game against the New York Rangers and scoring his first (and only) NHL goal against Minnesota three games later. He would also represent Slovakia three times at the World Championships.
After last season’s trade-deadline purge, Regenda got five more top-level games in which he was held scoreless. In the AHL this season, his 16 points in 36 games put him well behind the pace at which he produced last season and a bit off his first minor pro season’s scoring rate.