New York Islanders Five Fun Facts About Josh Bailey Extension

He’s Making $500,000 Less Than Andrew Ladd

How much are intangibles worth exactly? Intangibles like leadership. What is that worth when it comes to an NHL player’s contract? Does $500,000 sound about right? Because that’s the difference between Andrew Ladd and Josh Bailey in terms of their individual cap hits.

When Andrew Ladd was signed in free agency he was brought in for two things. To be John Tavares’ elite level winger, and to bring leadership to the team.

At the moment Andrew Ladd is as far from Tavares as humanly possible on the ice. Brought in to play on the top line, Ladd is spending his ice time trolling around with Brock Nelson and either Jason Chimera or Tanner Fritz. So it seems like all he and his $5.5 million over seven years are bringing to the table is “leadership”.

It’s not like the Islanders are paying Ladd to produce. Since being acquired by the Islanders in the 2016 off-season, Ladd has put up 52 points. That’s a return of 0.4 points per game. That’s a full 0.09 points per game fewer than a certain Brock Nelson.

Josh Bailey, who in the same time that Ladd has been wearing Blue and Orange is averaging over double the production with 0.84 points per game. Yet is going to earn about 10% less than Ladd.

If you don’t believe Bailey could have received a Boaty McBoatface load of money in the open market of free agency, this comparison should tell you otherwise.