Ducks trade Pavol Regenda to Sharks for Justin Bailey

A pair of California clubs completed a minor trade Wednesday as the Anaheim Ducks dealt left winger Pavol Regenda to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for right winger Justin Bailey, as first reported by Eric Stephens of The Athletic.

Skating in 36 games this season with the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks’ top minor-league affiliate, Regenda collected four goals and 12 assists for 16 points with 35 penalty minutes and a minus-15 rating. In 2023-24, Regenda finished seventh in Gulls scoring after putting up 34 points through 54 appearances. In all, the 25-year-old Slovak-born forward spent three seasons in San Diego where through 140 total contests he recorded 75 points counting 36 goals and 39 assists.

Regenda originally joined the Ducks in 2022 as an undrafted free agent shortly after helping Slovakia to a bronze-medal finish at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Last July, Regenda signed a one-year, two-way extension with Anaheim.

For Bailey, the 29-year-old native of Buffalo, N.Y., heads to Anaheim following 33 showings with the Barracuda this season in which he has registered seven goals and seven assists for 14 points with 26 penalty minutes and a minus-six mark.

Originally chosen 52nd overall by his hometown Sabres in the 2013 NHL Draft, the journeyman forward has seen 141 NHL contests counting stops with the Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, and Sharks in which he has totaled 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points. Last season, Bailey was a regular with the Sharks, finishing with 14 points counting five goals and nine assists through 59 contests.

An experienced player at the AHL level, Bailey has amassed 403 appearances over nine seasons in the minors where he has collected 143 goals with 112 assists for 255 points. Bailey put up a career high of 47 points through 53 games with the Utica Comets in 2019-20.