The Islanders’ assist leader through 36 games is a player who is familiar to longtime fans. Perhaps too familiar, Josh Bailey has been a very solid forward on a mediocre team this season but he still gets a large portion of the online displeasure directed at the Isles.
The 27-year-old Bailey has learned to ignore the unhappy fans after 593 games as an Islander and embrace the good parts of his job. He’s been a mainstay throwing pucks to fans during warm-ups just about since Nov. 11, 2008, when he played his first Islanders game after having been the ninth overall pick in the previous June’s draft.