Former Penn State men’s hockey star Casey Bailey will be back in state to continue his professional career this fall after signing a tryout deal with the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Tuesday.

Bailey has become a bit of a journeyman since leaving the Nittany Lions to sign a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs in March 2015. He made six appearances for the Leafs and scored his first NHL goal against star goalie Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens on April 11 of that year.

The wing played out the rest of his two-year contract with the Maple Leafs before signing on with the Ottawa Senators in 2016. Bailey made six appearances with the Sens during the 2016-17 season before moving on to play for the New York Islanders’ AHL affiliate the following year.

After scoring 18 goals and 23 assists in 76 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Bailey moved to Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, where he scored a goal and four assists in 45 appearances for Bratislava Slovan. He’ll now join the Washington Capitals’ minor league affiliate on a tryout basis this fall.

Bailey was Penn State’s all-time leading scorer until Andrew Sturtz broke the program record with an empty-netter against Mercyhurst on November 4, 2017. In three seasons as a Nittany Lion, Bailey scored 45 goals and added 35 assists in 92 appearances. He reached the 40-point mark in the 2014-15 season with 22 goals and 18 assists in 37 games played.

With 13 games with Toronto and Ottawa Senators under his belt, Bailey is the only Penn State hockey player with NHL game experience. That might change soon, however, as six Nittany Lions on the team’s 2019-20 roster were selected in the NHL Draft. Returning players Evan Barratt (Chicago Blackhawks), Cole Hults (Los Angeles Kings), Denis Smirnov (Colorado Avalanche), Aarne Talvitie (New Jersey Devils), and Nikita Pavlychev (Pittsburgh Penguins) will be joined by incoming freshman Kevin Wall, who was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the sixth round of this year’s draft.