TMZ Sports reports that 23-year-old forward Jason Bailey filed a law suit against the Anaheim Ducks organization for what he calls a “barrage of anti-Semitic, offensive and degrading verbal attacks.” The “damages” covered by he suit were not specified.
Bailey claims that he dealt with barbs about his Jewish heritage “from the moment” he joined Ducks’ former affiliate the Bakersfield Condors after Anaheim drafted him in the third round in 2005. (The Condors are now an affiliate for the Minnesota Wild.)
Bailey also alleges that he was forced to travel apart from the Condors and was given limited ice time because he is Jewish.
Update: Puck Daddy points out reports from Bakersfield Now that the Condors coaches were suspended in 2009 for the incidents.
While this is obviously at a point of conjecture - the Ducks did not respond to TMZ reporters - there is one bit of information in the story that could validate at least some of Bailey’s claims.
The Ducks eventually traded Bailey to the Ottawa Senators for Shawn Weller in 2009. As a member of the Binghamton Senators, Bailey scored zero points and compiled 11 penalty minutes in 17 games this season. (For his full career stats, click here.)
(Bailey’s photo via the Ottawa Senators official Web site.)