The New York Islanders have placed Andrew Ladd on waivers. Ladd recently finished a conditioning stint with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and was not in Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has not played a game for the Islanders this season. GM Lou Lamoriello explained the situation:
He’s played the maximum number of conditioning games–five games. He needs to play in games to see exactly where the strength is and where the liabilities are and so forth. So we’ll get him down, he’ll leave today to go up to Belleville and play this weekend at Belleville and Laval.
There’s no timetable. His play and physical fitness will determine that.
Ladd is coming off a major knee injury and the Islanders obviously believe he’s not ready to compete in NHL games at this point. The veteran forward is apparently “very receptive” to this plan, however, as he tries to get his career back on track.
Signed to a seven-year, $38.5M contract at the start of free agency in 2016, Ladd has managed just 71 points in 177 games with the Islanders over the last three seasons. While his value to a team has always stretched far beyond his offensive production — there’s something to be said about the experience of two Stanley Cups — the Islanders can’t rely entirely on intangibles. His contract carries a $5.5M cap hit through the 2022-23 season and though they will get some savings (a prorated $1.075M) with him buried in the minors, it looks like an anchor on their payroll at this point.
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