Chicago Blackhawks: Andrew Ladd Moving Is Not A Bad Thing
Chicago Blackhawks: Andrew Ladd Is Moving On
Before the 2016 season trade deadline, Blackhawks General Stan Bowman went all in for this season. Bowman made the biggest splash at the trade deadline by adding Andrew Ladd, and he gave a first-round pick and Marko Dano to Winnipeg for Ladd. Bowman would remain busy as he added Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise to the roster the very next day.
Well it appears that Bowman’s first deadline addition will be leaving town. Reports have recently surfaced that Andrew Ladd will not be donning the Indian Head Sweater next season. This is not a shock to most Blackhawks fans that despite Ladd’s willingness to stay in Chicago that he would not be retained. The move could not be afforded under the current salary cap. People who yearned for Ladd to stay would suggest the easy solution: trade Bickell and we can keep Ladd. Unfortunately trading Bickell is a lot easier on twitter than it is in real life .
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While some will be mourning the loss of Ladd on the top line, I will be not one of those people. Ladd did not have the impact the Blackhawks were expecting last season. The expectation was that Ladd would finally fill the void left by Brandon Saad on the top line. As we learned last year, Ladd was not much better than anyone else who tried to replace Saad. He was even worse at times, Okay he was better than Ryan Garbutt.
After joining the Blackhawks Ladd had eight goals and four assists for 12 points, that was good for a .63 point per game. That number was slight up from his time in Winnipeg. His advance stats did dip a little bit when he was with the Blackhawks. His CF% went from 52.2 with Winninpeg to a 49.2 with Chicago. His Fenwick went from 50.0 to a 49.5.
In the playoffs, Ladd’s point CF% and FF% went up to 54.2, but those numbers were not enough to help the Blackhawks. Ladd mustered 1 goal and 1 assist for two points in seven games. At one point, Ladd was sent to third line with the Blackhawks. Ladd’s playoff performance was anything less than stellar.
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The Coaching staff decided in the later stages of the Blues series that Andrew Shaw was the better option on the top line. Shaw would finish the playoffs with four goals and two points despite being suspended for one game during the series.
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Ladd came to Chicago with a lot excitement and hype. Neither were realized by the Blackhawks and Ladd, but for me Ladd will leave town with some small press clippings and one big spring disappointment.