Islanders Return Andrew Ladd To AHL After One Game

The New York Islanders are sending Andrew Ladd back to the AHL after just one game with the big club. This came as a surprise this morning.

On a day when the New York Islanders are taking on Andrew Ladd’s former team, a team he won a Stanley Cup with, Lou Lamoriello decided to send Ladd back to the AHL. Ladd only played one game with the Islanders during his stint here.

In his one game, coming against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ladd played 9:53 with five hits. To no surprise, Ladd also had a positive Corsi, with a 54.5 CF%. While this by no means justifies his $5.5 million cap hit, the thought was that he would be an upgrade to that third line.

On our latest podcast, Mitch and I went into great detail on why he was a better option than both Michael Dal Colle and Leo Komarov on that third line.

When healthy, Ladd is someone who can provide the defensive play you want from a bottom-six player, he can kill penalties, and occasionally he can pop one it providing a tad more offensive upside than the other two options.

That’s likely the issue, Ladd probably isn’t healthy enough to compete at the NHL level. He’s played in just 27 games over the last year and a half and he’s torn his ACL twice. He will likely have to go back to the AHL for the foreseeable future.

Sending Ladd to the minors also saves the Isles a little bit of money. With his contract buried, his cap hit is reduced to $4.4 million, saving the Isles $1.1 million that they could potentially use if they are looking to add at the deadline (they should be).

As currently situated, the Isles have $5.9 million in cap space, and would likely have to clear a little bit more if they are looking to make a trade. Regardless, Ladd going back to the AHL does have some benefits for the Isles in terms of cap flexibility.

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Now, we just have to live with more Leo Komarov and Michael Dal Colle on the ice. Luckily, Barry Trotz can seem to manage with both of those guys in the lineup.