Ladd appears to have regained pre-surgery form

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This article was published 19/01/2016 (3551 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Andrew Ladd isn’t the type to step in front of a camera, arms held wide and — Ta-da! — declare he is back to 100 per cent healthy again.

But over the last couple of weeks the Winnipeg Jets captain is looking more like the player who led this club in scoring last year, not the one who opened the season fighting through the residual affects of off-season surgery for a sports hernia.

Ladd has five points (one goal, four assists) in his last seven games and, with the recent rash of injuries, has been reunited with Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler on the No. 1 trio.

“I’ve felt better lately, maybe a little quicker,” said Ladd, who has 10 goals and 17 assists this season. “I’ve felt much better than I did, especially at the start of the year.

“This is my first time going through (surgery/recovery). As an athlete you’re always expecting right from the get-go to be right were you took off. Until you’ve actually gone through something like this you don’t really understand the process or how long it actually takes to get back to where you feel like you’re back at the top of your game.

“I’ve tried to just take it in stride and work on different things to get back to where I need to be.”

NO NEWS IS… NO NEWS: TSN’s Gary Lawless reported Tuesday that Ben Hankinson, the agent for pending UFA Dustin Byfuglien, met with Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and assistant GM Larry Simmons in Minnesota last week. Reached Tuesday night, Hankinson said the two sides have met and continue to talk, “which is always a good thing.”

LOOKING BACK: It was everything J.C. Lipon imagined, and then some. But his NHL debut also lacked one key ingredient, in his mind: a Jets win.

“It was a nice night. Obviously it would have been nice to get the win, but all in all it was pretty special,” said Lipon Tuesday after an optional Jets skate that featured just 11 skaters.

“It’s fast out there. But my game’s speed and I felt comfortable out there as the game went on. It’s good when your first shift is in the ‘O’ zone because down there you are a little more comfortable. In the ‘D’ zone sometimes when you are battling to get it out it can become a little more stressful.

“The guys are bigger, everyone’s always in position so you know where they’re going to be. You don’t have the puck on your tape as long, that’s for sure. It’s just definitely faster, but I felt comfortable.”

Lipon had his parents and grandparents at the MTS Centre for Monday’s 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, along with his agent and some of his mother’s co-workers. The next question is whether he’ll be in the lineup for Thursday’s home date with the Nashville Predators.

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“That’s everyone’s dream, to play in the NHL,” said Lipon. “To play a game is pretty special. Now you move on to the next step, which is trying to get into more games.

“It was special playing in Winnipeg. The fans are really loud and I got of taste of that in the exhibition games as well. I kind of knew what to expect. I’ve been ready for this my whole life.”

FYI: The Jets held an optional practice Tuesday, with 11 participants on the ice: goaltender Michael Hutchinson, defencemen Byfuglien, Mark Stuart, Ben Chiarot and Adam Pardy and forwards Lipon, Patrice Cormier, Anthony Peluso, Nikolaj Ehlers, Andrew Copp and Joel Armia.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait