Andrew Ladd Thrilled & Proud to Reach 1,000 NHL Games

When Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong made the decision to rebuild the team's roster, he realized that he would need quality veteran players to help teach the Coyotes' young players how to be good professionals on and off the ice. One of those players was well-respected 16-season forward Andrew Ladd, who will play in his 1,000th NHL game tonight versus the Chicago Blackhawks.
About four and a half months after teammate Loui Eriksson played in his 1,000th career regular-season NHL game, Ladd will follow suit and make this year's Coyotes club the 47th instance in League history to feature multiple players to reach the historic milestone in the same campaign. In a similar serendipitous fashion as Eriksson, who played in his 1,000th game against the team that drafted him, Ladd's milestone night is against the Blackhawks on April 20 - the organization he won his second Stanley Cup with.

"It's really cool," Ladd said about playing in his 1,000th game against the Hawks. "I obviously have some great memories there and still have a couple of friends on the other side and a lot of the training staff was there when I was there for both stints. To be able to reach a milestone against them with the memories I have there is pretty cool."
There are two accomplishments an NHL player can achieve that automatically gives him credibility in the dressing room. One of them is to win a Stanley Cup, which Ladd has done twice; in 2006 with Carolina and 2010 with Chicago. The other is to play 1,000 games in the best League in the world.
"I'm really proud to be able to play 1,000 games," he said. "I was sitting in Bridgeport a couple years ago with this goal in mind to get back to playing NHL games again and ultimately hitting this milestone. To finally be here and see all that hard work and time that I put into getting back into this spot so I could have this opportunity is fulfilling to say the least."

Not all 1,000-game journeys are created equal, and Ladd has had some of the highest of highs and some of the lowest of lows an NHL player can experience over his 16-year career. The Maple Ridge, British Columbia native joined the juggernaut 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes as a 19-year-old and was an unsung hero during their playoff run that ended with a Stanley Cup victory. One of Ladd's teammates during his entire Hurricanes tenure was current Coyotes Assistant Coach Cory Stillman.
"We knew he was a high pick. He was a young guy coming in," said Stillman, who played 1,025 games in the League himself. "He was in a battle that year to be in the lineup every night. But as a 19-year-old he showed the potential he had, and you can see it 1,000 games later."
Ladd was later traded to the Blackhawks where he won the Stanley Cup again in 2010, playing in all 19 games during the post-season and helped Chicago end a 49-year championship drought. Cap constraints forced Chicago to trade Ladd to the then-Atlanta Thrashers. After one season in Atlanta, Ladd followed the franchise to Winnipeg, where he captained the franchise for close to six years, including a 62-point season and the new Winnipeg Jets' first playoff berth in 2014-15.

A return to Chicago at the 2016 trade deadline reacquainted Ladd in the Windy City but the 2010 magic could not be replicated as the Hawks fell to the Blues in a hard-fought seven-game series in the opening round. From there, Ladd signed a big contract with the Islanders on Day One of Free Agency, but adversity struck with numerous injuries that were hard to overcome.
On the back end of his tenure in the Islanders organization, Ladd found himself on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the club's then-AHL affiliate.
"I think I definitely learned a lot about myself in that time and I've grown as a person," he said. "Looking back, it's fulfilling knowing that I went through that and I was still able to get back to this point and reach this milestone.
"I was sitting at 920 career games at the end of 2017-18 and in my head probably taking it for granted that I was going to get to this point pretty easily. Obviously that wasn't the case and there were a lot of bumps in the road along the way which forced me to reevaluate and appreciate being able to play in the NHL and take advantage of the time I still had."
Ladd admits he wasn't in a great spot mentally after two knee surgeries and having to go to Bridgeport. At a crossroads, he could have quit or displayed a sour attitude and not been a positive role model for the younger players in the organization. But with the support of a mental skills coach, a physical therapist and of course his wife and kids, he decided to embrace the situation for what it was and face the challenge head on.
All those different variables helped him learn to appreciate the people around him and to be present in the moment. His persistence paid off, and Ladd got back to being an NHL regular with the Coyotes.
"I wanted to use that time to enjoy myself, be a mentor to the younger guys and try to just show up every day and have fun. I think that lent itself to me getting back to this point."

Nothing has been easy for the Coyotes in 2021-22, and Ladd missing some time in the season's second half with a lower-body injury added another challenge. But adversity builds and reveals character, and Ladd's resiliency made coming back from his most recent surgery a little bit easier.
"You're not just resilient or not resilient," said Ladd. "Resiliency is something you build up over time and you learn how to deal with situations. When you face those tough situations head on and attack them, the next time they show up it's a little easier.
"Obviously it wasn't an ideal time to have to go through one more surgery, but I was prepared for how I was going to attack it and the mentality that I was going to take into getting back into playing again and reaching this milestone."
He did it, and the vision of 1,000 games is coming to fruition despite it being far from a guarantee at this time last year.
"He's a great teammate, and I think now as a coach you can see he's a great leader." said Stillman. "He's a guy who has won two Stanley Cups and has been on top of the world but has had to fight his way back into the League too. He's a true pro."
Head Coach André Tourigny says nobody accidentally plays 1,000 games in the NHL, and Ladd's resilience has earned him a place in the exclusive 1,000 games club.
Just as teammate and friend Loui Eriksson did before him, Ladd's 1,000 game presence in the dressing room has contributed to making the 2021-22 Coyotes a tight-knit group.
"The best part of being here this year is the group of people we have in that room, and Loui is one of the guys who makes it fun to go to the rink. It's a great group of players that enjoys working hard and trying to get better," said Ladd. "To be able to do this with him in the same year is very special. It's something at the start of the year we both wanted to accomplish. For both of us to do that is pretty awesome."