Jets captain Ladd: Owners made “pretty low-ball offer”

On Monday, Andrew Ladd made it perfectly clear what he thought of the owner’s offer for a new collective bargaining agreement.

“Our offer is more on track than theirs and theirs was a pretty low-ball offer to start off with,” he told the Winnipeg Sun. “They haven’t really made any concessions so far.”

In what’s quickly becoming a negotiation where both sides are rallying the troops and digging in their heels, Ladd said the players’ union is as strong as ever — and put the stalled talks on the shoulders of the owners.

“If they didn’t start so low, maybe it would be easier to keep those discussions going,” he said. “We seem to be at an impasse right now. Everyone is kind of drawing a line in the sand and we don’t feel comfortable moving from where we are until they move a lot more.”

Ladd is a key voice in the current negotiations. He’s the Jets’ captain and one of the players set to go to New York this week for Wednesday/Thursday NHLPA meetings.

Ladd is also familiar with the framework of a lockout — the fourth overall pick in 2004, Ladd was sent back to WHL Calgary during the last lockout, which allowed him to participate with Team Canada’s gold medal-winning side at the 2005 World Juniors.