I am almost 21 and do not have kids. I have cousins that have kids, but that and babysitting is the only experience I have with little kids. But Andrew Ladd is not an almost 21 year old university student, he is a 28 year old father of two as of last night. And as a human he deserves to be there for when his children are born. If his daughter was born last night that would have him traveling today, and that is a whole other level of stupid.
Travel (and I imagine the birth of a child) is draining. A quick scan of Google shows that a non-stop flight from Winnipeg to Dallas is about 5 hours. Traveling, no matter how you do it seems to sap you and the only thing you want to do when you get to your destination is sleep. Ladd would not have had that luxury as there is no time change. If he left Winnipeg at 10 am, having to be at the airport 2-3 hours early for an international flight, Ladd Could be on 5-6 hours of sleep or less. I regularly function on that much sleep, but my job is not perform a physical job, it is to read stuff.
To add to these mangled thoughts, the Jets season is done. It can be spun however you want, but it is over. Ladd has missed a lot of practices as well this year, leading me to believe that he is hurting with little injuries all year. Is it the worst thing that he meets the team in the next city that they play in San Jose, rested and ready for action. They will get a better Ladd for it, and that is good for the Jets.
There are other complaints people can make about this; "it's his job", "he knew that this could happen" etc, but it does not matter. Obviously that is true, but there is always the human element. Players miss games for their children's births all the time. If Chevaldayoff and Maurice did not let Ladd stay in Winnipeg with his family, free agents may give Winnipeg even less of a thought than before. This is a good move, this is the right move. Ladd would not be the difference between a win or a loss, but this move will give free agents one less reason to sign in Winnipeg.
My apologies for the disjointedness and crabbiness in this article. I had a long day and am tired with every little thing being a big deal. This is the way it goes in the NHL and that's that.
