Andrew Ladd's close to closure on the Winnipeg Jets front

With less than a week to go to the NHL trade deadlinesome of the questions Andrew Ladd has been facing all seasonwill finally come to an end, though his time in a Jets jersey could also be coming to an end.

Tuesday night's game against Dallas is the last home game before the NHL trade deadline on Feb. 29.

With 347 games and 245 points in a Jets jersey, the only captain the Winnipeg club has ever known has been a loyal and productive forward and probably could not have envisioned it coming this close to the wire back in the summer.

RAW: Jets pre game Andrew Ladd

9 years ago

Duration 4:33

Andrew Ladd held court with reports for almost five minutes in a candid conversation where he admitted he was surprised it's come to this point. Ladd also said that he can see the writing on the wall but until he hears from the team he can't completely confirm where his future will be.

Once Dustin Byfuglien signed his five-year, $38-million extension back on Feb. 8, all eyes turned to pending free agent Ladd.

It's likely that Jets brass circled back to sort out where they thought their spending and contract terms would get to with pending restricted free agents Jacob Trouba, Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry in the off-season.

From that point, management would have a sense of what their limit would be with any last-ditch contract offer to Ladd.

Loyalty between the club and Ladd, and the fact that any trade has yet to happen in the past two weeks, would indicate that there has still been dialogue on a potential extension for Ladd. But as the hours tick by, it looks less and less like any inroads have been made.

However we got here, we very much seem to be here now. Both sides are likely anxious now to have a conclusion to the whole thing, and teams around the league seem to be waiting for the skate to fall on Ladd so they can go forward and make the additions or subtractions they want to make before the deadline.

What's next for Ladd?

Ladd is currently fifth in team scoring with 16 goals and 33 points, behind Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, Dustin Byfuglien and Mathieu Perreault. There has been a serious uptick in his game in the last nine games, as he's scored six goals and has been a physical presence almost every time he steps on the ice.

Chicago and Florida seem to be leading the pack on interest for Ladd, but there are reports of four or five other teams kicking the tire on the 30-year-old. If a trade gets cemented in the coming days, Ladd could be in for a long playoff run before he would hit free agency in July.

If and when Ladd does hit free agency, you have to wonder what the market for a long-term deal will be.

Ladd's camp is likely using Ryan Kessler's six-year $41.25-million extension last summer with Anaheim as the benchmark. Kessler's deal has an average cap hit of $6.9 million, which is slightly higher than the $6 million for six years that was reportedly on the table for Ladd in the off-season.

Last summer there weren't as many big name big deal contracts. Michael Frolik's five-year $21.5 million was the biggest for an unrestricted forward; the summer before that, Paul Stastny signed with St. Louis for $7 million a year, but it was only a four-year deal. Michael Cammalleri signed with New Jersey for five years but it was for $5 million a year.

There could be a team out there that is willing to give Ladd what he is looking for in the summer, but he won't be the only free agent looking. Steve Stamkos, Eric Staal, David Backes, Milan Lucic, Loui Eriksson, Kyle Okposo, Kris Versteeg and Mikkel Boedker could all be free agents at the same time as Ladd.