Isles Day to Day: Hickey, Ladd Loaned For Conditioning Stint

Thomas Hickey and Andrew Ladd were loaned to Bridgeport for a conditioning stint, the Islanders announced on Saturday morning.
The conditioning loan is the next step in bringing the two injured players back into hockey shape, after skating on their own and with the team over the past month. The Sound Tigers host Hartford at 7 p.m. on Saturday and host Charlotte at 3 p.m. on Sunday and Hickey and Ladd will play in both games, per Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello.

"You have the ability to send them down and do an assessment and both players were totally in agreement with it," Lamoriello said. "They'll go down and play a couple of games, see how they feel and then we'll get them back and depending on how situations go, the way the rules read, they do not necessarily have to be activated. It's just an assessment period. They'll go down for two, but you do have the option to play a couple more if necessary."
Lamoriello added that both players were placed on long term injured reserve (LTIR) on Saturday morning. A conditioning stint can not extend beyond 14 consecutive days, per the NHL CBA.

Ladd has been out with a lower-body injury since Nov. 13. Hickey has been out with an upper-body injury since Dec. 17. They have been skating individually and with the team in various capacities over the past month, but Head Coach Barry Trotz said both players showed improvement during Friday's practice.
"It says a lot about them, going down there, wanting to get some rust off," Trotz said. "They looked rusty the last couple of weeks when they came back and started skating. The last couple of days they haven't looked as rusty. The best way get rust off is to play real hockey."