Blackhawks' Ladd's return to Chicago didn't go as planned

For Andrew Ladd, his return to Chicago was a big bummer.

Well, that's not entirely true. The Blackhawks winger certainly enjoyed playing with Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane again for the first time since 2010. And he obviously enjoyed playing in front of 21,000-plus fans at the United Center for the team he won a Cup with that season.

But GM Stan Bowman brought Ladd back to help win another title, not end up as a first-round casualty.

"You bring your family here and move your whole life, you want to make a run for it and make it worthwhile," Ladd said Wednesday when players cleared out their lockers. "Unfortunately it didn't work out that way."

Ladd scored 8 goals in 19 regular-season games for the Hawks, but just one in the series vs. the Blues. He had his chances, though, and was effective with Marian Hossa and Marcus Kruger on the third line in Games 5, 6 and 7.

It's unlikely Ladd will return next season. The average salary of his last contract was $4.4 million, and he figures to command close to that when free agency opens on July 1.

Still, he didn't rule out the possibility of coming back.

"I'm at the point in my career where I can make decisions based on being in a good situation and … I don't think it's all about money for me," Ladd said. "It's about being in a good place for my family and being on a team that's going to contend every year.

"You'd be crazy not to want to be a part of this group, this organization and we'll see what happens."

That's hockey:

Brent Seabrook's shot late in the third period of Game 7 against St. Louis nearly tied the game at 3-3, but the puck bounced off both posts and stayed out of the net.

"It's a bounce. That's the tough part of it," he said Wednesday. "You look at the game, a bounce went their way off the post and back in to (Troy) Brouwer's feet and he was able to put it in. You look at our bounce, it went off both posts and it is what it is. …

"That's playoff hockey for you and we've been the recipient of a lot of bounces over the years and whatnot, so hockey's hockey."

Of course, the Hawks got a fortunate bounce when Andrew Shaw's pass attempt to Patrick Kane bounced off Jay Bouwmeester's shin pad and past Brian Elliott to make it 2-2 in the second period.

Live and learn:

Patrick Kane, who was accused of sexual assault by a woman last summer, was asked if he'll have to be more careful this off-season.

"I think so," he said. "It goes without saying that in today's world with the social media and everything you're doing, you almost have to act like there's a camera on you or someone's watching you at all times, whether you like it or not. I guess you kind of live and learn from those situations."

Slap shots:

Marcus Kruger said he will be doing rehab over the summer on the wrist he injured early in the season. "It might never be as good as it was," Kruger said, "but that was still great for me to get out and playing and proving for myself that I can play on the level I want to." ... Joel Quenneville said he anticipates his entire coaching staff will return next season. … Andrew Shaw (4), Marian Hossa (3), Artem Anisimov (3) and Duncan Keith (3) were the Hawks' leading goal-scorers vs. St. Louis. Keith led all players in average ice time at 31:28.

He said it:

"He came walking down the hallway and I thought, 'This guy looks a lot like Hammer.' Turns out it was him."

- Trevor van Riemsdyk on Niklas Hjalmarsson, who shaved his head

Second-round Stanley Cup playoff capsules

Here's a glance at the next round of Western Conference semifinals, along with John Dietz's predictions for which teams will advance to the conference final:

<b>WESTERN CONFERENCE</b><b>St. Louis Blues (49-24-9) vs. Dallas Stars (50-23-9)</b>Blues leaders:

Vladimir Tarsenko (40-34-74)

Brian Elliott (.930)

Stars leaders:

Jamie Benn (41-48-89)

Kari Lehtonen (.906) and Antti Niemi (.905)

The skinny: This probably should be the Western Conference finals matchup seeing as the Blues and Stars finished 1-2 in total points in the conference. The Stars scored more goals than any team in the league with 267. They feature three 30-goal scorers in Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza, and also have veterans Patrick Sharp (20 goals) and Johnny Oduya in tow to keep the ship steady when the waters get rocky. St. Louis is an impressive, well-rounded team. The Blues scored 19 goals against the Hawks in the first round, and they came from 12 players.

Prediction: St. Louis had a tougher road in the first round, which may come into play here. I also like the fact the Stars can draw on the experience of Sharp and Oduya. Still, Brian Elliott is playing too well in net, and I like the Blues to advance in 6.

<b>Nashville Predators (41-27-14) vs. San Jose Sharks (46-30-6)</b>Predators leaders:

Filip Forsberg (33-31-64); Roman Josi (14-47-61) and James Neal (31-27-58)

Pekka Rinne (.908)

Sharks leaders:

Joe Thornton (19-63-82) and Joe Pavelski (38-40-78)

Martin Jones (.918)

The skinny: San Jose shocked the pundits by taking out Los Angeles in five games in the first round. The Sharks are extremely balanced (they have five 20-goal scorers and Thornton needed 1 more to make it six) and they're extremely well rested. Nashville, on the other hand, slugged it out with Anaheim in a gruelling seven-game series, upsetting the Ducks 2-1 on Wednesday.

Prediction: My head says to pick the Sharks in 5. But I'm not giving up on my preseason prediction of Nashville reaching the conference finals. So I'll go out on a huge limb and say Preds in 7.

- John Dietz