Healthy Ladd says Jets can't be satisfied with playoffs

Winnipeg Jets captain Andrew Ladd's recovery from offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia is going so well that he's been back on the ice for two weeks.

"I feel good," Ladd told the Winnipeg Free Press from his summer home in British Columbia on Tuesday. "I've skated the last couple of weeks and I don't have any ill effects."

Ladd had the surgery May 8 after dealing with the problem for most of the second half of last season, when he had 24 goals and a career-high 62 points in 81 games.

"It's been a different summer because I don't usually take a whole lot of time off and I get back into it quickly," he said of his recovery. "This was a slower start to the offseason, and I kind of [eased] my way into things, doing different stuff. But it's feeling good, and I'm excited to be back on the ice."

Ladd, who turns 30 in December, said there's a different attitude and bigger expectations after the Jets qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was the Jets' first trip to the postseason since 2007, when the franchise was known as the Atlanta Thrashers.

"I think there has been a little, in terms of we know what we have and what we're capable of and what's expected of us," he said. "Everyone knows going into camp what the expectation from [coach] Paul [Maurice] is and what it is from each other right from the first day we show up."

However, he said there's no room for simply being content with making the playoffs, especially after the Jets were swept by the Anaheim Ducks in their Western Conference First Round series.

"It's pretty tough to be satisfied with losing four straight in the playoffs," Ladd said. "I think that's first and foremost. The biggest disappointment we had after the playoffs and after having time to think about it, was that we thought we could do some damage, that we had a team that could go deep into the playoffs.

"Yes, it was nice to make the playoffs, but the ultimate goal is competing for Stanley Cups and now we can kind of look back and say that was the first step, to make the playoffs. But great organizations, that's what their standard is every year, giving themselves a chance to win. I think with the group we have, a lot of character guys in that room and no one that's really satisfied, that's what gets everybody excited, that we know what we have and the kind of people we have and we're excited for the opportunity we have with that group."