Blackhawks give Ladd qualifying offer

The deadline for teams to extend qualifying offers to their restricted free agents is Monday and the Blackhawks extended winger Andrew Ladd with a $1.85 million qualifying offer TSN reports.

However, Ladd can still seek higher compensation elsewhere if he chooses too.

Andrew Ladd had 17 goals last season, setting a career-high. He also had 21 assists for 38 points. Ladd also started his career in 2004 with the 4th overall pick  by the Carolina Hurricanes. He was traded to the Blackhawks in 2008 for Tuomo Ruutu.

Any restricted free agent not offered a qualifying offer by Monday will become unrestricted free agents on July 1st.