The Rochester Knighthawks to pick 9th in the NLL draft.
Insidelacrosse.com
In the two months since my last National Lacrosse League mock draft(s), and much has changed but much also has stayed the same.
For one, the date of the draft has been announced and the location has switched up from where it’s been held the last few years. The league will gather in Philadelphia to hold the draft on Tuesday, Sept. 25.
What else is new? San Diego now has three picks in the first round, having acquired the 10th and 11thoverall selections from Saskatchewan in exchange for the rights to Brett Mydske, whom the Seals had taken in the expansion draft.
That’s still not the most picks of any team, though. Calgary has four— sixth (their own), seventh (the last element of the trade in which they sent Shawn Evans to New England), plus supplemental picks added to the round at 12 and 13 for the free agents signing losses of Mike Poulin and Jeff Shattler.
The first nine picks remain with the teams who held them in June when I did a pair of mock drafts, one with Austin Staats included and the other without. Who I think they’ll take has changed, though, at least in some instances.
Let’s see how it all plays out in Mock Draft 3.0.
1 San Diego Seals
Austin Staats, LF, Six Nations Arrows & Onondaga
I was already working on this mock when the NLL released the first renunication list for the draft, which included Staats. My assumption at the time was that Staats would be entering, based largely on not having heard that he had enrolled at any college by this point. Now that it’s official, it would be a bit of a shock if Patrick Merrill didn’t select him with the Seals’ first entry draft pick. Merrill saw the impact that Staats can have when they were winning Minto Cups together with the Six Nations Arrows. Staats has already had a star turn playing box lacrosse against men when he stepped in and helped the Chiefs win the Mann Cup in 2016. If all that winning and starring wasn’t enough, Staats stood out among the best players in the world, earning an All-World team selection in Netanya. He is the player in this class you can best build a team around and Merrill is in the process of building a team from scratch. A match made in heaven.
2 Philadelphia Wings
Chris Cloutier, LF, Cobourg Kodiaks and North Carolina
Not that it would take a genius to figure out that Staats and Cloutier are the two must-have players at the top of this draft, but Paul Day pretty much let the cat fully out of the bag during an intermission interview during Game 2 of the MSL finals when he appeared on Lacrosse TV. Asked by Brian Shanahan whom Day—who is the GM of both the Peterborough Lakers and the Wings—would be likely to take at two, he said that one of Staats and Cloutier will be available, and they’d be happy to have either.
Cloutier had limited availability with the Kodiaks this summer because he was busy earning the Rookie of the Year award while wowing Major League Lacrosse fans. Still, in just eight games, Cloutier finished tied for eighth iin MSL with 21 goals; no one else in the top 20 played fewer than double-digit games. Cloutier showed a knack for creating his own shooting space and the accuracy to make use of that space. He should be a great fit across from the Wings’ already solid right side of Brett Hickey, Kiel Matisz and Josh Currier.
3 Buffalo Bandits (from Vancouver, Rory Smith trade)
Ian MacKay, LT, Six Nations Chiefs and Vermont
In June, I envisioned the Bandits trading their pair of picks here to move up and grab Staats. Everything I’ve heard since then suggests they are going to stay put instead and look to shore up a defence that has been in the bottom three of the NLL in goals allowed each of the last two seasons. They need youth, talent and athleticism, and they will get a bunch with back-to-back selections.
MacKay hadn’t played box for a couple of summers while he rehabbed leg injuries at Vermont. He made up for that in a big way this year with a standout season under the eyes of Rich Kilgour, who is the head coach for the Chiefs and the D coach for the Bandits. If GM Steve Dietrich put any name other than MacKay’s on the draft slip, a fist fight may break out at Buffalo’s table. Don’t expect that to happen. MacKay is solid defensively, fast, and skilled enough that he could play forward effectively if they needed someone to fill in up front.
4 Buffalo Bandits
Matt Gilray, RT, Peterborough Lakers and Bucknell
Gilray didn’t stand out as much this summer as he did in his MSL rookie season of 2017, but he is still a stud prospect with a scary combination of size and speed. The one thing that may make the Bandits tentative about Gilray is that he has signed on as an assistant coach at Whittier College outside of Los Angeles. Buffalo strongly prefers players who can drive to practice at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena during the week. I’m going to guess that they consider Gilray worth making an exception.
Adding MacKay and Gilray, along with Bryce Sweeting (acquired in a trade with San Diego after the Seals took him in the expansion draft) should provide a huge boost to the Bandits D.
5 Saskatchewan Rush (from Toronto, Adam Jones trade)
Connor Robinson, LF, Langley Thunder and High Point
The obvious route for the Rush to take here would be going defence to supplement the unit that might be losing stars like Ryan Dilks and Jeff Cornwall for a year to firefighter probation period and did lose Adrian Sorichetti in the expansion draft. But there is a distinct group of five players that stand at the top of this draft and it would be hard to pass on Robinson with this pick.
Robinson three times scored more than 100 points in junior, and he followed that up with 22 goals and 29 assists for 51 points in his rookie WLA season with Langley. He’s big and agile and has great hands. An excellent run as a callup with the New Westminster Salmonbellies for their Mann Cup run in 2017 means he has a couple of years of experience now in playing against men.
How Saskatchewan fits him in on a left side that already features a wealth of talent in MVP Mark Matthews, Jeff Shattler and Ryan Keenan will present GM and Head Coach Derek Keenan with the kind of quandary that other teams would love to face.
6 Calgary Roughnecks
Shane Simpson, RD, Six Nations Chiefs & North Carolina
Calgary lost Frank Scigliano and Garrett McIntosh in the expansion draft. There’s no goalie suitable to take this high in the entry draft, but Simpson is a strong addition in the back end. I was impressed once again with his solidity, athleticism and lacrosse IQ in his summer with the Chiefs. He’s a plug-and-play option. Calgary had a decent year in its own end, finishing fourth in goals allowed, but Simpson could help make them even better.
7 Calgary Roughnecks (from New England, Shawn Evans trade)
Brendan Bomberry, RT/F, Six Nations Chiefs and Syracuse
I’ve considered several players here for Calgary. Connor Fields is tempting but there may be some hesitation after he underwent knee surgery on Aug. 1 (although Fields told me last week that the surgery went great, he’s ahead of schedule in his rehab and he believes he’ll be ready to go at full speed for sure by the beginning of the season and possibly during camp). Jean-Luc Chetner is another option at lefty forward. They could double down on the defensive end with Adam Wiedemann or James Barclay, both of whom had strong enough summers in MSL to warrant being taken early.
But ultimately I’m going to stick with Bomberry for the Riggers. That doesn’t make for a particularly exciting mock draft since I had them taking him in both iterations of the June mock. Bomberry is such a logical fit, though. He has shown the last couple of summers that he can play pretty solid defence and contribute in transition. He was a Minto Cup MVP as a forward and captain with the Jr A Arrows. Bomberry has a high lacrosse IQ and will help wherever they need him to play. That versatility bumps him slightly ahead of the handful of other players in consideration for this pick.
8 Georgia Swarm
Connor Fields, LF, Oakville Rock and Albany
After losing a pair of forwards in the expansion draft (lefty Jordan Hall and righty Kiel Matisz), the Swarm need to restock. The potential to slide Zed Williams up to forward and the potential to get a pretty good righty with one of their five second-round picks probably leans Georgia towards grabbing a lefty. They could move Haina Thompson up to join his brothers Lyle and Miles out the front door but he was becoming really strong in the defensive/transition role they moved him to, and I suspect they’ll want to keep him there.
Fields had a very good summer with the Rock in 2017, getting better game in and game out en route to 14 goals and 29 assists for 43 points in 16 games. Another good summer would have helped solidify him as a first-rounder, but he simply couldn’t play indoors while awaiting knee surgery. Teams may shy away at first, but Fields is a high-level talent with enough box experience that he should be able to make the adjustment to the pro game quickly, even while he’s coming back from the operation.
If they aren’t comfortable that Fields will be ready to play at full speed at least by midseason, Georgia may well opt to look elsewhere. The reality of continued expansion coming over the next several years means it will be difficult to protect a rookie who isn’t ready to play a big role almost immediately.
9 Rochester Knighthawks (from Colorado, Stephen Keogh trade)
Adam Wiedemann, LD/T, Brampton Excelsiors & Belmont Abbey
With Rochester losing Josh Currier in the expansion draft as well as Frank Brown, who could have been a candidate to return to his old forward position to take over Currier’s role, the first thought may be that the Knighthawks will grab Kyle Killen or Connor Kearnan. But they signed recently crowned Arena Lacrosse League MVP Mike Burke and he is overdue for a real shot at a regular role in the NLL.
So Rochester can look to add to a defence that was already third in the league in goals allowed last year. You can never have too much defence.
Wiedemann was a revelation in his MSL rookie season. I saw him play with the junior Excelsiors and he was a good player but I didn’t expect him to have the immediate or wide-reaching impact he had in senior as soon as he entered the league. Wiedemann is a diligent defender. He’s fast, has decent hands and makes good decisions in transition, taking his chances when they’re there but almost never forcing the play.
10 San Diego Seals (from Rochester via Saskatchewan, Brett Mydske trade)
Connor Kearnan, RF, Brooklin Redmen & Canisius
San Diego focused on defence in the expansion draft, getting some key pieces like Adrian Sorichetti and Cam Holding plus getting up and comer Ethan Schott when they picked Bryce Sweeting and dealt him to Buffalo. They’ve also made some intriguing signings out the back door such as Tyson Roe and Drew Belgrave. The left side looks pretty strong with Turner Evans and Casey Jackson coming in expansion, Joe Walters added as a free agent and—in this mock draft, at least—Staats surfacing as a Seal. They also got Frank Scigliano to be the goalie of the present and Erik Kratz as a potential goalie of the future.
That leaves them to go after righty forwards here, to complement trade acquisition Kyle Buchanan and free agents Marcus Holman, who still has to show he can make the move to pro box lacrosse successfully and Garrett Billings, who was an elite player but has been out of the league for the last two seasons. Kearnan brings rugged inside work and a high lacrosse IQ to the table. He is also talented and he did well when he had a chance to play against men with summer in MSL.
11 San Diego Seals (from Saskatchewan, Brett Mydske trade)
Kyle Killen, RF, Cobourg Kodiaks & RIT
I’m going to quote the excellent advice from the cult classic comedy Swingers. “Double down.” When looking at righty forwards to take, they have a choice between the talented and gritty Kearnan or the really talented and athletic Killen. Or do they? Why not take both? Killen is a sniper. He loves to shoot on the run and is extremely accurate doing it, especially coming over the top. Put him on the floor with the loose ball machine and veteran leader Buchanan, plus the grinder Kearnan, and Killen might just do some special things.
12 Calgary Roughnecks (compensatory pick, Mike Poulin free agent signing)
Jean-Luc Chetner, LF, Maple Ridge Burrards & Towson
With the Roughnecks taking a defender and a righty forward/transition player earlier in this draft, I’m going to take a lefty in my role as their mock GM. It’s a difficult choice between three players. I settled on the multi-talented and mature Chetner. He isn’t particularly tall, but Chetner is strong and tough enough to go inside and be effective. He handles the ball well, has excellent vision and has demonstrated leadership qualities, particularly in his star turn leading Israel to the European Box Lacrosse Championships gold medal in Turku, Finland in 2017. I expected him to put up more points playing for Maple Ridge but I’ve heard generally positive reviews of his play in the WLA this summer. I’m looking forward to getting a chance to watch him play in person at the Mann Cup to see how he is progressing.
There are a pair of other lefties decidedly in the mix for this spot. Dereck Downs is a big player with skill. I wasn’t wowed by him with Brampton this summer but he definitely has games where you can see his potential to excel at the highest level. I’d just like to see more consistency, which is of course the challenge for many young (and even not so young) players.
Jon Phillips scored 53 points to lead the Timbermen this summer. I haven’t had the chance to see nearly as much of him as I have of Chetner and Downs. I also haven’t heard a lot of chatter about him coming from the west coast. A final decision between these three would take more research and video review to determine who the best fit would be for a team, in this case Calgary. You can bet that Curt Malawsky and his staff already have plenty of prep done, though, especially since Malawsky coached Chetner with Jr A Coquitlam and would have had chances to see Downs when he also played for the Adanacs and Phillips over the summers.
Here are their numbers, for comparison’s sake, from this summer.
Chetner: 12 games, 10g/18a/28pts regular season; 9 games, 8g/8a/16pts playoffs
Downs: 16 games, 20g/12a/32pts regular season; Brampton missed playoffs
Phillips: 15 games, 24g/29a/53pts regular season; 5 games, 5g/5a/10pts playoffs
13 Calgary Roughnecks (compensatory pick, Jeff Shattler free agent signing)
James Barclay, RD, Oakville Rock & Providence
There are even more candidates whom I considered for this pick than for pick 12. I settled on Barclay because he has such a balanced blend of aggressive physical play and composure. Barclay focuses on his own end of the floor, although like most Oakville players he is ready to take off up the floor when it makes sense. He scored 3 goals and 9 points as an MSL rookie in 2017 while posting just 4 assists this summer. Barclay manages his defensive toughness well, taking just 15 minutes in penalties total in his two seasons.
Travis Burton (Brampton Jr A and Paris ALL) was a consideration and could easily rise back up into the first round, where I’ve had him in my previous mocks. I didn’t think he had a great summer with Brampton Jr A but I still think his athleticism and grittiness are substantial and I suspect he will bounce back. Burton had a great winter campaign with the ALL’s Paris RiverWolves and shows plenty of promise as he prepares to move up to the pro level.
Julian Garritano (Brooklin MSL) was basically a fill-in for the Redmen until everyone got back from the NLL season, but he didn’t play like a replacement. He’s reliable, smart and athletic. Garritano was just a distant blip on the radar coming into the summer but he elevated himself into discussion for this high a pick with his solid play. Derek Keenan and the Brooklin staff like him but there’s no way Garritano is lasting till 37, Saskatchewan’s next pick after they choose fifth, so if he could be a target for Georgia and their five second-rounders.
A pair of WLA defenders are impressive and could go here, even higher or further into the second round but aren’t likely to slip much further. Nate Wade (Nanaimo) is a tough customer who can play. Reece Callies (Langley) is 6’7” tall, around 215 pounds and has two full seasons of solid senior experience. I’ll be looking into both further as the draft approaches.