NLL Insider

NLL Insider has learned that long time Toronto Rock defender and former Team Canada (Heritage Cup) member Ian Rubel has been dealt to the Minnesota Swarm in a trade that will likely be officially announced later this week.

The three time Champion’s Cup winning defender had been a healthy scratch for most of the Rock’s season this year, playing in only two early season tilts against Minnesota and Rochester, both 11-4 losses and both franchise record lows for single game scoring.

Rubel had previously been selected for Canada’s Heritage Cup roster in 2004, alongside current Rock defenders Peter Lough and Cam Woods, whose inclusion to the Rock this past off-season likely pushed Rubel down the depth charts and out of Head Coach Glenn Clark’s plans for the future.

Rubel has long been considered one of the toughest pure defenders in the league, having played most of the 2002 Mann Cup against the Brampton Excelsiors with a broken hand. At times Rubel, who was playing for the Victoria Shamrock, was almost unable to even fit his fractured hand back into his glove, but still managed to somehow play six games during the series which went the full seven.

Previous to that summer, Rubel had played a key role on the Rock’s 2002 Champion’s Cup winning team when they beat the Albany Attack and did so again a year later when the Rock held the Rochester Knighthawks to just six goals in the Cup final.

It’s still unknown what the Swarm are sending the other way in the deal, but with the lack of games Toronto has used Rubel in this season, you can bet his trade value has dropped even from just a year ago when he was a regular starter for the Rock.

The move will strengthen Minnesota’s defensive end, which was just handed a huge blow with the loss of Darren Halls and Nick Inch this past weekend. It’s unknown how severe the injuries to the two players are, but don’t expect either in the lineup this weekend when the Swarm play the Chicago Shamrox.

The Swarm will also be without newly picked up forward Dan Marohl, who sources say also sustained an injury during the weekend in Buffalo. It’s still unclear how long Marohl may be out for.

Minnesota had previously lost top sniper Andy Secore for an indefinite amount of time after sustaining a knee injury a number of weeks back. Face-off man Mark Miyashita was also put on the IR previous to last week’s trip to Buffalo.

The Swarm were part of a huge three team deal last week that saw them pickup Keith Cromwell and Marohl from the Philadelphia Wings, both players that were brought in to add depth to the roster as Minnesota gears up for a playoff run and deals with a growing list of injuries to key players.

Stay tuned to NLL Insider for more on this trade and make sure to check in later this week for extensive coverage of this year’s NLL trade deadline.

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