NLL Insider

The old saying goes that whichever teams gets the best player wins a trade.

Plain and simple. Cut and dried.

That analogy makes it tough to say who got the better end of Tuesday’s blockbuster deal between Toronto and Calgary. Lewis Ratcliff was sent to the Rock while Calgary got Josh Sanderson. There were also draft picks swapped, but let’s forget those for now.

Both Ratcliff and Sanderson are lefties. Both have averaged about the same amount of points per game in their NLL careers (Sanderson 5.3 and Ratcliff 5.1).

However, that’s where the similarities end.

Ratcliff is a big body and a natural outside shooter. Sanderson is a smaller, crafty player known as the best setup man in the game.

When it comes to putting together a potent offence in the NLL, it’s not as easy as just getting the best five players you can who are lefties and righties.

You have to balance guys who are good outside shooters and guys who like going one-on-one; guys who play better on the crease, guys who like it up top; guys who can shoot, guys who can feed; guys who play with the ball in their stick, guys who are more off-ball players.

On paper, Calgary had a deadly attack this season. In reality, it was struggling.

The Riggers offence ran through Ratcliff despite having a bevy of top-notch righties in Tracey Kelusky, Kaleb Toth, Scott Ranger and Curt Malawsky. Despite the fact Ratcliff was racking up the points (third in league scoring), the team was struggling to score goals.

By getting Sanderson, all four of those righties should see increased production by the nature of how Sanderson plays. Toth, especially, needs a change of pace.

This may sound a little Boy Scoutish, but here’s the analogy I like to use.

A fire needs oxygen to burn. So, think of the five guys on offence as logs. Or, more specifically, logs that need to be positioned a certain way for the fire to burn hottest.

My thought is in Calgary, the logs were positioned in a way the fire couldn’t breath best. By replacing Ratcliff, the offence opens up - figuratively and literally.

As for Toronto, there was plenty of speculation that Sanderson and Glenn Clark didn’t get along. Maybe that played a role in the trade, but wasn’t the sole reason.

Ratcliff is a clutch scorer who gives the Rock O a different look. Blaine Manning is also a deadly shot and now he’ll have more room to move, as will fellow righty Aaron Wilson.

In the end, I think both teams needed a change and got it. Two star forwards changed jerseys and in the end, I think this one is a winner for both teams. At least in the short-term.

Only time (and maybe championships) will settle the debate as to who the ultimate winner was.

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