NLL Insider

He’s a guy whose name doesn’t get tossed around much when you talk about the best guys in the pro game, but ask anyone off the Minnesota Swarm’s roster and they’ll tell you over-and-over again just how important defender Jon Sullivan is to their back-end.

He’s a guy even a lot of the league’s real hardcore fans probably aren’t too familiar with, but when you ask the people in this league who really understand the game who the best pure defenders are today, Sullivan’s name almost always pops up.

Although Ryan Cousins gets most of the ink for the Swarms’ high energy, smash mouth style of D, many feel Sullivan is the better pure D guy, but doesn’t bring all those “extras” you get with Cousins.

Sullivan routinely covers some of the game’s biggest snipers and very rarely gets burned 1v1. The former Minto Cup winner is the definition of no-nonsense, but gets little love when the weekly nods are handed out by the league. His role is one, that even when done perfectly, goes completely unnoticed by most. Just ask the guy he’s covering how legit he is though.

Sullivan entered the NLL with next to no buzz, drafted by the Rochester Knighthawks with the 47th overall pick in the ‘03 draft, never finding a spot with the Hawks during training camp however. It wasn’t until he cracked the Swarm’s roster in ‘05 that Jon’s pro career really started to get goin’.

Since then, Sullivan has played in every one of the Swarm’s 48 games over the past three seasons, shining in one of the most unglamorous and thankless jobs you can find in this league.

Next time your boys are up against Minny, do us a favor and keep an eye open for Sully, and appreciate what the role of a “pure defender” is supposed to look like in the NLL. He won’t score a goal on the press. He likely won’t drop his mitts and dummy some dude up. And he probably won’t pick-up all that many loosies either.

The only way you’re gonna measure Sullivan’s game is by watching him every time he’s on the rug. It might not be as fun as watching someone like Athan Iannucci bounce off three defenders and then go cross-crease, but if you wanna appreciate a guy that works one of the sh**iest gigs in the game, watch #23 on Minny in ‘09.

Does Sullivan belong in the NLL Insider Top 50? Hit the boards and let us know what your Top 50 looks like heading into the 2009 NLL season…

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