NLL Insider

With the Colorado Mammoth not exactly having a banner year last season, dropping three W’s from 2007’s impressive regular season and then getting dumped in the opening round of the playoffs, captain Gavin Prout’s 2008 seemed to go slightly unnoticed likely due to that fact.

Prout finished with 92 points, knotting him up with Lewis Ratcliff and John Grant for second behind Athan Iannucci in the scoring race.

His 67 helpers easily ranked him first in the NLL last winter and was the sixth highest single season total in league history.

Only Josh Sanderson’s 71 in 2005, 69 in 2006, 68 in 2002, and Colin Doyle’s 69 in 2005 were better than Prout’s assist numbers last year. Had the Mammoth mustard up more than just six goals in a harsh close-out to the regular season during an 11-6 thumping against the San Jose Stealth, Prout woulda likely been a lot closer to Shooter’s seemingly untouchable 71.

It’s actually pretty impressive that Prout was able to post the kinda numbers he did in a Mammoth offense that seemed to flounder after Dan Carey was put on the sidelines with a concussion, finishing 25 goals less than they did in 2007.

Prout helped set-up more of the Mammoth’s offense than any other player did for their respective team last year. After taking each team’s assist leader’s goals outta their own club’s final goal count, Gavin’s 67 assists helped set-up 42% of the Mammoth’s total offense when he wasn’t the one scoring the goal. Check out the numbers below (assist leader’s own goals were not included cuz how can they help set-up their own marker, right?)…

Gavin Prout, Colorado (67A, 42%)
Colin Doyle, San Jose (61A, 39%)
John Tavares, Buffalo (58A, 33%)
Casey Powell, New York (54A, 33%)
Shawn Williams, Rochester (55A, 32%)
Blaine Manning, Toronto (44A, 31%)
Andy Secore, Minnesota (48A, 28%)
Ryan Powell, Portland (43A, 27%)
Jimmy Quinlan, Edmonton (31A, 26%)
Jason Clark, Chicago (42A, 25%)
Scott Ranger, Calgary (39A, 25%)
Jason Crosbie, Philadelphia (40A, 19%)

With Carey back in the lineup and the Mammoth sporting probably their youngest and most athletic team since setting up shop in Denver, Prout should have a great shot at Shooter’s record again, but that’s probably the furthest thing from the unselfish Prout’s mind heading into the season.

Interesting fact: Prout’s 82 points in his rookie season with the New York Saints is the highest point total for any rookie in the history of the league. Over the last four years, no rookie scoring leader has come close to Prout’s record, which includes the likes of Jordan Hall (69Pts in 2008), Ryan Benesch (58Pts in 2007), Sean Greenhalgh (73Pts in 2006) and Ryan Boyle (64Pts in 2005).

Does Prout 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…

#50 Matt Roik, San Jose Stealth
#49 Jon Sullivan, Minnesota Swarm
#48 Billy Dee Smith, Buffalo Bandits
#47 Steve Toll, Rochester Knighthawks
#46 Jarett Park, New York Titans
#45 Bruce Murray, Colorado Mammoth
#44 Shawn Evans, Rochester Knighthawks
#43 Peter Lough, Toronto Rock
#42 Matt Vinc, New York Titans
#41 Jeff Shattler, Calgary Roughnecks
#40 Craig Point, Minnesota Swarm
#39 Scott Ranger, Calgary Roughnecks
#38 Brian Langtry, Colorado Mammoth
#37 Sean Pollock, Minnesota Swarm
#36 Jake Bergey, Boston Blazers
#35 Pat O’Toole, Rochester Knighthawks
#34 Kyle Sweeney, Philadelphia Wings
#33 Luke Wiles, Toronto Rock
#32 Ryan Boyle, New York Titans
#31 Chris White, Buffalo Bandits
#30 Jordan Hall, New York Titans
#29 Shawn Nadelen, Philadelphia Wings
#28 Cam Woods, Toronto Rock
#27 Mike Accursi, Buffalo Bandits
#26 Dan Carey, Colorado Mammoth
#25 Pat Maddalena, New York Titans
#24 Andy Secore, Edmonton Rush
#23 Ryan Ward, Minnesota Swarm
#22 Tracey Kelusky, Calgary Roughnecks
#21 Josh Sanderson, Calgary Roughnecks
#20 Shawn Williams, Rochester Knighthawks
#19 Blaine Manning, Toronto Rock
#18 Nick Patterson, Minnesota Swarm
#17 Eric Martin, San Jose Stealth
#16 Scott Evans, Rochester Knighthawks
#15 Scott Self, Edmonton Rush
#14 Anthony Cosmo, Boston Blazers
#13 Geoff Snider, Philadelphia Wings
#12 Lewis Ratcliff, Toronto Rock
#11 Ryan Cousins, Minnesota Swarm
#10 Brodie Merrill, Portland Lumberjax
#09 Bob Watson, Toronto Rock
#08 Gavin Prout, Colorado Mammoth

Hit this link for NLL Insider’s Top 50 archive and keep checkin’ back every week as we countdown the top 50 best in the pro game, with #1 being named just before the NLL season kicks off.

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