NLL Insider

Like we did earlier this week with the East, today we’re ripping through the NLL’s Western Division, breaking down each team as they head into 2009.

The Minnesota Swarm and Portland Lumberjax start-up what should be a heated Western Division this winter, when the Swarm roll into Portland on Saturday night against a Jax team that will definitely wanna show the league that the team is more than simply, well, you know who.

Over the last few weeks, NLL Insider has also checked in with about 100 NLL players, asking them who they felt the four teams from both the East and West would be to make it to this year’s post-season. Teams are ranked based on the player’s votes, with the percentage of how many players voted for each individual team also included.

So after the jump, check-out how the West might play out this year and who to keep your eye on heading into 2009.

01 Colorado Mammoth

Player Vote: 96%
Last Year: 9-7 (Eliminated in first round of playoffs)
In: Gary Rosyski, Matt Danowski, Tyler Crompton, Andrew Potter, Andrew Leyshon, Brad Self
Out: Pat Coyle (Retired), Josh Sims (Retired), Chris Levis (Free Agent), Jason Wulder (Free Agent), Jim Moss (Injured), Jason Bloom (Traded), Matt Brown (Drafted), Dylan Llord (Released), Jordan Cornfield (Released)
Top 2008 Money Baller: Gavin Prout 28.0Pts

Tutka says… This will be by far the youngest team the Mammoth have had maybe in the franchise’s entire history, that’s including stops in Washington, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The average age of a player on the Mammoth’s roster last year? 29. Their opening season 23-man heading into 2009? 27. The average age of the eight brand spankin’ new names on the starting roster this year? 24. Andrew Potter, the youngest pup on the team at 20, was just eight years old when current Mammoth teammate, Chris Gill, first entered the league with Baltimore in 1996. Gill isn’t however the oldest on the team this season. Defender Rich Catton still holds that “honour” at the age of 37… Although he wasn’t given much love by too many for consideration for end-of-year hardware last season (outside of us over here at Insider), Bruce Murray once again showed that not only can he be a punishing leader on D, his hands aren’t all that bad either, swatting down more cross court passes than most other pure D guys in the NLL. With Pat Coyle retired and Jim Moss on the sidelines for all of ‘09, look for Murray to really make an impact this year and finally get some league-wide recognition for his efforts… The smart money on a Colorado ROTY fave is no doubt Matt Danowski, but for anyone that saw their exhibition game against San Jose, you had to be impressed by the play of both Tyler Crompton and Mike Ward. Crompton was an absolute firecracker out there, rolling over two unidentified Stealth players, one with a monster smash along the boards, and Ward scored a beauty busting outta the Mammoth’s own end. Are either gonna win the ROTY? Probably not, but if what they did against the Stealth was any indication of what they’re capable of this winter, they’ll be two good rooks to have on the floor on most nights… It’ll be interesting to see if Dan Carey and Gill can drum up any of the magic the two had during the 2006 season when the Mammoth last won the Cup. Gill, who was picked up at last year’s trade deadline, combined for 107 points with Carey during that Cup winning season… Why weren’t the Mammoth super concerned that stable backup tender Chris Levis left for Edmonton over the summer? Cuz the loss of Levis made room for former Calgary and Ottawa keep Andrew Leyshon, who had a super impressive summer in Burnaby this year, leading the league in minutes played and saves, all while holding down an equally impressive 8.08 GAA.

02 Minnesota Swarm

Player Vote: 89%
Last Year: 10-6 (Eliminated in first round of playoffs)
In: Riley Kemp, Kevin Fines, Andrew Watt, Kevin Buchanan, Joe Cinosky, Kevin Ross
Out: Andy Secore (Drafted), Keith Cromwell (Unsigned), Ian Rubel (Work Related), Kyle Ross (Drafted), Chris Courtney (Released), Just Norbraten (Unsigned), Mark Miyashita (Injured)
Top 2008 Money Baller: Sean Pollock 34.5

Tutka says… Obviously the big loss for Minny was having Andy Secore grabbed by Edmonton in the second Arizona Sting Dispersal Draft. Secore added another element to the Swarm’s O last year and took things to a whole nother level for ‘em. Even with two fewer games played than most on the team, Secore still led Minnesota in both helpers and total points. The hope is likely that Andrew Watt, Kevin Buchanan and even Kevin Ross, who was cut loose by Chicago before the bottom fell out, will step up to help fill the huge gap left by the departure of Secore… Having Riley Kemp back from a season long injury last year, and then picking up Kevin Fines in the Chicago Draft, should add to Minnesota’s already impressive transition game even more this winter. The Swarm’s O press is already one of the best in the bizz and Kemp was a huge part of that previous to having to miss 2008. Add rookie Joe Cinosky to the mix, maybe the most impressive of any Americans at September’s NLL Entry Draft Combine, and not only does Minny get a little bigger in their own end, they maintain, if not even improve their athleticism and wheels back there too… Look for Dean Hill to rebound this year after suffering from a bout of the soph slump and some respiratory problems last season. Hill had a slow start to 2008, especially mirrored against his insane 32-goal rookie campaign from two winters ago. Why will it be a rebound season for the big man? Hill gave us a peek into his improved off-ball game this past summer playing with the Six Nations Chiefs, posting by far his best Senior ball numbers since graduating from the Spartan Warriors in 2006. A healthy and rededicated Hill might make people forget about Secore a lot faster too… Don’t be surprised to see Ryan Sharp getting mentioned for year-end tranny hardware if he continues on the pace he’s set for himself. When Sharp first entered the league with Calgary, it seemed like the Necks struggled to find a role for the Peterborough native, seeing limited minutes on the Roughnecks’ O. Since then, Sharp has steadily improved his game each season and is easily one of the ten best two-way guys in the pro game right now… Although the Swarm were more than happy to take on an East heavy sked in order to keep some solid rivalries going, will it hurt them in the standings? The East was considered the superior division by most last year (check the numbers if you don’t believe it, on top of Buffalo winning it all), so it makes sense that an East slanted sked for a Western team could take a toll on them in the standings. Minny gets seven games against the East during the regular season. The rest of the division? Calgary x5, Edmonton x4, San Jose x4, Colorado x3 and Portland x3.

03 San Jose Stealth

Player Vote: 79%
Last Year: 9-7 (Eliminated in first round of playoffs)
In: Rhys Duch, Alex Turner, Paul Rabil, Matt Roik, Ryan Marshall, Mike Kirk, Mike Grimes, Will Dalton, Travis Gillespie, Steve McKinlay, Michael Doneger, Kyle Hartzell, Brett Manney, Jeff Dowling (coach), Chris Hall (coach)
Out: Luke Wiles (Traded), Anthony Cosmo (Traded), Kevin Huntley (Unsigned), Shaydon Santos (Work Related), Gary Rosyski (Free Agent), Peter Veltman (Injury), Paul Dawson (Traded), Steve Panarelli (Traded), Steve Holmes (Released), Zach Heffner (Released), Tim Booth (Released), Andrew Guindon (Released), Sean Morris (Traded), Todd Fairlie (Released), Walt Christiansan (coach)
Top 2008 Money Baller: Colin Doyle 32.0Pts

Tutka says… And you thought Edmonton went through a monster overhaul. The Stealth released or dealt a total of 11 players that were part of the team last year over the off-season. Their current 23-man roster includes eight players that have yet to see any regular season action in the NLL, and that’s not even including unsigned first round draft pick, Kevin Huntley, who doesn’t sound like he’s close to coming to an agreetment with the team… Ryan Marshall, who’ll likely be playing a two-way game with San Jose this year, last played in the NLL with Portland in 2007, before being released by the Jax prior to the start of the season. Marshall won gold with Canada at the World Championships in London two-and-a-half years ago and should finally find himself playing in a system that suits his game to a T under Jeff Dowling in San Jose… It appears San Jose will give their draw duties this year to 6′4″, 260lbs monster Will Dalton, who got pretty chippy with Brian Langtry the other week when the two teams met in Denever for some pre-season action. Previous to Dalton this year, Tim Booth had been the franchise’s main face-off guy over the last two seasons, with Booth taking 95% or more of the team’s draws over that time. Who was the team’s FO man previous to Booth? Smiley face to those that remembered it was long time Victoria Shamrock’s leader, Darren Reisig, and two smiley faces and a sniffy sticker for those that remembered Drew Virk from four seasons ago. Both Dalton and Virk were drafted outta Maryland by the Stealth… Although trading for Mike Kirk will help a bit, the loss of Shaydon Santos will likely hurt the team a lot more than most realize right now. Santos was a real leader for the team in their own end since coming back from his lone season as an assistant coach with the Stealth in 2005. Although most consider Eric Martin to be the team’s best pound-for-pound defender, it’ll likely be pure D-man and back-to-back Gord Nicholson Award winner, Curtis Hodsgon, who takes over the reins from Santos, who is expected to comeback in 2010… Although we had him second as our fave for rookie hardware behind Boston’s Daryl Veltman in IL’s Preview mag, Stealth rook Rhys Duch has all the tools and opportunity to not only lead all first-year guys in scoring, but take the rookie hardware too. Expect in the range of 30 goals from Duch this year as he finds himself in the league’s Top 20.

04 Calgary Roughnecks

Player Vote: 73%
Last Year: 7-9 (West finalists)
In: Cayle Ratcliff, Kyle Goundrey, Greg Hinman, Mike Kilby, Matt King, John Lintz
Out: Steve Dietrich (Traded), Kelly Hall (Retired), Ryan McNish (Traded), Ryan Avery (Released), Kyle Neufeld (Released), Kerry Susheski (Released), Shawn Cable (Unsigned)
Top 2008 Money Baller: Josh Sanderson 40.5Pts

Tutka says… With a year playing under Troy Cordingley under their belts, which included learning some new systems that some players apparently had a tough time picking up, expect a much more polished and in sync team in Calgary this year, who will likely push for not only the second but potentially first seed in the West… For whatever reason, Dane Dobbie wasn’t able to catch much playing time last year, and when he did, only posted a paltry seven points in five starts. This year however, expect big things from the former Minto Cup winner, who exploded onto the Senior lacrosse scene this past summer in the WLA, leading the league in scoring with 75 points. Some felt that Dobbie, who was the co-rookie of the year out West, should have also been named the loop’s MVP, which ended up going to Burnaby’s Cam Sedgwick… Some were pretty surprised that the Necks took NLL Insider JOTY finalist Cayle Ratcliff as high as they did in the 2008 draft. A big part of Ratcliff’s game in junior ball is his relentless play inside the heart of most team’s D, a role that critics felt would be next to impossible for him to play in the NLL against defenders who outweigh a lot of juniors by upwards of 100lbs. Some also probably only remember the slightly “heavy” Ratcliff they saw at UMBC (42 goals as a freshman) in 2007. Since then, Ratcliff has shed a ton of weight while working with big bro Lewis of the Toronto Rock, and is in vastly better shape than what he was two years back. He also musta impressed Cordingley enough, who included Cayle on the team’s 23-man roster to start the season. Ratcliff is the lone ‘08 draft pick to land a FT gig with the Necks this year… Three years ago in Edmonton, Pat Campbell had a regular season in the Rush’s cage that had some thinking he’d at the very least find an All-Pro Second Team mention. The super athletic and at times unorthodox keeper should mesh well with the Neck’s most athletic and high pressure D unit since Jesse Phillip and Rob Kirkby helped them win the Cup in 2004. Expect a lot of goals coming outta the Necks’ own end with Campbell gunning the outlets out to the Neck’s explosive D… Even though he was slipped into two games last year, defender Peter McFetridge will still be under consideration for an All-Rookie Team spot in 2009 since he’s well under the league’s criteria for what a rookie is by definition (5 games in a single season). With Ryan McNish dealt to Edmonton, the doors wide open for McFetrdige to make an impact on this year’s Necks D, especially coming off an impressive summer playing for the WLA champion New Westminster Salmonbellies in his first year of Senior lacrosse.

05 Edmonton Rush

Player Vote: 36%
Last Year: 4-12 (missed playoffs)
In: Jason Wulder, Jamie Floris, Andy Secore, Chris Levis, Steve Dietrich, Ryan Campbell, Scott Self, Ryan McNish, Callum Crawford, Mike MacLeod, Tyler Gibbons, Shayne Bennett, Andrew Biers
Out: Ian Crashley (Injured), Curtis Palidwor (Released), Matt King (Traded), Ben Prepchuk (Work Related), Brenden Thenhaus (Traded), Cam Bergman (Drafted/Released), Troy Bonterre (Traded), Mike Grimes (Drafted), Randy Daly (Released), Mac Allen (Traded), Steve Hutchins (Released), Dan Stroup (Released), Kyle Goundrey (Released), Peter Gut (Released), Kelly Kilpatrick (Released), Tim O’Brien (Retired)
Top 2008 Money Baller: Andy Secore 27.0Pts

Tutka says… There are a total of five, count ‘em five, players still on the Rush roster from the one that started the 2008 season under Paul Day. Those players are; Ian Hawksbee, Chris McElroy, Buck Stobart, Rory Glaves and Jimmy Quinlan… If off-season pickup Tyler Gibbons can grab himself some minutes and impress early, you can bet that he’ll be an instant fan fave in the “City of Champions”. Gibbons plays with the same heart, hustle, and full-out ball bustin’ attitude that Quinlan does, just with less of a scoring touch. He might just be the NLL’s next Sandy “Charlie Hustle” Chapman, a role player any team in the league would make room for, even though Gibbons previously failed to find a home in the NLL after chances with Toronto and San Jose… With Scott Self now in the fold, do not be surprised if the Rush end up gaining a rep as the league’s best overall defense. Edmonton’s six best defenders? Self, Glaves, McElroy, Hawksbee, Ryan McNish and probably Chris McKay. That’s seriously one scary D line that also has two-way threat Chris Seller in there and pure D monster Buck Stobart crunching bodies. As long as their O can keep decent possession and get off the floor fast enough, there’s no reason these guys can’t be the top ranked D unit in the NLL… Offensively Edmonton is definitely banking on Andy Secore being good enough to go for an entire season without his knee(s) giving him too many issues. Secore is still on the team’s PUP list. If he’s good to go, the Rush offense should be decent enough to hang in the West. If Secore misses substantial time, the Rush could struggle to score almost as desperately as last year when the finished dead last in the league with a super slim 141 goals, 84 back of league leaders Philadelphia… It’ll be interesting to see how the team cycles through their three more than capable tenders, that of course being Steve Dietrich, Chris Levis and Brandon Atherton. Dietrich will no doubt come into the year as the sure-fire starter, but it should be a battle between Levis and Atherton. Most would initially point to Levis as being the likely #2 guy, partly cuz he’s been in the league for so long (broke into the NLL in 1998 with Buffalo), but Atherton, who coincidentally shares Coquitlam’s cage with Levis during the summer, is probably good enough to be a really good backup in the NLL at this point in his career. Atherton was drafted by Hamley while in Arizona and actually scored a goal against the Toronto Rock during an exhibition game two years ago. Hey, if the Rush struggle to score as much as last year, they may want to plug Brandon into the lineup full-time.

06 Portland Lumberjax

Player Vote: 27%
Last Year: 6-10 (Lost Champion’s Cup final)
In: Dan Stroup, Luke Forget, Tim Campeau, Matt Flindell, Matt Brown, Dayne Michaud, Jamison Koesterer, Matt Yager, Dallas Eliuk (coach), Kevin Alexander (coach)
Out: Dan Dawson (Drafted), Dallas Eliuk (Retired), Brad MacDonald (Unsigned), Mike Kilby (Traded), Ray Guze (Released), Scott Stapleford (Released), Jeremy Tallevi (coach), Jeff McComb (coach)
Top 2008 Money Baller: Ryan Powell 23.0Pts

Tutka says… So even with a trip to the Champion’s Cup final last year, are Portland fans still happy with the team not trading Dan Dawson at the deadline? Discuss amongst yourselves… No knock on either prospect, but the Jax might be in trouble if starting keeper Matt Disher goes down and either Matt Flindell or Joel Weber are thrown into the fire Matt King styles. Think both are two of the best junior keepers in the country, but are either ready to start in the NLL? The rumour for the past almost month is that Curtis Palidwor might find his way to Portland if things don’t go well early in 2009 for the Jax. Disher and Palidwor shared Edmonton’s cage last year, prior to Hamley blowing things up, combining for a shared record of 2-7… It sounds as if defender Brad MacDonald will be unavailable this season, and although he lacks the star power as someone like Dawson, his play was pretty vital to the Jax’s run last year, as it was in 2004 with the Roughnecks when they won it all. He will no doubt be sorely missed on the court in Portland… The lone new American to find a gig with this year’s Jax is a guy by the name of Jamison Koesterer. Koesterer is a former Blue Jay middie and was actually drafted previously by the New York Titans but failed to find a spot under Adam Mueller. At 6′3″ and 225lbs, Koesterer definitely fits the physical mold the team has built their backend in, joining giants like 6′5″ Bruce Alexander, 6′8″ Richard Morgan and 6′10″ Dave Morgan… As towering as a lot of their lineup is, the Jax drafted 5′9″ Coquitlam Adanacs product, Tim Campeau, in the first round of this past year’s draft. Campeau, along with Matt Brown, who most think will end up missing chunks of the year due to his coaching gig at Denver U, will shore up the Jax’s left side, one of the few areas the team really added some decent depth to over the off-season… Many are expecting a big season from Victoria junior stud, Cory Conway, who looked good in the games he got into last year and should likely be given every opportunity this year to be a full-timer from start to finish. Conway was awesome for the Shamrocks this past summer, beyond crucial for the Rocks in the playoffs as the finished runners up for the Minto.

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