NLL Insider

Will this year's scoring champ, Colin Doyle, also be this year's MVP? (Photo: Matt J. Wiater)

The National Lacrosse League regular season is in the books and you’d have to think that the coaches, general managers and other executives that vote for all the year-end hardware have their picks ready to go.

After tracking all the NLL’s major hardware through our Trophy Case Chase this entire season, today we’re checking in with several NLL Insider writers and contributors and find out who they see taking home the individual gold this year.

After the jump, check out who Insider staffers like for MVP, Goaltender, Defender, Transition, Coach and GM honours this year (and check out Steve Kojima’s All-Rookie rundown from earlier this week too).

MVP

Bob Chavez picks… Dan Dawson & Josh Sanderson (co-winners)
Jeff Dowling picks… Colin Doyle
Ted Jenner picks… Pat O’Toole
Steve Kojima picks… Dan Dawson
Ty Pilson picks… Dan Dawson
Paul Tutka picks… Dan Dawson
Lauren Ward picks… Dan Dawson

Like he was almost a month back when we asked the players, Boston’s Dan Dawson seems to be a pretty heavy favourite and Kojima even went as far as labeling him “a lock” for the nod this year. Chavez was torn between both helper record setters, saying, “Dawson knew he had a bulls-eye on him, so he worked within Tom Ryan’s system to set-up a balanced offense for goals and get this expansion team into the playoffs, nearly winning the East title.” He goes onto say in Shooter’s defense,  ”Sanderson QBd the NLL’s smoothest offense all year long and his floor vision was the catalyst of the league’s best PP unit as the Necks locked up the No. 1 seed overall.” Needless to say, the MVP is not as easy a pick as last year when Athan Iannucci seemed like everyone’s first choice.

GOALTENDER

Bob Chavez picks… Matt Vinc
Jeff Dowling picks… Kenny Montour
Ted Jenner picks… Kenny Montour
Steve Kojima picks… Matt Vinc
Ty Pilson picks… Anthony Cosmo
Paul Tutka picks… Matt Disher
Lauren Ward picks… Matt Disher

Last year Bob Watson was most people’s clear-cup favorite for Keeper of the Year honours, but this year things are a helluva lot more spread out. “I just hope people don’t forget about how unbelievable Disher was playing during the first half of the season,” said Tutka. “Bye weeks and some time on the shelf to rest up for the post-season over the last couple weeks mighta made people forget about him, but hopefully he gets some much deserved love when the ballots are cast.”

DEFENDER

Bob Chavez picks… Jeff Moleski
Jeff Dowling picks… Chris White
Ted Jenner picks… Andrew McBride
Steve Kojima picks… Chris White
Ty Pilson picks… Jeff Moleski
Paul Tutka picks… Jeff Moleski
Lauren Ward picks… Andrew McBride

Just like we’ve seen in The Trophy Case Chase all year, both Calgary and Buffalo dominate everyone’s D picks today too. If one of these three don’t win it this year, obviously the crew at Insider would be extremely surprised. On pure D alone, it has gotta be one of the three above mentioned ball players, this year’s most consistent defenders.

TRANSITION

Bob Chavez picks… Brodie Merrill
Jeff Dowling picks… Brodie Merrill
Ted Jenner picks… Mark Steenhuis
Steve Kojima picks… Jordan Hall
Ty Pilson picks… Mark Steenhuis
Paul Tutka picks… Brodie Merrill
Lauren Ward picks… Mark Steenhuis

Although Merrill and Steenhuis got most of the love from Insiders, Kojima brings up some great points when he picked the Titans’ Jordan Hall, “No question. Hall plays O, D, T, PP and SH. He sits top ten in league scoring. Steenhuis is way too heavy on O for this category, he leads the league in shots.” Not sure what the league’s definition of this award is, but depending on what voters like in their perfect two-way guy, this one is hard to get a handle on. “I’m going with Merrill,” said Tutka, “but before he was injured, New York’s Greg Peyser was on pace to get some heavy consideration if he kept up his play for the rest of the year.”

COACH

Bob Chavez picks… Troy Cordingley
Jeff Dowling picks… Derek Keenan
Ted Jenner picks… Troy Cordingley
Steve Kojima picks… Tom Ryan
Ty Pilson picks… Tom Ryan
Paul Tutka picks… Bob McMahon
Lauren Ward picks… Tom Ryan

Like Derek Keenan was in his first year in Portland, you’d have to think Tom Ryan guiding an expansion team to a post-season spot (and almost East regular season title) would have to make him a pretty heavy favourite for the nod. Rule of thumb in most sports is that the coach that improved his team the most in the standings gets the green light on the gold. The most improved standings spike came from the Calgary Roughnecks, who went from 7-9 in 2008 to a league leading 12-4 this year. The coach that faced the most in-season adversity this year and still got his crew into the ’second season’? “It’s gotta be Bob McMahon,” said Tutka. “Both Rochester and Colorado went into the season knowing about some substantial losses, but the Mammoth kept piling up injuries at insane levels from start to finish. Even with arguably their best defender sidelined for a good chunk of the year, McMahon still had one of the best D’s anywhere in the NLL this year, and at times got blood from a stone from their offense.”

GENERAL MANAGER

Bob Chavez picks… Tom Ryan
Jeff Dowling picks… Steve Govett
Ted Jenner picks… Tom Ryan
Steve Kojima picks… Tom Ryan
Ty Pilson picks… Tom Ryan
Paul Tutka picks… Tom Ryan
Lauren Ward picks… Steve Govett

Looks like Ryan is even a heavier favorite for GM honours, Some will say he lucked out with Arizona and Chicago closing up shop, giving him both Dan Dawson and Anthony Cosmo in the, even for the NLL, rare double dispersal draft, but others will say he did a stellar job piecing together a team of ball players that couldn’t catch a full-time seat elsewhere in the league (see Greg Downing, Gary Bining, Breden Thenhaus, etc…), and created a unit that, for most of the year, has been at the top of the pro lacrosse heap.

Rate This Story:

(+38 rating, 10 votes)

 Loading ...