NLL Insider

For Dowling, there's no debate. Merrill should easily win the NLL's two-way nod in '09. (Photo: Cory Shannon)

Former National Lacrosse League head coach, assistant coach, scout and personnel director, and current NLL Insider contributor, Jeff Dowling, takes a more indepth look on his picks in yesterday’s NLL Trophy Case Chase.

Looking at Tutka’s Trophy Case Chase, there are a lot of great selections and I’m sure the fans have some other ideas of their favourite players that we all missed. I wanted to expand on my selections. 

MVP

My pick… Colin Doyle
Consensus pick… Dan Dawson

I have been very fortunate to have coached both these players. Dan has emerged into a leader the last few years and really calms the Boston offense down and makes it all click. That being said, I was amazed at Colin Doyle the leader.  I had been a fan of Colin’s, but you don’t really see everything he does as an opposing coach or fan. You are not in the locker room or at practice and video sessions where he is also the off floor MVP. Both good choices, as are Pat O’Toole and Josh Sanderson. 

Goaltender

My pick… Kenny Montour
Consensus pick… three-way tie between Montour, Disher and Vinc

Again, all of the players picked here are worthy. Vino is having another solid campaign in NY. Cosmo, after a slow start, has become a wall again. But to me it came down to Dish and Monster. Dish has been great all year, until injuries sidelined him for three of the last five games.  Just look at the stats, Kenny has been superb. He leads in GAA and Save % and has supplanted Mike Thompson as the #1 goalie in BANDITLAND.

Defender

My Pick… Chris White
Consensus pick… Jeff Moleski

What I tried to do with each team is come up with their top guy and then put him against the other eleven. In the end, I had narrowed it down to three, Tyler Codron, Andrew McBride and Chris White. I’m not saying that I think these are the top three as it took me longer to decide on which Calgary player and which Buffalo player to consider as top defender. McBride or Moleski was tough. I gave the edge to McBride because I consider him more of a pure defender than Jeff. Same with Buffalo in my thinking between White and Billy Dee. In the end, I felt that Whitey has raised his game this year and was most deserving.

Transition

My Pick… Brodie Merrill
Consensus pick… tie between Merrill and Steenhuis

I’m sorry to some of the Insiders here, but what are you smoking?  Brodie Merril is the prototypical transition player.  He plays defense and then transitions the ball to offense creating odd man opportunities. Kojima picks Jordan Hall.  Jordan could be that type of player, but that’s really not where he is used by NY. In NY he is an offensive player that plays the odd shift on defense. TJ, Lauren and Ty are a couple years late in their pick. In 2007, Mark was a transition player.  Last year he became an offensive player that dabbled in transition. You can’t have the league leading shot taker listed as transition!

Coach

My Pick… Derek Keenan
Consensus pick… Tom Ryan

Again, for me it came down to three, Cordingley, Ryan and Keenan. I looked at the talent on each team and where I thought they would finish before the season and that brought Jammer to the forefront. Like most people, I didn’t give much hope to Portland before the season started with the loss of DDD. I thought they would struggle on offense and wasn’t sold on the defense. Last year they were 6-10 and now have Dan Stroup instead of Dan Dawson. Derek had the team buy into playing like a team and not relying on one person to win games. 

General Manager

My Pick… Steve Govett
Consensus pick… Tom Ryan

Part of my thinking on this one was how Steve was able to get something for two retired players in Gait and Stilley.  The other part was that Steve had to work some magic just to put players on the floor. Injuries happened all over the floor and Steve had to quickly adapt and add players that would fit. While fans in Colorado initially may have taken issue with letting Chris Levis go and bringing in Andrew Leyshon, it was Leysh that beat Levis in the final game to determine who would get that last seed in the playoffs.

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