Note, as always, the Bandits and Knighthawks specific previews will be released the morning of their first game, so Buffalo’s is tomorrow and Rochester’s is…December 14th (sigh)

I have three words to say about arriving to the morning of the National Lacrosse League’s 39th season, and it’s not “Steve Nash and Chris Paul, must see TV”

NEVER . A . DOUBT .

After a tumultuous summer that I refuse to talk about in this post, we’ve made it back to the reason we’re all here. And I say it every year, but while the Buffalo Bandits are the favorites while looking for their fourth consecutive championship, the league is as tightly packed as ever and, the talent is only getting better (and wait until you see the next couple years of draft classes).

Las Vegas Desert Dogs

• Last Year’s Finish: 4-14, 14th Place, missed the playoffs
• Games Against Buffalo: Away January 3
• Games Against Rochester: Home March 15, Away March 21

The Desert Dogs made the most noise this summer, especially around these parts, as they added both Chase Fraser and Chris Cloutier in free agency, and then they went out and got the biggest UFA fish, signing Mitch Jones coming off three straight seasons of more than 110 points. On defense, they added Tony Malcom and John LaFontaine. Needless to say, Shawn Williams is ready to start winning in the desert, and with owner Joe Tsai’s support, they put their wallets where their mouths were.

The moves up front will help to aid the still young core of Jonathan Donville, Sean Westley, and Jackson Webster, also with Adam Poitras entering his second year playing both sides of the ball. They should be able alleviate some of the load on a defense that gave up 256 goals last season, and with Tyrell Hamer-Jackson making the opening roster, it should help them in the possession game starting at the faceoff dot while also putting less wear on captain Connor Kirst, who finished last season with 122 loose balls and 22 caused turnovers (tied with Brandon Goodwin for the team lead).

With Justin Geddie being released in training camp, it will be Landon Kells’s crease to start the season. Kells, who turns 25 in December, regressed in his third season as a starter, with his save percentage dropping from .767 to .736 while his goals against average rose from 12.15 and 14.28. After taking Casey Wilson 4th overall in this year’s draft (will play one more season of college lacrosse this spring), Williams went to the pipes to draft Caleb Khan 17th overall. While Khan is still only 18 years old, he made the opening roster over training camp invite Alex Buque, so Kells’s spot in the starter’s net might not have much longer of a leash heading forward. In the end, it may be goaltending that holds them back from their first playoff appearance, but Kells will have the ability to prove otherwise.

There’s one more not so tiny wrinkle with the Desert Dogs to open the season, as Jack Hannah is currently in a contract holdout and has also come up in trade rumors. Hannah had 36 goals last season, so even with the additions to the forward group, losing last season’s leading goal scorer and one of the most dynamic young players in the league could be another hurdle standing in the way of their aspirations.

Vancouver Warriors

• Last Year’s Finish: 11-7, 4th Place, lost to Buffalo in the semifinals
• Games Against Buffalo: Home February 20, Away April 4
• Games Against Rochester: Away January 31, Home February 7

While not making as many headlines as the Desert Dogs, maybe because the moves they made have had a sense of inevitability for over a year, the Vancouver Warriors did plenty to ensure that there was nothing fluky about their final four finish last season. Up front, the Warriors signed both of Calgary’s leading scorers in free agency — Curtis Dickson (48 goals 60 assists) and Jesse King (30 goals 76 assists). Their strong defense from last season added Ethan Ticehurst as a final conditional of the Christian Del Bianco trade and Shane Simpson and Reece Callies in free agency (both former Roughnecks as well).

There may be no team that is built to end Buffalo’s reign more than Vancouver. The balance between stud veterans and their core of first round picks throughout the last few seasons compiled by Curt Malawsky is among the best in the league, and their 7-2 record at Rogers Arena set a foundation to become one of the toughest crowd advantages in the NLL.

Saskatchewan Rush

• Last Year’s Finish: 13-5, 2nd Place, lost to Buffalo in the NLL Finals
• Games Against Buffalo: Away February 27, Home March 28
• Games Against Rochester: Away February 28

The Rush are back. Easy as that, and they are running it back after last season’s trip to the finals. Their roster’s additions come in the form of two 2025 draftees — lefty defender Levi Verch (13th overall) and righty forward Julien Blair (22nd overall). Other than that, Robert Church and Ryan Keenan return as the veteran leadership up front, joined by Zach Manns and Austin Shanks. In the back, Mike Messenger, Matt Hossack, Jake Boudreau, Holden Garlent, and Ryan Barnable (to name a few) return to aim to make life easy for Frank Scigliano, who had a sub-10.00 GAA and .795 save percentage in his second season with the Rush. Just a stud lineup all around.

Halifax Thunderbirds

• Last Year’s Finish: 11-7, 3rd Place, lost to Saskatchewan in the semifinals
• Games Against Buffalo: Away December 13, Home February 14
• Games Against Rochester: Home April 4

Halifax finally got their first taste of a home game in the playoffs, and with it, got their first game playoff win. Unfortunately, their second home game saw the Rush dismantle them 16-7, and then their season came to an end in a heartbreaking fashion, relinquishing a 2 goal lead in the final 2 minutes to force overtime and then lose on a powerplay goal from the Rush.

After losing their first three games last season, the Thunderbirds won 7 of their next 8 games to bounce back and then climb all the way up to a tie for third place with Vancouver. They did it with offensive firepower, scoring 239 goals. They have that full offense returning this season and added Brendan Bomberry in offseason, who can play both forward and defense. If he plays out the back door, this would only improve their already strong transition game, which is led by the three-headed defensive monster of Ryan Terefenko, Jake Withers, and Graeme Hossack.

While there were some inconsistencies in net last season, Warren Hill and Drew Hutchison do continue to have the trust of the coaching staff and front office to compliment each other and bring them to playoff positions. They also picked up Justin Geddie after he was released from the Desert Dogs.

There were people who expected that the shoe was dropping for the Thunderbirds last season, but they proved them wrong and finished with their best season since moving to Nova Scotia in 2019. They have still never finished with less than 10 wins during that time.

San Diego Seals

• Last Year’s Finish: 9-9, 8th Place, lost to Buffalo in the quarterfinals
• Games Against Buffalo: Home March 21
• Games Against Rochester: Home December 14

Well then.

That’s really the best way to describe the stunner that was the opening round slugfest between the Seals and Bandits. Despite a second half shutout, the Seals were defeated 5-4 in the lowest scoring game in NLL history.

The regular season results didn’t always match the process to get there for the 2025 Seals. They overcame the departures of Curtis Dickson and Dane Dobbie and the indefinite suspension of Austin Staats with the additions of Rob Hellyer, Ryan Benesch, and Ben McIntosh. Now with Hellyer in Ottawa and Benesch in Buffalo, things will look different up front again for the Seals, but at this time last year, Zach Currier playing enough forward to register 47 points was also not expected. He will probably play less offense this year after Connor Robinson and Corey Small were added over the summer.

Joining McIntosh, captain Wes Berg, who finished one goal short of 50 last season, and Tre Leclaire on the right side of the offense are a pair of brothers that lacrosse fans south of the 49th parallel are quite familiar with: Pat and Chris Kavanagh. The Notre Dame graduate brothers are coming off very successful seasons in the PLL, and after Pat joined the Seals and got into one game last regular season, Chris was drafted 25th overall in this year’s draft. They’ll also be joined by another rookie in 2023 second round pick Noah Armitage, a 6’4″ forward from BC.

The defense loses Kyle Rubsich (Oshawa) and Cameron Holding (retirement), but they’ll have Trevor Baptiste back healthy after an injury-riddled season and James Barclay for a full season after being added at the trade deadline and have put together their own sneakily young group coming up in Trent DiCicco, Jacob Power, Matt Wright. All while Chris Origlieri is back between the pipes and joined by his goaltending tandem partner with the Victoria Shamrocks, Cam Dunkerley.

The Seals will be different in 2026, but expecting that to automatically mean worse is not the Seals way.

Oh, and they drafted Ari Steenhuis. How are those joints feeling this morning, reader?

Calgary Roughnecks

• Last Year’s Finish: 10-8, 6th Place, lost to Halifax in the quarterfinals
• Games Against Buffalo: Home December 28
• Games Against Rochester: Away March 8

So we know that Curtis Dickson and Jesse King are out. Dane Dobbie retired. That’s 3 of your 4 top scorers in 2025. Now what?

Well, after losing Christian Del Bianco, Zach Currier, and Shane Simpson the year before, there were a lot of people thinking that the Roughnecks were in big trouble heading into 2025, only for them to finish above .500 and get back to the playoffs after missing on tiebreakers in 2024. So needless to say, don’t count out Calgary just yet.

Because of the exodus to Vancouver of their players, they’ll be much younger. Of the guys who are still around, Tanner Cook was the highest scorer last season and is still only 27. Mathieu Gautier only played 10 games last season but will be pushed up with the other departures. Brayden Mayea will enter his second season with the same opportunities for more touches. On the right side, Tyler Pace and Haiden Dickson will be joined by 9th overall pick, Noah Manning.

Defensively, Brayden Laity has the opportunity to show what he learned playing with the very experienced Warriors back end in first season and a half as part of a young defense which still features Eli Salama.

No matter what, however, the direction of the 2026 Roughnecks is likely in the hands (and pads) of 24 year old, Aden Walsh. Before the Del Bianco trade, Walsh had a 9.89 GAA and .788 save percentage for the Warriors. The defense will be different than what he had on the west coast, but if he progresses his development to the tune of similar numbers, there’s no reason to think that the March to May will have the Roughnecks in the mix.

Georgia Swarm

• Last Year’s Finish: 9-9, 7th Place, lost to Saskatchewan in the quarterfinals
• Games Against Buffalo: Away November 29
• Games Against Rochester: Home April 18, Away April 19

The Swarm enter their 10th season in Duluth in a place of roster turnover. In addition to the departure of Brendan Bomberry, Andrew Kew was traded to Colorado, and the likes of Liam Byrnes, Joey Cupido, John Ranagan, and Jeremy and Miles Thompson were not re-signed. As the team put out this week, “It’s not a rebuild.“

The youth may be a road block, but they have high hopes for immediate impact from 2024 third overall pick Michael Grace and their trip of 2025 first round picks, Ben Trumble, Nolan Byrne, and Jeremi Phoenix. And while the roster is for sure younger, the core of Lyle Thompson, Shayne Jackson, Bryan Cole, and Adam Wiedemann remains in place. It’s a roster build that fits the MO of John Arlotta for much of his time since the team moved to Duluth.

Most importantly, Brett Dobson is still in net, another of the experienced goaltenders in the league who are still only in their mid-20s.

So while the Swarm do not find themselves in the playoff locks for 2026, they are definitely in the conversation for the next tier of very hungry teams looking to pick up one of those final couple of spots.

That rounds out last year’s playoff teams (and Vegas). Do the other 5 teams also have a case to be a playoff team in 2026?

Starting with the teams who were one game out last season.

Ottawa Black Bears

• Last Year’s Finish: 8-10, 9th Place, Missed Playoffs
• Games Against Buffalo:
• Games Against Rochester:

Rob Hellyer is not a flashy player, but as his 64 assists last season would tell you, he’s more than capable of being the point guard on the right side of an offense.

And that’s exactly what Ottawa sought out for this summer in Dan MacRae’s first as the HC/GM of the Black Bears to pair with Jeff Teat after a 56 goal 56 assist campaign.

With the trade for Zach Higgins, last year’s Black Bears sought to decrease they’re goals against following 3 straight seasons of more than 220 goals against, but while the goals against dropped to 202, most of which came during a 3 game homestand where they gave up 14 to Halifax, 15 to Georgia, and 18 to Rochester before another 17 on the road again against the Thunderbirds. The bigger issue ended up being that their goal scoring dropped under 200 for the first time in the last three seasons with 183 total goals scored.

Part of that offensive drop off was health-related. Reilly O’Connor missed 5 games, while Jacob Dunbar’s breakout first handful of games was stifled by missing 6 of his own. But adding Hellyer gives the offense the opportunity to put the right side in better positions for their skillsets, which should come to the greatest benefit of Connor Kearnan, who only managed 19 goals despite 46 assists with the additional point guard responsibilities. Adding Nicholas Volkov and having a healthy Callum Jones for the full season will help the evolution of the back end, but Matt Marinier is starting the season on injured reserve.

Colorado Mammoth

• Last Year’s Finish: 8-10, 10th Place, Missed Playoffs
• Games Against Buffalo: Home January 31, Away March 13
• Games Against Rochester: Home January 3

After a one goal win against the Georgia Swarm on February 7, the Mammoth were 6-4 and had a two game home stand upcoming. In a 14-7 loss to Vegas, they lost Zed Williams for the season, and then after bouncing back with a win against the Roughnecks, Eli McLaughlin had played his final game to start his probation period for Firefighting School. They won in Philadelphia to get to 8-5, but a 5 game losing streak, with none of the games being decided by less than 5 goals, ended up derailing their playoff aspirations.

Neither Williams (traded to Rochester) nor McLaughlin will be playing for the 2026 edition of the Mammoth, nor will Connor Robinson, who is now with the San Diego Seals. But after adding Will Malcom in 2024’s Panther City dispersal draft, this year’s fire power addition comes in the form of Andrew Kew in a trade with the Swarm.

The left side will be relied upon to do the heaviest of the lifting, as Ryan Lee’s partners on the right side are going to look much different this year. In addition to Williams, Connor Kelly was part of the return package in the Kew trade, and Tyson Gibson was released. Joining he and Ben McDonald from last year’s right side are Dylan McIntosh, acquired in a trade with Vancouver, second year player Owen Rahn, who mostly played transition last season but will move out the front door in this season, and rookie Braedon Saris, who was drafted 5th overall.

Aside from Brett Craig on IR, TJ Comizio on the protected player list, and the retirement of Damon Edwards, the defense has the familiar pieces in place, and of course Dillon Ward in the pipes. McLaughlin’s status is still up in the air for the later parts of the season, which could mean a late season return weeks of the season, but on the chance that he gets cleared for travel and returning to lacrosse, if the team can stay in the mix, they’ll potentially have the move to get them over the top and into their first playoff appearance since back to back trips to the finals in 2022 and 2023.

Oshawa FireWolves

• Last Year’s Finish: 7-11, 11th Place, Missed Playoffs
• Games Against Buffalo: Home April 11
• Games Against Rochester: Home March 28

The league’s two 7-11 teams took very different paths to get there. After making the 2024 finals, the FireWolves lost in overtime in each of their first three home games as part of a 1-5 and then 2-8 start before winning 4 of their next 5, only to finish with 7 wins. The overtime record wasn’t the only thing that kept them out of the playoffs, as their road record was a measly 2-7, which saw their defense give up 13 or more goals 5 times in those games alone. Picking up Kyle Rubisch in free agency is going to be very beneficial to help button things up on that side.

They’re also going to have high expectations out the front door with Dyson Williams entering his second season after 26 goals and 38 assists in his first season. Alex Simmons and Tye Kurtz reached similar stat lines to their own standout rookie years the season prior, and they’ll now have Taggart Clark to open up some more space for them on their side of the floor, not to mention a full season of Jonathan Peshko after being traded from Vancouver at last year’s trade deadline.

Moving from Albany to Oshawa, the FireWolves expect to be back in the mix off the jump in 2026.

Philadelphia Wings

• Last Year’s Finish: 7-11, 12th Place, Missed Playoffs
• Games Against Buffalo: Away February 7
• Games Against Rochester: Away December 20, Home January 9

Unlike the FireWolves, the Wings got out to a hot 5-2 start, but they then rattled off an 8 game losing streak. After sweeping a home and home with the Swarm in April, they still found themselves in the mix for the final playoff spot headed into the final week, only to be thwarted by Christian Del Bianco and the Vancouver Warriors.

To start the year, their offense looked dominant most nights, but struggled on defense, especially in transition, which led them to seek out reinforcements at the trade deadline in Mitch de Snoo and Chris Corbeil from Toronto and Shane Simpson from Las Vegas, only for their offense to go cold in March on the later legs of that losing streak, and the final record of 7-11 meant their third overall pick would be headed to Toronto.

While Corbeil re-signed, Simpson moved on to Vancouver, de Snoo’s job kept him from being able to play on the franchise tag this season (working as a doctor in downtown Toronto means 9 extra flights to Philadelphia a season were not in the logistical cards), and after a training camp holdout, he was traded to Buffalo for a pair of picks (which we’ll talk about tomorrow). Also losing Mitch Jones in free agency, the Wings roster got much younger really quickly.

On the fortunate side of things, Joe Resetarits re-signed with the team after a 41 goal 80 assist season for the Hamburg native, while on the left side, Brennan O’Neill will have plenty of runway in Tracey Kelusky’s offense to become the primary lefty option in his second year.

A lot of the league is looking past this Wings season to 2026, as their future in the market is still up in the air with Joe Tsai reportedly providing this season’s funding while the current ownership looks for a sale, which could either come in or out of market, and having more marquee subtractions than additions mean people are looking at them as favorites in the Joey Spallina sweepstakes, but they still expect to be competitive with a good combination of veteran experience and guys entering the next chapter of their career timelines.

Toronto Rock

• Last Year’s Finish: 6-12, 13th Place, Missed Playoffs
• Games Against Buffalo: Home February 28
• Games Against Rochester: Away January 17

It was already going to be an outlier-type season no matter what in their lone season in Mississauga while their arena in Hamilton underwent major renovations, but then they dropped to 0-5 to start the season and were 3-8 when it was time to sell off rentals. After multiple seasons as a title contender, they found themselves with the second worst record in the NLL and Nick Rose playing in Calgary.

But that did mean the bright side of the second overall pick. Oh and they got Philadelphia’s pick from trading de Snoo and Corbeil, so they had the second and third overall picks now. And what’s that? Vegas finished last? Didn’t they trade that pick to acquire Rob Hellyer a handful of years ago? So that means…

Welcome lefty forwards CJ Kirst, Ty English, and Owen Hiltz to Hamilton. And since they had Vegas’s pick last year, Ty’s brother Sam will make his debut this season, albeit playing on the right side.

Tom Schreiber will be out for the season after undergoing surgeries on both knees, and Corey Small signed with the Seals in free agency, but Kirst and Hiltz (Ty English will play his final year of college eligibility this spring) will get to learn the ropes from Dan Craig and a returning from season-ending injury Mark Matthews. Righties Josh Dawick and Chris Boushy each finished with 40+ goals last season, which will give Sam English some good company as well.

Nick Rose returned to where he belongs between the Rock pipes, so with the rest of the defenders not named Corbeil and de Snoo back in the mix (Challen Rogers, Brad Kri, Latrell Harris, and Billy Hostrawser as the veterans supported by young improving players like Phil Mazzuca, Zack Kearney, Elijah Gash, and Robert Hudson), the expectations at TD Coliseum are as high as they were before the construction vehicles arrived.

The Rock are almost symbolic of the state of how tight things really are. As primed as they or Oshawa seem to return to the top 8 this season, who’s coming out? And are you sure they’re coming out? And what about the likes of the other teams that are knocking on the door?

The margin of error across the league is going to be quite tight, and the players and staffs wouldn’t want it any other way.

Week 1 Preview

Friday November 28

Toronto Rock @ Oshawa FireWolves – 7:30 pm

Tribute Communities Centre will host its first National Lacrosse League game on Friday Night in the first edition of the newest Ontario vs Ontario rivalry in the NLL. The FireWolves won last season’s lone matchup 15-4 after the Rock had won the previous 5 head-to-head matchups since 2021.

San Diego Seals @ Ottawa Black Bears – 7:00 pm

Rob Hellyer’s Black Bears debut will be against his most recent familiar faces in what will be San Diego’s first trip to Ottawa, In last season’s lone matchup, the Seals defended their home turf in a defensive slugfest, winning 6-5 behind 33 saves on 38 shots faced from Chris Origlieri.

Georgia Swarm @ Buffalo Bandits – 7:30 pm

The last time that Georgia visited Buffalo, the Swarm took the Bandits to overtime but came up short in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. They’ll look to play spoilers on banner night Saturday. Last season in Duluth, the Swarm won the regular season finale 14-11.

Colorado Mammoth @ Vancouver Warriors – 10:00 pm

The Mammoth have won 10 of the 13 matchups since the Warriors moved from Langley to downtown Vancouver, including 4 in a row, but the bulked up Warriors are ready to show Colorado’s squad how things are different at Rogers Arena since their last trip in January 2024.