While the NHL front offices use their PTO the rest of the summer, the summer lacrosse season is on its way into the prime months.

And frankly, even with another week until Free Agency begins in the NLL, some rosters have already been shaken as part of what is sounding like it only going to be the beginning of a wild summer of movement.

Vegas…Shuffles…The…Deck (Look you come up with better headlines about a Vegas team)

Despite the team playing next season in Henderson instead of the strip next season, the Desert Dogs are looking to improve their [playoff] odds next year in year 3 of the franchise.

• May 31 – The Albany FireWolves have traded Justin Geddie and their first round selection in the 2025 Entry Draft to the Las Vegas Desert Dogs in exchange for their first round selection in the 2027 Entry Draft and their fourth round selection in the 2026 Entry Draft.
• June 6 – The Calgary Roughnecks have traded Shane Simpson and their third round selection in the 2027 Entry Draft to the Las Vegas Desert Dogs in exchange for Griffin Hall, a first round selection in the 2024 Entry Draft (14th overall) and their sixth round selection in the 2025 Entry Draft.
• June 7 – The Vancouver Warriors have traded Kyle Killen to the Las Vegas Desert Dogs in exchange for their second round selection in the 2025 Entry Draft and a conditional third round selection in the 2027 Entry Draft.

Despite a second straight 5-13 season, the Desert Dogs identity became a little more clear with the likes of Jack Hannah, CJ Kirst, and Landon Kells being the core that is going to Ninja Turtle Meme the early franchise vets of Casey Jackson, Zack Greer, and Rob Hellyer when the time comes.

With a career high 12 goals and 146 loose balls in his third NLL season, Connor Kirst’s success in transition must have inspired Shawn Williams and his staff to add another transition stud to the fold, targeting one of the best at it in the league in Shane Simpson. In 5 seasons with Calgary, Simpson had 49 goals and 47 assists across 68 games, including 34 goals the last two seasons on the receiving end of Christian Del Bianco’s top of the league goaltender assists marks. Stay at home defenseman Griffin Hall heads to Calgary as their defense will get younger and perhaps more focused on a more traditional defense next season (This is foreshadowing).

The first round pick that Vegas sent to Calgary initially was Albany’s, being traded in the John Wagner trade at the deadline, and it will be moving again…(More foreshadowing). The Desert Dogs are currently not slated to pick in the first round with the Rock owning their second overall pick from the Rob Hellyer trade. Calgary owns the 5th overall pick.

With Doug Jamieson established as the FireWolves’s franchise goalie and the soon-to-be 22 year old Andrew Kidd ready to enter a backup role, Albany found themselves with the opportunity to do some shuffling and send the Victoria native Geddie back west. Despite not having their 2024 and 2025 first round picks now, the FireWolves now have 2 firsts in 2026 and 2027.

For Geddie, while he will probably still be the backup in the desert, he is more likely to share the net with Landon Kells and get more tandem time than he’d have gotten in Albany, upgrading from Joel Watson who did not eclipse a .700 save percentage in ~240 minutes in Vegas after a .775 in Rochester in his rookie year in 2022.

Then finally, Kyle Killen lives in North Carolina, making his trek to Vancouver probably the worst travel situation for a player in the league. There are probably direct flights from Charlotte to Vegas, so that helps for sure.

Something to keep a note on here is that Rob Hellyer is a UFA, and while he is the captain of the Desert Dogs, Killen joins an already heavy right side with Hannah, Sean Westley, Marshal King, and some cups of coffee from Jacob Ruest who has been playing more defense than he did in previous stops in his career but is a forward by trade.

Capital Gains

• June 6 – The Albany FireWolves have traded Nathan Grenon to the Ottawa Black Bears in exchange for their second round selection in the 2027 Entry Draft.

This might have been the easiest trade of the summer to make, as the impending arrival of lefty forward Dyson Williams meant that one of the lefties from the runner-up FireWolves had to go. Fortunately for them, Rich Lisk’s new Ottawa Black Bears had a need for another lefty forward, and one of Albany’s forwards just happens to be from Albany. One future draft pick later, Nate Grenon will be suiting up for his hometown Black Bears in their inaugural season after moving from Long Island.

Heads Turning Out West

• July 11 – The Calgary Roughnecks have traded the negotiating rights to Zach Currier, the 14th overall selection in the 2024 Entry Draft, and Calgary’s Second Round selection in the 2026 Entry Draft to the San Diego Seals in exchange for Curtis Dickson and San Diego’s Fourth Round Selection in the 2024 Entry Draft.

Yeah here’s the result of the foreshadow. It sounds like this wasn’t necessarily on the radar of a lot of people, but with both Zach Currier and Christian Del Bianco heading into their first summers of unrestricted free agency, only one of them would be allowed to be placed on the franchise tag next season. Alongside the Simpson trade, there could perhaps be a sign of a new era in Calgary less focused on the transition game and more focused on improving their traditional offense, which failed to score 200 goals last season in an 8-10 campaign.

With the win-now state of the Seals once again this upcoming season, trading for Currier’s rights isn’t of a Christian Ehrhoff variety per se; they’re trading for him to be on their team this season with one of the best rosters in the NLL (and oh boy they’re going to control a lot of faceoffs with him on the ball team and Trevor Baptiste at the dot).

Back the other way, as part of the focus on the traditional offense, Curtis Dickson returns to the Roughnecks, where the now 36 year old played the first 11 of his 13 seasons before signing in UFA with the Seals in the summer of 2022. After 100 points in 18 games in year 1, his first 100 point season since 2017, Dickson only managed 64 points in an injury-battled 13 games in 2024.

The San Diego offense did lock up captain Wes Berg for three more seasons as the leader of the right side, and Tre LeClaire and Jacob Dunbar being the other righties on the current depth chart. On the left side, Dane Dobbie is a pending UFA that can reject the franchise tag at age 37, and Austin Staats is facing what could be a multiple month suspension to open up the season after his game misconduct penalty to end Game 2 of their semifinal series with Albany, so it’s very likely some more splashes could be coming in San Diego on an already strong roster, and could potentially pick up some more immediate roster help depending on the direction they go with the 12th and now 14th picks in the first round.

Otherwise, We Wait

Adam Levi has a breakdown of the top free agents, both restricted and unrestricted, but otherwise there isn’t much more to go over until the news starts breaking on August 1.

For the Bandits, Chris Cloutier, Chase Fraser, Justin Martin, and Brandon Robinson are due new contracts in RFA status, and Paul Dawson, Kyle Buchanan, Adam Bomberry, Steve Priolo, Nick Weiss, Bryce Sweeting, and Matt Spanger are all unrestricted and with the structure of their current roster, it’s not likely that any of them will be franchise tagged. Dawson, Priolo, and Weiss are the three I’d personally think are most confidently not going anywhere. While Buchanan is an Ottawa native and might want to finish his career at home, he will probably be sticking around for the chance at the 3 peat as well. We’ll see what happens with Spanger and Sweeting, who did not play in the playoffs (Sweeting the whole season), but at 31 and 30 respectively, they are probably still targets to stick around and keep a consistent defense in the regular season. Fortunately for the Bandits, if any of their UFA defensemen walk, Zack Belter and Cam Wyers proved as the season went on that they can be mainstays in orange and black for years to come.

Over in Rochester, Curtis Knight and Doug Buchan are their lone UFAs, and Kevin Orleman is an RFA, while Taylor Jensen and Thomas Whitty are protected free agents based on their tenure statuses. They have room to add some more depth on both ends if they choose so, but striking out wouldn’t necessarily be a death sentence towards hopes towards a third straight playoff berth in Rochester with the coming additions of rookies Graydon Hogg and Jake Piseno defensively. As we saw down the stretch, a healthy Rylan Hartley is a huge factor for the success of the upcoming season.

Summer League Check Ins

2024 NLL team in parentheses

Major Series Lacrosse (Senior A, Ontario)

(The first round of the playoffs started this past week, but we’ll be looking at just the regular season in this recap)

The Six Nations Chiefs followed up on their 2023 Mann Cup with an undefeated regular season with a 133-55 goal differential led by dominant seasons from Warren Hill (HFX) and Doug Jamieson (ALB) between the pipes and a 33 goal, 21 assist season from Austin Staats (SD). Dhane Smith (BUF) registered 7 goals and 15 assists in 7 games. Steve Priolo (BUF) made 8 appearances on the John Tavares coached team, and Tyler Biles (ROC) played in 7 to represent the Knighthawks on the MSL favorites to return to the Mann Cup.

Brooklin LC was the surprise second place team this season with a 9-3 record led by the goaltending tandem of Zach Higgins (PHI) and Riley Hutchcraft (ROC). Connor Kearnan (OTT), Tanner Cook (CGY), and Austin Shanks (HFX) all eclipsed 35 points to lead their offense. The team also had a heavy Knighthawks presence with 7 goals and 10 assists in 6 games from Curtis Knight (ROC), 8 goals and 2 assists in 7 games from Graydon Hogg (2023 first round pick by ROC), and 6 goals and 3 assists in 7 games from Kyle Waters (ROC). Hutchcraft started 3 games and stopped 21 of 84 shots for a 7.00 GAA and .750 SV%. Ben Macdonnell (ROC) also appeared in a game. Dylan and Justin Robinson (BUF) represented the Bandits in a combined 12 games, with Dylan scoring 6 goals. Zach Belter (BUF) appeared in 7 games as well on defense, and Christian Watts (BUF) and Kellen Pulera (BUF) each scored one goal in a combined 3 games.

The Peterborough Lakers held steady with a 7-5 record with the traditional names of Resetarits (PHI), Hoggarth (CGY), and Cattoni (PHI) at the top of the scoring lead. Koleton Marquis (2026 draft eligible) and Owen Hiltz (2025 draft eligible) provided a youth spark with a combined 55 points in their first seasons in MSL. Turner Evans (ROC) and Austin Hasen (ROC) each had 7 goal regular seasons in 14 combined games, and winter teammates Matt Gilray (ROC), Mitch Ogilvie (ROC), and Taylor Jensen (ROC) joined them on the back end. Doug Buchan (ROC) shared the pipes with Landon Kells (LV) on the Mike Hasen-coached Lakers. Bryce Sweeting (BUF) could potentially return later in the season from his ACL injury last summer if the Lakers go far enough into the playoffs.

A young Coburg Kodiaks roster finished 5-7 with Bandits backup Steve Orleman between the pipes. He gave up 9.06 GAA with a .783 save percentage in 11 starts. Each of their top 3 scorers have yet to be drafted into the NLL, with Braedon Saris (2025 draft eligible) leading with 34 points, David Anderson (2026 draft eligible), and Zach Thompson (2024 draft eligible) tying Aaron Woods (HFX) with 21 points.

In their return after a hiatus that dates back to COVID, the Oakville Rock struggled with a 4-7 record. The highlight of their season was a 27 goal 30 assist season from Ryan Lanchbury (ROC), with Andrew Kew (GA) adding 44 points in 10 games. Dalton Sulver, Alex Kew, and Cory Highfield (all BUF) each were regulars in their lineup, with Nick Rose and Troy Holowchuk (both TOR) between the pipes.

As young as Coburg was, the Owen Sound North Stars and Brampton Excelsiors were even younger in their first seasons since a lot of chaos. Tyler Halls (ROC) was the lone member of the local NLL teams to play for Owen Sound, while Pent Eistrat (ROC) played for Brampton. Jackson Webster (2024 draft eligible) and Dante Kulas (2025 draft eligible) each had 24 points, Tanner Buck (PHI) had 23, and Johnathan Peshko (2024 draft eligible) had 22 to lead the North Stars. JP Ward (2024 draft eligible), James Whiteford (non-rostered), and Holden Patterson (non-rostered) led the Excelsiors.

Western Lacrosse Association (Senior A, BC)

(As of July 21)

There are still 11 total games left in the WLA regular season, but the Victoria Shamrocks are also on their way to a potential undefeated season, currently at 16-0. The Shamrocks loaded up this year with Chris Origlieri (SD) and Cam Dunkerley (OTT) between the pipes and Marshal (LV) and Jesse King (CGY) combining for 110 points so far.

Spots 2 through 7 are still definitely up for grabs over the final 10 days or so, with the Langley Thunder at 7-7-1 currently holding that spot with Chase Scanlan (non-rostered) leading the team with 61 points. While Robert Church (SAS) has only appeared in 9 games, he has tallied 24 goals and 21 assists. Nathaniel Kozevnikov (BUF) is the lone local tie and has put up 11 goals and 14 assists in 13 games. The New Westminster Salmonbellies are a half game back at 7-8, featuring the league’s top point getter in Will Malcom (PCLC), who with three games to play has 49 goals and 45 assists. Both Langley and New West still feature a heavy dose of stud veterans, keeping them as the favorites for the 2 and 3 spot and keeping them hovering looking to pull off an upset of Victoria when the time comes.

The Coquitlam Adanacs and Maple Ridge Burrards have each dropped their last two games to fall to 6-9-1 and 6-8 but remain in the mix. After a record 116 point season in the Arena Lacrosse League this past winter, Tyler Kirkby is leading the Adanacs in scoring with 15 goals and 42 assists, while the Burrards have Marcus Klarich (VAN) leading the way in his rookie season in the WLA with 55 points, and Ryan Jones (non-rostered) and Dylan McIntosh (CGY) adding 54 and 53 through 15 games.

Also of note for Maple Ridge is that they have two games in hand on the Adanacs, as do the 5-8-1 Burnaby Lakers. A trio of young forwards in Jacob Dunbar (SD), Ben McDonald (COL), and Thomas Vela (COL) are leading the way in the swamp with Alexis Buque (Last with SAS 2023) and Keegan Melenychuk (non-rostered) splitting the net. Two points behind them is the 4-10-1 Nanimo Timbermen, who have struggled despite the strong seasons from Zach Manns (SAS) and Taggart Clark (OTT).

A Little Less Chaotic PLL Season

In the first season of teams having traditional markets within the touring model, the Carolina Chaos are down to two Bandits on the roster, but Josh Byrne leads them with 17 points and Ian MacKay has 5 goals and 1 goalie punch. The Chaos are 3-3 and a game back in the West of the 4-2 Utah Archers, who feature Cam Wyers and are led by Knighthawks star Connor Fields who Did The Thing Again this year as part of his 17 goals so far. The Denver Outlaws, featuring Jake Piseno, are 3-2 while the California Redwoods are 1-4.

Out east, the story of the league has been the New York Atlas and the offensive juggernauting going on led by Jeff Teat’s (OTT) 20 goals and 26 assists through 7 games, which is already the new all time record for points in the season. The Boston Cannons share the 5-2 record with the Atlas, while there is a drop off after them in the east with a 2-4 Maryland Whipsnakes season and the Philadelphia Waterdogs, featuring Ryland Rees and Thomas McConvey, down at 1-5.

Junior A – Road To The Minto

Starting in the Rocky Mountain League since they tend to be the least mentioned of the three Junior A leagues, the Edmonton Miners and Calgary Raiders will play in the league final after handling the Calgary Mountaineers and Saskatchewan Swat in their first round playoff series. The winner of the best of 7 will represent the league in the Minto.

In British Columbia, Coquitlam owns the 1 seed after a 15-3 season. They own a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-7 semifinals over Burnaby. The Port Coquitlam Saints finished 12-5-1 and are up 2-0 in their own series against the Nanaimo Timbermen. The Adanacs are hosting the Minto Cup at the end of August, so the two teams that meet in the finals will each make the Minto Cup.

Then finally in Ontario, the Toronto Beaches were the victims of some controversy which forced them to vacate wins after a dominant start to their season, dropping them to the 8 seed in the OJ playoffs and a first round matchup against the 17-3 one seeded Orangeville Northmen, who swept them in the heavily anticipated first round matchup. Peterborough found themselves down 2-0 to the Six Nations Arrows in the 2v7 matchup before completing the reverse sweep. They will face the three seed Mimico Mountaineers, who swept the Brampton Excelsiors in their opening round series. And then finally, after each team finished 10-10, the St. Catharines Athletics beat the reigning Minto Cup Champion Burlington Blaze in 4 games.

What Else To Watch For in August

The Presidents Cup (Senior B) will take place in Ladner in the last week of August, featuring the Pioneers and the winners of the 6 Senior B leagues across Canada.

The Founders Cup (Junior B) is scheduled for the week before, August 18-25, in Hamilton.

(Photo Credit: PLL)