We’re about halfway through September, and the truncated offseason has lived up to the hype in the National Lacrosse League.

Dispersal Draft

There’s weren’t many surprises, if any, in the Panther City Dispersal Draft. Will Malcom returned to Colorado, while Jonathan Donville went to Las Vegas. This allowed Nick Damude to fall to Philadelphia at 3. The Alberta born Mathieu Gautier went to Calgary, and the BC born Ryan Sheridan was picked up by Vancouver. Matt Hossack returned to Saskatchewan, while Phil Caputo was picked up by Ottawa.

This allowed Rochester to scoop up Josh Medeiros at 8. The 27 year old Brampton product, who played with Austin Hasen and Tyler Biles on the Minto Cup runner up 2018 Excelsiors, made his debut in PCLC in 2021-22 as an undrafted free agent and broke out with 21 goals in the 2023 season. While being snake bitten for only 4 goals in 2024, he set a career high in caused turnovers with 13 and chipped in 78 loose balls. Medeiros’s transition experience adds to the theme of the Knighthawks offseason of adding more bodies to the back end and creating what is going to be a very tight training camp competition. Rochester also selected Mike Sisselberger in the second round, who Panther City selected in the third round of the 2023 draft. Sisselberger played with Connor Fields for the PLL Champion Utah Archers this summer as their faceoff specialist. While he has not played box in his career, he could be a wild card if he attends camp in the fall.

Jason Knox went to Halifax at 9, followed by Cam MacLeod to Calgary after trading Seth Van Schepen to Georgia for their selection. After Justin Sykes was taken by San Diego, Elijah Gash to Toronto, and Liam Patten to Ottawa after trading goaltender Will Johnston to Albany, the Bandits traded out of their selection, sending it to Philadelphia, who selected Tony Malcom, for their second round pick in 2025. With three first round picks and an already fairly full roster, the Bandits had the luxury to move their attention to the remainder of the offseason.

Fallout and Free Agency

Buffalo continued their trend of running it back to open free agency, with the one year re-signings of Cory Highfield, Christian Watts, and most notably, Kyle Buchanan, who is back in the fold for his Age 37 season after 23 goals last season, his most since 2019.

Rochester started their month with a little bit of proactivity, signing Connor Fields to a cornerstone-defining 5 year contract extension that will kick in at the conclusion of the 2025 season. Tyler Halls was also extended for 2 years.

With roster additions, Dan Carey brought in two veteran defenders to even further add to the aforementioned competition, both who played for the Wings last season. Chad Tutton will join the fold on a two year deal after leading the Wings defense in points last season with 4 goals and 15 assists and second in loose balls and third in caused turnovers for their defense. Tutton played two seasons for the Wings while after 6 seasons with the Georgia Swarm after being the 5th overall pick in the 2015 draft. They then announced the signing of Ian Llord, who is one game short of 250 for his career (16 short of top 10 all time in games played). The 39 year old 17 season veteran was a part of the previous era Knighthawks organization and was part of the final two legs of the Knighthawks three-peat, coming over from the Bandits where he played from 2008-2012. Llord was traded at the 2019 deadline to Colorado before signing with the Wings and playing 4 seasons, including his most loose balls in a season in 2024 (55) since 2018.

Both the Buffalo and Rochester lineups appear to be set for camp, but the teams did have one depth-for-depth trade, with Thomas Whitty heading to Buffalo in exchange for Brandon Robinson. Whitty has been with the Expansion-Era Knighthawks since being a third round pick in their first draft, but after a solid first two seasons getting his feet wet in the NLL, he missed all of 2023 with pretty serious leg injuries in the summer of 2022, which he recounted on Back of the Bird earlier this year. He came back in 2024 in his Age 25 season and played in 16 games, picking up 81 loose balls, causing 9 turnovers, and blocking 14 shots. For Robinson, the oldest of the three brothers who were a part of last year’s championship run heads back to Rochester where he debuted as a rookie in 2018-19, putting up 10 points in 10 games after being a 4th round pick of New England in 2016. He bookended COVID with two seasons in Halifax before scoring 13 goals in 10 games in 2023 and 9 goals in 13 games this past season, with an additional 4 goals and 3 assists in 5 playoff games this past spring. Robinson joins Turner Evans. Dan Lomas, and rookie Graydon Hogg as the supporting cast on the left side of the offense with Connor Fields and Thomas McConvey, bringing a size element similar to what Kyle Waters brings on the right side. While he has fought injuries in parts of his career, there is no such thing as too much depth as the Knighthawks have learned and overcome on both ends of the floor and between the pipes the last two seasons.

Let’s Go To The Beach [Beach]

Even 2 games short of an NLL Finals berth, the Seals affirmed that they are not satisfied with a season that doesn’t result in a championship, and in addition to adding Zach Currier to their defense core, the offense will be looking new too. Rob Hellyer replaced Curtis Dickson on the right side after signing a two year deal following two seasons as the captain of the Desert Dogs. Also joining the right side for two seasons is 33 year old Ben McIntosh, who spent the last three seasons with the Wings after 6 seasons and 3 titles with the Rush. They also took a flier on Callum Crawford by selecting him in the dispersal draft, although his age and experience allowed him to reject the franchise tag and become a UFA, but if Crawford does play in 2024 despite the travel issues that led him to joining Panther City the last two seasons, Patrick Merrill will likely be the first one he calls to go all in for what would be his first NLL title in a 19th season of play. They also made a big splash on the left side for another long time vet without a title in Ryan Benesch, who will turn 40 in January. He had suggested last offseason that the past season with the Thunderbirds would be his last kick at the can, but after 40 goals for the first time since playing for the 2015 Bandits, he figured he could run it back again with a more championship hungry offense that will need to replace Austin Staats for most if not all of next season due to suspension, as well as potentially Dane Dobbie, who as of writing this is still a UFA.

Bear Sightings

To transition to the next team with a notable offseason upgrade, the surplus on the right side of the Seals offense led to them sending Jacob Dunbar to Ottawa for defender Zack Deaken. The soon to be 25 year old Deaken balances the average age a little bit and allows him to play alongside and learn from veterans such as Kyle Rubisch on the back side, while Dunbar will get more looks with Ottawa’s right side after 3 seasons rotating in and out of the Seals lineup after being the 13th overall pick in the 2021 draft.

However the biggest move for the Black Bears this summer came off of the heels of the dispersal draft, where the addition of Nick Damude made Zach Higgins expendable, and the “Tendy Bear” will be headed to Ottawa to join Cam Dunkerley in their goaltending room. While Dunkerley played well for most of last season in his first full season as a starter, Higgins will allow the pressure to be off the 25 year old while also giving an opportunity for Higgins to see less rubber than last season, when he set the single season record for saves in his age 33 season.

In exchange, the Wings received Ottawa’s two pieces from the Dispersal Draft, Phil Caputo and Liam Patten, and a first round pick in 2027.

Other Notable Moves

Halifax will have a different looking offense this season. While Randy Staats is still a UFA yet to announce where he will play next season, Austin Shanks will be leaving that right side of the offense after signing a multi year deal with the Rush. They also sent Eric Fannell to Albany for a 2026 first round pick and a conditional 2026 fourth round pick, but they did bring in Thomas Hoggarth in a fairly big trade with Calgary, where they gave up the 10th overall pick in this year’s draft, Caelan Mander, and a 2026 fourth round pick. Another team that has fallen short of expectations the last couple of seasons, yet to win a playoff game in Halifax or host a playoff game in the famed Nest, and they will certainly look different up front while officially passing the torch of the offense to Clarke Petterson and maintaining their strong relatively young defense.

Vancouver added local boy Jeff Cornwall to their defense, and of the remaining UFAs, sound to be in the mix for most of the BC-born guys as well as the front runners of a potential Christian Del Bianco trade still. Another improved season from the Warriors this year could all but solidify them as to the West what Toronto is to the East for the Canadian markets.

NLL Draft

(See full draft results here)

It turned out in the end that Brennan O’Neill would indeed be joining the Philadelphia Wings this season, becoming the first American to be drafted first overall in both the NLL and PLL drafts and only the fourth player ever to have such happen (Kevin Crowley, Lyle Thompson, Jeff Teat). Oakville Rock product Sam English went to the Rock second overall and will step in after his final season at Syracuse. His Syracuse teammate Mike Grace will do the same except be heading to Georgia.

Vancouver moved around the board, starting with selecting Johnathan Peshko 4th overall and then sending Brock Haley to Saskatchewan for the 6th overall pick and a 2025 second to be able to draft Remo Schenato 6th overall. Between those picks, Calgary selected High Point product, Brayden Mayea, 5th overall to add to their offense.

This put the Buffalo Bandits on the clock for their first two of three first round picks in this draft, and while some people were curious if they would package any of them in a trade considering the current state of their roster, but Steve Dietrich was adamant on the draft broadcast that he saw a lot of value in this draft class for bodies that could help with the eventual succession plan to some of the older members of their roster to sustain success.

The Bandits took righty forward Lukas Nielsen with the 7th overall pick, who renounced his college eligibility to enter the draft a year early. This past summer, Nielsen scored 50 goals in 18 games for the Junior A New Westminster Salmonbellies and was named the BCJALL’s MVP. At 8th overall, the Bandits added Luca Antongiovanni to their defense. Another BC native, Antongiovanni got Senior A games this season with the Coquitlam Adanacs and was the team’s top rookie. Both players may not make the opening night lineup due to the depth, but after seeing the emergence of Cam Wyers and Zack Belter last season due to injuries in front of them on the depth chart, they will surely see playing time this upcoming season. There two other picks in the first 19 overall were defenders Taylor Dooley from the Toronto Beaches and Trent Robertson from the Brampton Excelsiors. In the third round, they went offensive with California product Marquez White. To finish the fourth round, they added Angus MacDonnell from the Mimico Mountaineers. They then finished the draft out with the selection of defender Bryce Cordingley (Troy’s son) and forward Vance Adams. The other 6th round pick they had in the draft they gave to Philadelphia for their 2025 6th round pick.

For Rochester, they only had 3 picks in this draft, but they added local connections with each of them. At 27th overall, they picked up defenseman Conner Fingar out of Penn Yan. He was also a member of the NCBS winning Hawkeyes team out of Rochester and the UCBLL this summer and was the MVP of the UCBLL in 2021. In the fourth round, they added Fingar’s Albany teammate Regan Endres, who was the faceoff specialist of the Great Danes. He’s a Farmington native who attended Victor High School. And then lastly, in the sixth round, they went with a Canadian who attended RIT in defenseman Caleb Commandant, who also has appeared in a handful of games with the Senior A Peterborough Lakers, coached of course by Mike Hasen. The lack of picks in this year’s draft won’t have too negative of an effect on this year’s rookie class, as they will have last year’s first round pick Graydon Hogg, second round pick and PLL breakout rookie Jake Piseno, and third round pick Jack Boyden entering the fold this season as well.

Mann Cup

Like the Bandits, the Six Nations Chiefs, also coached by John Tavares, finished off a back-to-back of their own, winning their second straight Mann Cup in 5 games against the Victoria Shamrocks.

Dhane Smith finished second behind Lyle Thompson’s 21 points for the final series with 4 goals and 14 assists. To round out the Bandit/Knighthawk connections, Steve Priolo appeared in 5 games, Tyler Biles in 4, and Ian MacKay in 1.

So that brings us to what should (?) be the final offseason recap for this summer. The next time we talk lacrosse, it will be in the context of season previews and whatever trickling in of UFA moves and trades remain (unless something wild happens of course). In the meantime, remember to check out the Box Lacrosse World Championships which are taking place in Utica starting Friday (Sept 20th) and finishing up with the gold medal games for both the men’s and women’s teams on September 29th. Select games will be available on ESPN+, USA and Canada’s men’s round robin matchup and Haudenosaunee vs England on ESPNU on September 24th, and the gold medal games on ESPN2. The rest of the games will be on World Lacrosse TV.

(Photo Credit: Nanticoke Photography)