(As with last year, Bandits and Knighthawks previews will be alongside their opening games)

After the way that the Dispersal Draft played out this summer, it’s really tough to say that any of the 14 teams in the National Lacrosse League are worse than they were last year. After a thrilling finish to last season, with 8 teams finishing with between 8 and 10 wins, there’s really no way to get a true sense of what the final 8 is going look like following this year’s March To May.

But if last year’s debut of the unified standings showed up anything, we’re in for an encore this year.

Since we last talked, the hot stove stayed relatively lukewarm, but the biggest roster shuffling had already taken place. The league did have some interesting announcements do pass the time, however.

NLL+

After an incredibly successful World Lacrosse Box Championship, the international markets will now have easier access to watch the cream of the crop year-round for free. While ESPN and TSN continue their live game partnerships with the NLL, NLL+ will serve as the live game hub outside of the US and Canada, while the site will serve as the global free hub for game replays, highlights, and other video features, providing a nice balance between introducing the sport to places where sports fans are (ESPN+) while giving fans of a sport another place to interact with the game without additional cost to them.

UnBOXed Grows

13 more North American markets have been provided with NLL UnBOXed partnerships, including past league markets such as Boston, Chicago, Columbus, New Jersey, and Edmonton, as the NLL continues to push to introduce its game to more and more markets ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics, in which sixes lacrosse will be one of the sports.

Other Partnerships

Revenue from corporate sponsorships are frequently referred to as the biggest place that the league needs to capitalize to increase revenue streams (while waiting for the day that perhaps a TV deal appears), a couple new partnerships have been announced during training camp. Starting there, Warrior extended their partnership with the NLL for a long term deal and sponsored the league’s training camp content.

They also added Eero as their official mesh system and indigenous brand KéLó as their official hydration partner in the US and for UnBOXed (Gatorade Canada is the partner above the 49th parallel). Finding brands to grow alongside them will hopefully get the attention of other brands along the way. Extending the partnerships for multiple years is the biggest goal right now for the league in the meantime.

Alright, let’s get back on the floor:

The Teams

Albany FireWolves

• Last Year’s Finish: 11-7, 3rd Place, Eliminated in NLL Finals by Buffalo
• Games Against Buffalo: Away February 1, Home March 22
• Games Against Rochester: Away February 28
• Two Games Against: Buffalo, Colorado, Philadelphia, San Diego, Saskatchewan

With a full slate of Saturday Night home games alongside last year’s Cinderella run from a 3-15 record in 2022-23 to the 3 seed and the NLL Finals and an extended lease with the MVP Arena, the Albany FireWolves are ready to be the headliners of wintertime entertainment in the Capital Region, and not only are they bringing back the majority of their young roster, they are adding 2023 Number 1 overall pick, Dyson Williams to lead their left side.

Also making their NLL debut this year will be Will Johansen, the defender who was selected 7th overall in 2022 but missed last season with a torn ACL. He was the other of Albany’s three first round picks in 2022, with the other two having been a massive reason for their breakout, with 96 points from Alex Simmons and 79 from Tye Kurtz. If those two can repeat their success this year while bringing Williams up to speed, with their defensive core all back in the fold and Doug Jamieson coming off of an .800 save percentage season before another Mann Cup run this summer and a bronze medal with the Haudenosaunee at world’s, Glenn Clark’s FireWolves will once again be in the mix not only for a playoff spot but a run into May.

Speaking of world’s, Albany also hired Team Canada member Shonly Wallace as a college scout, the first female scout in NLL history.

Toronto Rock

• Last Year’s Finish: 15-3, 1st Place, Eliminated in Semifinals by Buffalo
• Games Against Buffalo: Away January 10, Home February 14
• Games Against Rochester: Away April 19
• Two Games Against: Buffalo, Georgia, Halifax, Ottawa, Vancouver

Having one of the quieter offseasons of their past few, the Toronto Rock are bringing back the majority of their roster and will have Latrell Harris back after he missed last season with a torn ACL. There certainly wasn’t a reason to need to blow it up, with a +49 goal differential during the regular season to go along with their 15-3 record, but now having had their season ended on the doorstep of the finals by the Bandits in 4 straight seasons, and 10 losses in the last 11 matchups with their rivals, nothing was necessarily off the table. However, Owner/GM Jamie Dawick saw the bigger picture and saw that the team he has put together is certainly strong enough to run it back this year, led up front by 34 year old Mark Matthews coming off a 97 point season in his first in Toronto, 32 year old Tom Schreiber, who had 76 points in 13 games and appears to be healthy to start the season after suffering a broken collarbone in the PLL season, and 37 year old Corey Small, who had 38 goals in his second season with the Rock. Nick Rose was once again dominant with a 9.18 GAA and .812 SV% in front of their dominant defense featuring the likes of guys like Brad Kri, Challen Rogers, Billy Hostrawser, and Chris Corbeil, there’s no reason to think that they’ll be playing for the one seed again this year, even if they have loftier goals. They will face early season adversity at the faceoff dot, as TD Ierlan suffered a lower body injury during the preseason that will likely cost him the first month of the season, but Kri has history taking draws.

With FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton going through major renovations this year, the Rock will head east and play their home slate at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga.

San Diego Seals

• Last Year’s Finish: 13-5, 2nd Place, Eliminated in Semifinals by Albany
• Games Against Buffalo: Away February 15, Home February 22
• Games Against Rochester: Away March 29
• Two Games Against: Albany, Buffalo, Georgia, Las Vegas, Vancouver

The other team to head home on the outside looking into the NLL Finals, Patrick Merrill’s group went through some relatively bigger changes, some of which out of necessity, with the goal of continuing to have a championship-caliber roster down in Southern California. Both Dane Dobbie (26G 46A) and Curtis Dickson (27G 37A) are out, and replacing them are Rob Hellyer (22G 55A), Ryan Benesch (42G 39A), and Ben MacIntosh (30G 39A), on top of trading for Zach Currier on the defensive end on the floor. With Trevor Baptiste back taking draws and Currier on the ball team, registering a total of 184 loose balls last year, the Seals could very well lead the league in total possessions. It’s also hard to remember that last year’s leading scorer, their Captain Wes Berg, is still only 31, and Chris Origlieri doesn’t turn 22 until December 19th, coming off of a .739 SV% on 9.79 GAA in front of the likes of guys like Kyle Rubisch, Danny Logan, and Patrick Shoemay. With youth sprinkled in as well with the likes of first round pick Trent DiCicco on the left side of the forward ranks, aspirations are still to rise atop the standings in 2025 — can their oldest players continue to hold off father time is the question.

On another note, there is not an update on Austin Staats right now other than being placed on the suspension list

Georgia Swarm

• Last Year’s Finish: 10-8, 5th Place, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by Buffalo
• Games Against Buffalo: Home April 19
• Games Against Rochester: Home January 4
• Two Games Against: Colorado, Ottawa, Philadelphia, San Diego, Toronto

Neither the first nor the last time you’ll hear this this season: remember that the Swarm took the Bandits to overtime in the first round last season. They didn’t make any major splashes this summer, although they did add Joey Cupido to their defense, but they’re going to have themselves reinforcements from their 2023 draft in Kaleb Benedict and Richie Connell (Toron Eccleston will start the season on PUP as well). Up front, Seth Oakes’s career year helped to alleviate Miles Thompson missing all but 3 games due to injury. The core of Lyle Thompson, Brendan Bomberry, Shayne Jackson, and Andrew Kew is about as consistent as it gets, and the defense has been together for years now and added Seth Van Schepen from Calgary in a dispersal draft day trade. And that’s all before mentioning Brett Dobson entering his third season at only 24. They don’t have the new paint job excitement that other teams have on display from the summer, but there’s no reason to think that they can remain in the top 8 this season (pending injury, etc, but you know that, reader).

Halifax Thunderbirds

• Last Year’s Finish: 10-8, 6th Place, Eliminated in Quarterfinals by Albany
• Games Against Buffalo: Away April 12
• Games Against Rochester: Away January 11, Home January 18
• Two Games Against: Ottawa, Philadelphia, Rochester, Saskatchewan, Toronto

At this point last year, lots of people thought that the Thunderbirds were the greatest beneficiaries of the unified standings after back-to-back round 1 eliminations in Toronto, but when it was all said and done, the Thunderbirds were on the road again in the first round and eliminated, this time at the hands of the Albany FireWolves.

Austin Shanks and Ryan Benesch have moved elsewhere in free agency, being replaced by Thomas Hoggarth on the right side and Jason Knox on the left. While it will take a breakout from Knox to replace the 42 goals Benesch had, and Hoggarth is more of a finisher than a setup man the way Shanks registered 62 assists last year, this is Clarke Petterson’s team now, as he showed with 104 points last season. Randy Staats will be back as well, hoping to play more than 9 games as he did last season. There are still question marks up front, but this team’s built out the back in the form of Ryan Terefenko, Graeme Hossack, and Jake Withers. Warren Hill has put up similar numbers in each of his three seasons since the COVID shutdown, but played the most minutes of his career last year, and they’ll need a repeat performance in his age 32 season if the Thunderbirds want to return to the playoffs for a 4th straight season, and maybe, just maybe, pick up that first home playoff game along the way.

Knocking on the door

Panther City’s dispersal means there is at least one playoff spot opening up this year. None of the 7 other teams have any plans on giving their spot up, and the competition for that one spot is all but guaranteed as well. Let’s reacquaint ourselves with the candidates.

Ottawa Black Bears

• Last Year’s Finish: 8-10, 9th Place
• Games Against Buffalo: Home December 13
• Games Against Rochester: Home March 15, Away April 5
• Two Games Against: Georgia, Halifax, Rochester, Toronto, Vancouver

No team gave up more goals last season than the New York Riptide with 234, which they addressed by trading for Zach Higgins to offer Cameron Dunkerley less pressure to take another step at age 25. Higgins set the new record for most saves in a season last year on the team that gave up the second most goals last season with 233.

Entering his first season as the teams’ captain, Jeff Teat will very likely be flirting with 130 points for a third straight season, but if that can get Ottawa to the 8-10 range, what would get them into the playoffs? Each of Larson Sundown, Connor Kearnan, and Reilly O’Connor had their highest point totals with the organization last season, how much of another step will be needed for the team to make that step in their first season in Ottawa?

The team finds themselves with another season-opening gauntlet this year, with their first four games being against Toronto twice, Buffalo, and San Diego.

Saskatchewan Rush

• Last Year’s Finish: 8-10, 10th Place
• Games Against Buffalo: Away December 21, Home February 15
• Games Against Rochester: Home March 1
• Two Games Against: Albany, Calgary, Colorado, Halifax, Rochester

The Rush have finished 8-10 in each of the last three seasons, but the foundation that they have laid in the meantime has them as the likely favorites to take that Panther City playoff spot. The guys that have stuck around since their dynasty are younger than some may perceive them to be, with Robert Church having just turned 33 coming off a 100 point season, and captain Ryan Keenan and Mike Messenger have each just turned 30. Matt Hossack, who the team picked up from Panther City, also just turned 30. While Patrick Dodds is currently on the holdout list, they have upgraded their offense with Austin Shanks in free agency and have rookies Brock Haley and Levi Anderson ready to join the mix as well. Frank Scigliano played the most minutes in a season in his 12 season career in his first year in Saskatchewan and put up a .774, which matches the range of most of his career. That may be enough to improve from their 8 wins last year, but the rest of the league may have something to say about that.

Vancouver Warriors

• Last Year’s Finish: 8-10, 12th Place
• Games Against Buffalo: Away March 29
• Games Against Rochester: Home December 13
• Two Games Against: Calgary, Ottawa, Philadelphia, San Diego, Toronto

The other top candidate to take Panther City’s playoff spot comes with a bit of an asterisk. After having won 6 of their final 8 games last season, the Warriors got to the doorstep of the playoffs before a 16-9 loss to San Diego to end their season. Keegan Bal and Adam Charalambides have established themselves as stars, while Owen Grant and Reid Bowering have established themselves as part of the D Core featuring the likes of guys such as Matt, Bears, Ryan Dilks, and Brett Mydske, also signing Jeff Cornwall this season. Their depth for this upcoming season comes in the form of several other rookies and second year players looking to make another step forward with additional playing time, such as Payton Cormier, Jonathan Peshko, Remo Schenato, Tyson Krikness, and Marcus Klarich.

The question marks will be in net. Christian Del Bianco is still not a member of the team, despite the Warriors being the top candidate to add the former MVP goalie in a trade with the Calgary Roughnecks, who still own his rights despite his holdout. Aden Walsh took the starting reigns from Aaron Bold down that final stretch and put up a .754 in his age 23 season, but will that be enough if there’s no Del Bianco trade? Speaking of which…

Calgary Roughnecks

• Last Year’s Finish: 8-10, 11th Place
• Games Against Buffalo: Away March 8, Home March 15
• Games Against Rochester: Home February 22
• Two Games Against: Buffalo, Colorado, Las Vegas, Saskatchewan, Vancouver

In addition to Del Bianco, Shane Simpson, Zach Currier, and Dan Taylor, among others, are gone, and Tyler Pace is also holding out. Cam MacLeod and Mathieu Gautier come over from Panther City, and in addition to receiving Curtis Dickson back from San Diego, the team also re-signed Dane Dobbie in free agency. So while the Roughnecks are certainly candidates for a step back this season, they’re another instance where we simply don’t know how things are going to play out.

The Mountain Climbers

Last year’s unified standings rounded out with three teams that faced a myriad of obstacles last year, but each of them look quite different going into this new season. Will those changes be enough to re-join the playoff race?

Philadelphia Wings

• Last Year’s Finish: 6-12, 13th Place
• Games Against Buffalo: Away January 18
• Games Against Rochester: Home February 1
• Two Games Against: Albany, Halifax, Las Vegas, Georgia, Vancouver

The Wings are now 2 years removed from a playoff appearance, but after it seemed like things couldn’t get worse last season, the team is looking promising once again, starting with the addition of Nick Damude between the pipes, also still at only 25 years old, turning 26 at the end of December. The Wings were considered the winners of the dispersal draft by most, as in addition to Tracey Kelusky as an associate coach to pair up with Ian Rubel, but also in the form of Phil Caputo, Tony Malcom, Connor Sellars, Tyler Burton, and the return of Liam Patten. The Wings also made a final offseason headline during training camp with the signing of Callum Crawford, who was also of course a member of Panther City last year. And then on top of all of that, Brennan O’Neill looked, by all accounts, very comfortable in his preseason slate after being selected number 1 overall in the draft.

Mitch Jones, Joe Resetarits, Holden Cattoni, Blaze Riorden, and Sam Leclair are still in the mix up front after being 5 of the team’s top 6 scorers. The Wings have a lot to be excited about this year; a good place to start would be improving on last year’s 1-8 record at Wells Fargo Center.

Colorado Mammoth

• Last Year’s Finish: 5-13, 15th Place
• Games Against Buffalo: Home April 5
• Games Against Rochester: Away January 25
• Two Games Against: Albany, Calgary, Georgia, Las Vegas, Saskatchewan

Murphy’s Law reigned supreme in Denver this past season, but there are certainly reasons to think that the team can turn it around in 2025. The return of Ryan Lee from knee injuries in both 2023 and 2024 should be a massive help to the right side, and they added Will Malcom atop the dispersal draft to pair with Eli McLaughlin and Connor Robinson on the left side. Dillon Ward had arguably his worst season in the NLL amidst fighting injuries most of the season, so he will need to return to form as a starting block towards getting back to the form that led them to back-to-back finals appearances in 2022 and 2023.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs

• Last Year’s Finish: 5-13, 14th Place
• Games Against Buffalo: Away March 21
• Games Against Rochester: Away November 30, Home March 7
• Two Games Against: Calgary, Colorado, Philadelphia, Rochester, San Diego

The Desert Dogs were 4-6 last season before losing 6 in a row on their way to a second straight 5-13 finish in their second year in existence, but the next wave of reinforcements are on the way this year. Jonathan Donville was the second overall pick in the expansion draft and has established himself as an alternate captain ahead of his debut as a Desert Dog. Adam Poitras was the number 2 overall pick in 2023 and will make his debut this season on a left side that features Dylan Watson heading into his second year. Those two along with Jack Hannah heading into year 3 will be expected to replace the production left behind from Rob Hellyer and Zack Greer. While James Barclay, Jacob Ruest, and Connor Kirst add Shane Simpson and David Brock to the fold in the back, the group as a whole remains the biggest question mark in their support of Landon Kells heading into his third season as the starting goaltender for Shawn Williams’s group.

Tonight’s Games

As the season gets going here on Black Friday, TSN will provide its first double header of the season, as Canada’s sports network establishes Friday night as the NLL’s night up north.

Toronto Rock @ Ottawa Black Bears – 7:00pm

As mentioned above, it’s going to be a brutal stretch to open the Black Bears’s debut season in Ottawa with the Rock looking to spoil their debut at the Canadian Tire Centre. The then-Riptide beat the Rock on Long Island in the first ever matchup between the two franchises, but Toronto has won each of the other 5 matchups since.

Vancouver Warriors @ Colorado Mammoth – 9:30pm

One of the few bright spots for the Mammoth last season was winning both matchups with the Warriors last season. With a 4-5 record at Ball Arena last year, Colorado had the home fans rocking most nights, but Vancouver has lofty aspirations and are ready to spoil those good vibes on the road before the calendar flips to December.