The calendar has flipped to December, and the NLL is ready to begin their 36th season of play. It will be the first in the Commissioner Tenure of Brett Frood, who left his post as the president of Stewart-Haas racing to take the vacant commissioner position in August following the departure of previous commissioner Nick Sakiewicz, who took a job as the Chief Business Officer of the Arizona Coyotes in March, and deputy commissioner Jessica Berman, who is now the commissioner of the NWSL. Frood’s primary goals early on in his tenure are aimed to center around growing the league’s audience to the non-traditional lacrosse market, both within markets to increase attendance and outside of markets through the league’s ESPN and TSN broadcast deals.

In the first “normal” offseason since the summer of 2019, the league was as busy as ever, so let’s start with a quick run through of the transactions, all of which are kept by the league here.

Expansion Draft

The Las Vegas Desert Dogs participated in their expansion draft on July 7, selecting one player from each team and then making a few trades with those original players.

The big story locally, of course, is Connor Fields not only being selected by Vegas, ending his Bandits tenure, but being traded back east to the Knighthawks alongside Riley Hutchcraft. Vegas received Charlie Bertrand, a 2023 first, and a fourth and sixth in 2022, but probably the biggest aspect of the trade was that the two teams swapped the first and second overall picks, giving the Knighthawks their first opportunity in their expansion era to pick first in the entry draft. John Wagner, a 25 year old transition player, was the Desert Dogs selection off of the Knighthawks roster.

Free Agency

In free agency, the Bandits signed Greg Harnett to add to their defense in an effort to get more physical on that end to compliment their transition defenders. With the hole from losing Fields, left-handed forward Brandon Robinson signed in August after appearing in 3 games for the Halifax Thunderbirds. The biggest free agency subtraction for an otherwise still in tact Bandits roster was Kevin Brownell, who signed with the New York Riptide after 9 seasons in Buffalo. After playing with the Bandits from 2012-13 to 2016-17, David Brock re-signed with the Bandits after four seasons away from the organization as another big body on defense, but he was placed on the retired list after training camp. He has since been released from the retired list and signed with the Thunderbirds.

The Knighthawks also bolstered their defense/transition game in free agency, as Brad Gillies signed a three year deal at the end of August. Gillies started his career in Rochester as the 9th overall pick in the 2015 draft and played 4 seasons with the original Knighthawks and then played the last two seasons with the Thunderbirds following their relocation. He played college lacrosse at RIT and has since stayed in the area and founded Roots Box Lacrosse in 2019 as a local youth lacrosse organization in the Rochester area. The Knighthawks also added two young defensemen in free agency: Curtis Romanchych, who had last played for Albany, and Jordan Trottier, who has bounced around practice squads before making his way to Rochester. Trottier also played at RIT. While not as young, the Knighthawks also added defenseman Ethan Schott, who last played for the New York Riptide in 2019-20.

Draft Day

Draft day kicked off with the Knighthawks selected Thomas McConvey first overall. The lefty forward played his junior lacrosse with the Mimico Mountaineers, registering a league-high 105 points in 20 games in the summer of 2019 and was named league MVP. In only 9 games in a COVID-shortened-2021 campaign, McConvey had 48 points (25G 23A). He will play his 5th Year of eligibility of NCAA lacrosse at Virginia after 4 years at the University of Vermont. If Virginia’s season ends before the end of the Knighthawks season, he would be eligible to sign and finish the season in Rochester. Otherwise, he would start his NLL career in the 2023-24 season.

The Bandits had three first round picks at 13 (Acquired from Toronto in Mitch De Snoo trade), 14, and 19 (Compensatory pick) and selected three defensemen. Cam Wyers, who last played Juniors with the Toronto Beaches, was selected 13th and will play for Loyola Maryland in 2023. Joining Wyers on the draft list will be Zack Belter, the 19th overall pick and North Tonawanda native who is playing his college lacrosse at St. Bonaventure under Randy Mearns. The 14th pick, Dylan Robinson, will be with the Bandits this season after playing for both the West Durham Ironheads (Junior B) and Toronto Beaches (Junior A) this past summer, totally 30 points in 21 games out the back door. And you are correct: Dylan, Brandon, and Justin Robinson are all brothers. Their second round pick was used in a trade package with San Diego to acquire Devyn Mayea, the 6-4 defenseman who will be starting the season on the holdout list after three games for the San Diego Seals in 2022. The Bandits selected defenseman Ryan Sharkey in the fourth round and then finished their draft with transition righty Austin Blumbergs in the fifth round. Sharkey, who will play at UMASS this spring, played for the Rapids of the UCBLL this summer, who are coached by Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne.

Rochester jumped back into the first round during the compensatory portion of the draft, picking up the 18th overall pick from Vegas in exchange for Joel Watson and a 2024 second. Watson became the odd man out in Rochester after the team traded for Hutchcraft and will be getting Rylan Hartley back after his 2021-22 season was cut short from injury, and he will now get a chance to compete with Landon Kells for the starting job on the expansion Desert Dogs. With this selection, the Knighthawks selected Austin Hasen, the son of Head Coach Mike Hasen who played his 2022 summer ball with the Senior A Peterborough Lakers, registering 11 goals and 12 assists in his first season in Major Series Lacrosse. Rochester added another forward with the 25th overall pick in the second round, left-hander Thomas Vela, who scored 36 goals and added 35 assists in 14 games in Junior A this summer with the Burnaby Lakers. Once his junior season ended, Vela played a single game in the WLA with the Senior Lakers, as well as 1 game with the Langley Thunder and 4 games with the New Westminster Salmonbellies, piling up 7 goals and 5 assists in 6 well traveled games. Both Hasen and Vela made the Knighthawks opening night roster. Third round pick Parker Pipher (righty forward) will start the season on the practice squad, while fourth round pick Spencer Bell (lefty forward), a Fairport native, will be playing for RIT in 2023.

Training Camp Trades

After re-signing with the Knighthawks over the summer, forward Mike Burke was traded to the Colorado Mammoth for a 2023 3rd. Burke will likely serve as support while Ryan Lee continues to recover from injury. The Bandits added to their defense on roster cutdown day, trading their 2023 2nd to Calgary for defenseman Kellen LeClair, who is making his return to the NLL after a long hiatus due to a heart condition. He discussed the comeback with Stephen Stamp earlier this year. The teams each made one more trade on the final day of training camp, except this time, it was with each other. Buffalo traded their 2020 second round pick, defenseman Jordan Stouros, to the Knighthawks for a 2024 5th. Stouros, who has played for the Senior A Peterborough Lakers since 2017, will look for some more consistent playing time after 10 games played in his rookie season in 2021-22.

And with that, the rosters are set. There is not much turnover for the Bandits, with their offensive core still in tact, Matt Vinc still between the pipes, and their defense still led by a core of Steve Priolo, Ian MacKay, Nick Weiss, Justin Martin, and Bryce Sweeting. The Knighthawks offense will be much younger this upcoming season with a new wave of talent that will look to put more goals in the net to compliment an also improved defense with more transition flare.

Additional Roster Notes:

Photo Credit: Rochester Knighthawks/Facebook