Trade Deadline Recap

Buffalo Acquires Paul Dawson from Colorado and a 2024 3rd Round Pick in Exchange for a 2024 and 2025 Second Round Pick

Of all the potential moves at the deadline, this one might have very well been the most likely, even if it wasn’t too likely that these two parties would ever pair up.

Paul Dawson is in his 17th season in the NLL, having established a career-long reputation as a shutdown defender, and one where he found himself matched up against Bandits offenses in many marquee career games. His career started as a goaltender, being drafted to the San Jose Stealth 7th overall in the 2006 draft before converting to a defenseman. After two seasons in San Jose, he played two more in Boston with the Blazers before they dispersed. After two more seasons in Philadelphia, he was traded in 2013 with brother Dan to Rochester, where they became mainstays from 2013-2018 and were part of the last two legs of the Knighthawks three-peat. He finished the 2019 season in San Diego before signing with the expansion Knighthawks, where he’d be the captain for three seasons before signing with the Mammoth in free agency this past summer.

While not a fighter anymore at the age of 38, Dawson still brings an edge to his game and is a mainstay in shot lanes, having blocked 12 shots so far this season. He has been a consistent 60-70 or so loose-ball guy for the majority of his career and has plenty of experience playing in front of Matt Vinc from their time in Rochester.

Dawson is an Ontario-based firefighter off the floor who also co-hosts Back of the Bird, the player-hosted podcast with Rochester’s Dan Lomas and Panther City’s Jonathan Donville.

That was the lone trade out in Western New York this week, as both teams have their rosters set for the final push, but there are a handful of other moves on deadline day, including a second trade from Colorado.

San Diego Acquires Chris Wardle from Colorado in Exchange for a Conditional 2025 3rd Round Pick

San Diego’s offense is certainly not one lacking in talent, but acquiring the lefty forward in Chris Wardle will allow some additional flexibility with Jake Govett to be able to play him out both doors and more flexibility in their line usage as they look to stay in the race atop the standings and hope to reach their first finals berth. Wardle has 8 goals and 19 assists in 11 games this season. After a year in Vancouver with the Stealth in 2014, he played from 2016-2024 in Colorado, most prominently registering 22 assists in 7 games in the Mammoth’s 2022 championship run.

Albany Acquires John Wagner and a 2024 4th Round Pick from Las Vegas in Exchange for Cam Badour and a 2024 1st Round Pick

The FireWolves looked for balance from their deadline move in both helping their team in the short and long term, acquiring two-way player John Wagner from the Desert Dogs. The 26-year-old lefty plays a traditional transition role but primarily has played defense for the Desert Dogs since arriving there at the start of the 2022-23 season. He has 4 goals and 6 assists in 9 games this season after 15 points in 15 games and 115 loose balls last season. In his first two seasons in the NLL, he played 10 games with the 2020 Riptide and 12 with the 2022 Knighthawks.

6’4″ lefty forward Cam Badour was originally drafted in the third round in 2022 by the Rush before being traded to Albany this past August for a 2024 fourth. He has yet to make an NLL appearance. The move gives the Desert Dogs a first-round pick as well after having traded theirs to Toronto for Rob Hellyer.

New York Acquires Taggart Clark and a 2024 2nd Round Pick from Philadelphia in Exchange for a 2024 1st Round Pick and a 2025 3rd Round Pick

The last move of the 2024 trade deadline was the classic “fax machine delay” move, as it was announced after the 3 pm deadline that the Riptide went out to bolster their right-side forward group with Taggart Clark from the Wings, giving up a first-rounder in the meantime. The Bandits own New York’s (Ottawa’s, technically) first-round pick from the Brent Noseworthy trade, so this pick is courtesy of Colorado and has been moved around the league multiple times as part of multiple trades, and will not be in the hands of the Wings, whose first-round pick belongs to Georgia via Rochester (Ryan Lanchbury trade) via the Holden Cattoni trade.

Clark’s playing time on the right side was relatively limited with Joe Resetarits, Ben McIntosh, and Sam LeClair getting the bulk of the shifts on a left-heavier offense. He will mix in with the Riptide’s right side and have a longer stay on the roster. He was the final pick of a hefty first round in 2023. He has 7 goals and 5 assists in 7 games this season, including a hat trick against his new team on January 7.

Week 16 Preview

Toronto Rock (11-2) @ Buffalo Bandits (6-6) – Saturday, March 16, 7:00 pm, TSN Game Of The Week

We know at this point with this being the 12th meeting between the Bandits and Rock post-COVID that the records and earlier season matchups do not matter towards the outcome of the next game. That being said the Bandits are one of the two teams to solve the Rock this season, winning 16-14 in Hamilton on January 27. The game, unsurprisingly, will get the national spotlight on TSN as a win against the Rock would be big for Buffalo hoping to continue to control their destiny towards a playoff push. The Rock remains without Challen Rogers, Josh Jubenville, and Latrell Harris. A win would make Toronto the first team to clinch a playoff berth (or a PCLC win in Halifax, FireWolves win over Rochester, or Wings win over Georgia, If all those scenarios happen, Toronto clinches a top-four spot).

Rochester Knighthawks (5-6) @ Albany FireWolves (10-3) – Saturday, March 16, 7:00 pm

The Knighthawks will take their 2-0 record in Albany all-time into MVP Arena hoping to complete what would be a statement season sweep to return to,500 against one of the league’s marquee teams. Joe Post will return to the lineup after missing last week’s game on the short-term holdout list.

Panther City (6-6) @ Halifax Thunderbirds (7-6) – Friday, March 15, 6:30 pm

Scotiabank Centre has a history of exciting lacrosse finishes since the Thunderbirds first came to town in 2019, and with Panther City having played 4 overtime and 5 one-goal games could potentially be excited about that premise. It’s the first time the two teams will play head-to-head all time.

San Diego Seals (9-4) @ Calgary Roughnecks (5-7) – Friday March 15, 9:00 pm

Calgary hosts their always-popular St. Patrick’s Weekend game in their second matchup this season with the Seals, who defeated them 12-9 on December 9. Improving to 10-4 would go far in establishing San Diego’s position in the top 3, while 5-8 would put the Roughneck’s season on high alert with games against Albany and Buffalo as well remaining down the stretch.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs (4-8) @ Vancouver Warriors (3-9) – Friday March 15, 10:00 pm

Like Calgary, this is a pretty big week for Vegas in keeping their playoff hopes alive. They have a second matchup with the Warriors on March 30th in Vegas, as well. Vancouver won 2 of the 3 head-to-head matchups last season, including 19-16 in the lone matchup in Vancouver.

Philadelphia Wings (4-7) @ Georgia Swarm (8-6) – Saturday, March 16, 7:30 pm

Only one matchup this season between Philadelphia and Georgia. Perhaps that’s fitting for a 7th consecutive one-goal game in the head-to-head matchup? Both games last season finished with a 13-12 final, with the road team winning both matchups.

New York Riptide (6-7) @ Saskatchewan Rush (4-6) – Saturday March 16, 9:30 pm

After this week, the Rush will place 4 games in 8 days between March 23rd and 30th, so this home matchup to start a home-and-home with the Riptide could be crucial in ensuring that they can punch up and stay competitive in the playoff race. In their lone matchup all time in New York on December 28, 2019, the Rush won 11-4. It will also be Cameron Dunkerley’s first game in Saskatchewan since being released by the Rush before joining the Riptide, where he has risen to become their number-one goalie.

Photo Credit: Mike Hetzel/NLL