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2016 MLL – What We Know… So Far

Now that every team has a few games under their belt in this 2016 MLL season, we decided to take a closer look at each team around the league. I can’t say that this season has shaped up the way anyone thought it would so far, which makes this a great time to check-in on things!

Photo Credit: Craig Chase

Rather than just having me ramble on for a while and giving you my thoughts, I reached out to a few of my fellow lacrosse media members from various outlets to let them give their two cents on each team. While the opinions may differ a bit, I think you’ll largely find a lot of agreement from everyone.  Here’s who we have chipping in their thoughts:

Name, Affiliation, Twitter handle

Your Truly, Lacrosse All Stars (@RyConw)

Connor Wilson, Lacrosse All Stars (@ConnorWilsonLAS)

Tom Bovee, Lacrosse All Stars (@BoveeLax)

Joe Keegan, Lacrosse Magazine, (@joekeegs)

Marisa Ingemi, In Lacrosse We Trust, (@Marisa_Ingemi)

Margo McAuley, Lax Sports Network, (@MargoMcAuley)

Jason Myers, College Crosse, (@Doc_Lunchbox)

So that’s who you’ll hear from, now here’s what they think!

2016 MLL Thoughts – Atlanta Blaze

JK: Flanking Kevin Rice with two finishers in Jay Carlson and Conrad Oberbeck predictably led to lulls in offensive production. With the 60-second shot clock, you need multiple routes of initiation. If your only option is dodging behind the cage with Rice, then teams are going to make it difficult for Rice to get the ball in his spot early in the clock.

Enter Randy Staats, stage right. The Syracuse alum’s late season tear in the NLL has carried over to the outdoor league. Staats scored four goals off the dodge, two catch-and-shoot goals, served as a two-man game threat with Rice and caused a turnover on the ride. Few defenses in the league can match up with both Rice and Staats.

TB: The Blaze lost a few close games early in the season and exploded this week, it was more of a supernova than an explosion as everything went their way. Still the real Blaze team is somewhere in between those 2. They have the defense to keep them in games and the offense will get better and better as new additions arrive. They have been in every game so far this season and that says a lot. Kevin Rice is on the list of early season MVP candidates.

RC: The Blaze only have one win so far, but they were very close in Boston to a Cannons team that’s no slouch, and their debut as a team was not too shabby with it only being a three point loss to the Bayhawks. Kevin Rice is second in the league in scoring and has one fewer game than the other four players around him. Teaming him up with Randy Staats is lightning in a bottle. Other teams will adjust, but their draft class will bring even more power.

2016 MLL Thoughts – Boston Cannons

JK: Max Seibald, who aggravated a previous hamstring injury in the preseason, left Saturday’s game with an ankle injury. He did not return, leading to increased reps for rookie Challen Rogers. Boston’s midfield will be asked to play a complementary role to the attack in the six-on-six, and even without Seibald, they have the tools to make that happen.

Formerly known as an alley dodger, Brent Adams has added an invert element to his game this summer. Everyone remembers his Air Gait finish against Atlanta — that was no anomaly. Against Rochester, Adams took Jack Near to five-and-five and created so much separation that he was able to shoot with his inside, strong-side right-hand. It was foreign, it was spicy — more like an upside-down question mark than a traditional question mark.

MI: The Cannons can score. Will Manny elevated himself to a super star in this league a while ago, but now he’s truly one of the most dominant attackman. Davey Emala is a pure goal scorer, and Wells Stanwick has fit into his role nicely. Max Seibald looks better than he did last season. Kevin Buchanan isn’t even back yet. We knew that if this team lived up to its potential, it could score. Some people said they may need another shooter, but that might even be Challen Rogers for how much they like him.

The big surprise has been the defense, to the point Michael Pellegrino, who has been great and the team is thrilled about, sat when Brodie Merrill and Mitch Belisle came back. James Fahey sat a game, but they are also thrilled with him, and Scott McWilliams has taken that next step too. Boston was a wild card going into the season, a team that would either be a contender or fall off. So far, they look like one of the best overall teams in MLL.

MM: Boston has a Will to win. Will Manny continues to get better and the midfield is loaded. Additions on D like Merrill and Belisle along with their d middies make this unit one of the dominate in the league. I would still like to see them play a full 60 minutes at their top level.  #92yardshotheardaroundtheworld

2016 MLL Thoughts – Charlotte Hounds

CW: Charlotte is 3-0, things are great, and then Joey Sankey goes out with an injury and… Charlotte still finds a way to win. But if a 12-10 win over struggling Florida impresses you… well, agree to disagree. I love Charlotte’s share the ball approach, but their depth on O concerns me, and Sankey is a big loss right now. The Charlotte D has been really solid, and is another strength for the Hound Legion to be proud of.

MI: The Hounds have been by far the surprise of the regular season thus far, already matching their win total from last season. This has all been without off season acquisition Kevin Crowley, still playing with New England of the National Lacrosse League. Joey Sankey, after his rookie of the year season, has become exactly what the Hounds hoped he would be, and that is an MLL super star. Mike Sawyer retired, but it looks like John Haus is on pace for a career season, and Charlie Cipriano has been excellent in net with the best goals against average in the league. It’s early in the season, and a lot of teams are still waiting to get to full strength with their NLL players and rookies, but the Hounds have taken advantage of it with just Crowley out and opened a great start.

RC: Easily my biggest early surprise. I thought this team was going to be in keep the lights on mode until NCAA and NLL commitments opened up. 3-0 when you don’t have Joey Sankey (same point total as Kieran McArdle with half the games) for a game and still blow out a team, that’s a statement. They still have a load of rookies and NLLers to unleash as well. If their chemistry holds, this team is a tough out.

2016 MLL Thoughts – Chesapeake Bayhawks

CW: Chesapeake is sharing the ball, but they are just not getting enough goals. With much of their firepower now playing, this should change as the team gels more. Defensively the Bayhawks are pretty strong, so Chesapeake could win a lot of games, but many could be close contests. This is not a team that will likely blow people out of the water, but will grind out wins. A couple more face off wins per game could also bring the Bayhawks to the next level.

TB:  A loss during a weekday game doesn’t tell us much about any team. With schedules and availability always up in the air. Still other teams are quickly filling up rosters and improving while Chesapeake doesn’t change much. They need to stay healthy on offense and swarming on defense to stay at the top of the standings.

RC: Sitting at 2-1 with a little bit of a ameobic roster is a great place for the Bayhawks right now. Their draft class is not an embarrassment of riches, but this team will be solid now that they should have all their offense back regularly. It was too long ago that the Bayhawks ran the MLL, and they may be back.

2016 MLL Thoughts – Denver Outlaws

JM: Well, when considering consistency from one year to the next you don’t want to be consistently bad. Unfortunately, that is the case for Denver’s defense. Their Achilles heel last year continues to be so in 2016. Granted, it’s still early and Dillon Roy is out and Chris O’Dougherty hasn’t suited up yet, but just look at the first half against Atlanta to see that wheels came off. Ryan LaPlante was left out to dry for virtually his entire time in net. You have to wonder if the Outlaws regretted cutting Dillon Ward earlier in the week. At least the previous two games against Ohio were back-and-forth affairs.

Will the real Denver Outlaws please stand up? One other area of concern is that Eric Law, who got banged up in week two remained out of the line up in week three. Callum Crawford valiantly filled the void on attack, causing many Denver fans to hope that the Canadian sticks around for the long haul.

MI: The Outlaws looked fine the first two games, going 1-1 against Ohio, but giving up 23 goals to Atlanta in the third game of the season was alarming. Ryan LaPlante is facing his first season as a starter, and it will take the Outlaws a bit to adjust to live without Jesse Schwartzman. Michael Bocklet is trying to repeat his 48 point performance from last season, and Drew Snider seems like he’ll shatter his 46 point total from a year ago. Callum Crawford impressed in his first game, and now John Grant Jr is back. Denver’s downfall is on defense, where they may have to consider making a move, and would have to give up some of their offensive talent. Denver has the lowest defensive efficiency in the league and cause the least amount of turnovers. It’s not a rebuilding team, but it’s a team that has seen its identity changed quickly.

CW: Denver is producing decently enough offensively, and lots of players are getting involved, but they will need to pick up their scoring pace if they want to compete for wins as the season goes on. The Denver defense also needs to be better at forcing shooters into savable shots. None of the Denver goalies are saving the ball at 50% or better, so the D needs to focus on allowing more “bad” shots, and less good ones. Teams are GOING to shoot, it’s MLL after all… but WHERE do they shoot from? It can’t be inside, that’s key.

2016 MLL Thoughts – Florida Launch

JM: Remember when we all thought Casey Powell was done after last year? But the ageless wonder never filed retirement paperwork and the team protected him during the expansion process. Could he come back? Well he’s leading the team in points through four games (7G, 9A). Defense continues to be an issue. Stan Ross hasn’t seemed to settle on a single goalie giving Queener, Kaut, and Matt Poillon field time already. Florida has been outshot by opponents in all of their games this year. It’d be interesting to see how many re-sets they’re giving up per game (where art thou Joe Keegan?). With NLL and NCAA players starting to roll into the Florida line up they may get the boost they got last year. But getting down four games early in the MLL can kill a season.

They better hope that Notre Dame gets knocked out in the quarters so that Matt Landis can come help out on the defensive end. On the plus side, Florida has drawn 1,700+ and 2,000+ in their two home games thus far. At this point, we’ll take progress wherever we can get it from the Launch.

TB: The loss to Charlotte hurts bad. Falling to 0-4 is not a good thing but its how they have lost. Charlotte was missing a number of important pieces and they were able to come back on Florida almost easily. Discombobulated offense, dreadful defense and a carousel at goalie, no need to print playoff tickets in Florida.

MM: They’re 0-4 but Casey Powell won’t let them drop to 0-5. The Thompson brothers are back. They need to find chemistry and get the defense working together.

2016 MLL Thoughts – New York Lizards

CW: New York is still loaded with top flight talent, and I’m not sure how anyone can put them anywhere other than #1. Well, sure, NY is 2-1, so the standings have them below 3-0 Charlotte, but in my head the Lizards are still the best team in MLL. 2 things concern me right now though: a severe lack of assist diversity is #1. Rob Pannell and Paul Rabil have combined to assist on 10 of New York’s 48 total goals.

Other than that, NY only has 9 assists spread throughout the rest of the team. To be fair, NY is a “role” team, where guys have their jobs, but for me, that also makes them a little predictable. My #2 concern is that NY spends 10% of their games man down. 17.5 minutes of penalties in 180 minutes of games is not good. They are still my #1, but it’s nothing like last season.

TB: Ohio made them look bad and it might have been a shot in the arm that they needed at this point. While the occasional mental lapse will still happen this team is not a team you look forward to playing.  Still alarms are going off as they got shredded by Ohio.

MM: New York has the most talent on paper but now we’ve seen how to beat them. They were undisciplined without Coach Spallina on the sideline but now he’s back.

2016 MLL Thoughts – Ohio Machine

JM: Like Denver, Ohio picked up where the left off last year. It just so happens that Ohio had a great year in 2015. The Machine’s first three games were all close affairs. They gutted out a two-goal victory over Florida before splitting a home-and-home series with Denver that were both decided by a goal. Now Florida was still missing some of their offensive firepower as the Thompsons didn’t get back in the line up until this past week. And judging by the Denver/Atlanta game on Saturday you had to wonder if Ohio was really that good or if they were just beating up on depleted teams.

Their dismantling of New York by a twelve-goal margin garnered double takes from around the lax-o-sphere. Offensive production was never a question with this team. It looks like they have two viable options in goal as both Adam Fullerton and Scott Rodgers check the “Big Bodied Goalie” box for the Sheens. If they can keep pushing each other in net, and Jackson Place and Brian Karalunas continue their stellar play, Ohio will probably remain near the top of the league table.

MM: Ohio is a machine. Scotty Rodgers is healthy and playing better than ever.

RC: Ohio is a little bit of a mystery so far. Their defense has been great, led by dueling keepers Scotty Rodgers and Adam Fullerton, but I hesitate to anoint them as a “steel curtain”. Their Florida and Denver win aren’t looking as strong in hindsight, but they dominated the Lizards. This weekend’s game in Boston will tell me much more about the Machine. A solid D performance there and I may have an early favorite.

2016 MLL Thoughts – Rochester Rattlers

JK: Forget two fluke two-point goals, and the Rattlers recently reassembled defense would have had the second-best defensive effort of the season in Boston on Saturday (behind only Chesapeake holding Florida to eight goals on 40 possessions). On-ball takeaways from John LoCascio (3CT), passing lane patrolling by John Lade (4CT), and blind-side doubles from Joel White (4CT) forced the Cannons into committing 26 turnovers — the most by any team in a game this season. Anchored by a healthy Mike Manley, this defense has the talent and familiarity to be the best in the league by the end of the summer.

Offensively, the Rattlers have the MLL equivalent of Steph Curry-Draymond Green pick-and-rolls: Jordan Wolf and Jordan MacIntosh two-man games. In their first game together this season, Wolf scored three unassisted goals off 2-man games and MacIntosh scored one from Wolf. Jordan Squared is arguably the most unstoppable action in the league given Wolf’s speed and MacIntosh’s playmaking ability. Head coach Tim Soudan went to it out of a timeout in overtime and would likely go right back to it if given a chance to do it all over.

TB:  0-3 is a big hole but they have also not played a home game yet. They played their best game this weekend and got a fluke loss. They got a lot of their best players back with NLL and NCAA seasons ending. They are now a complete team that should improve.

RC: Poor, poor Rochester. They should have beaten the Cannons, but could only shrug their should after a freak play or two gave them another loss. They are a new team with their NLLers and that should only get better. They’ll be getting some big downhill dodgers to help keep pressure off their attack soon. Their longpoles are as deadly as anyone’s I’ve ever seen in transition. The Jordans (Wolf and MacIntosh) can run the two man game to absolute perfect. This team may have the highest ceiling right now, but it’s also the furthest away.