Now that the PLL entry draft has come and gone, we’ve officially moved beyond the expansion phase of the offseason. Marking this occasion was the opening of the PLL waiver wire, when teams could claim available players to fill out as much of their rosters as needed prior to the collegiate draft later on April 26. Teams did not have to max out their rosters on this date, but if they wanted their best shot at their preferred players, it created a mad rush to claim certain athletes.
With no unprotected roster as the league’s expansion team, the Cannons had the most roster spots to fill heading into the PLL waiver claims period. What’s exciting about where are now is that all teams are on equal footing in terms of roster size ahead of the collegiate draft. We can now understand what the teams look like from top to bottom and can assess their needs and where rookies may fit in.
Now, things to note: teams can bring 30 players into training camp, and that will be cut down to an active roster of 25 as the season approaches. Positionally, those 30 spots will be roughly divided by 2-3 goalies, 2-3 FOGOs, 4-5 SSDMs, 2-3 LSMs, 5-6 attackmen, 5-6 poles, and the remaining 5-10 for middies. So, let’s take a look at who each team claimed from waivers and what the teams look like now.
2021 PLL Waiver Claims
Cannons
College Draft Picks: 2
Current Roster Spots: 30
Waiver Claims
Andrew Kew (A) (Via Redwoods); Shayne Jackson (A); Luke Anderson (M); Scott Hooper (D); Chris Hogan (M); Justin Pugal (D); John Uppgren (A); Bryce Wasserman (A); Chase Levesque (LSM); Holden Garlent (D)
The Cannons had the most work ahead of them, carrying in just 20 roster spots and only having four college draft picks. They did trade a collegiate pick to the Redwoods for Andrew Kew.
But the big theme with these waiver claims was pulling in some of head coach Sean Quirk’s 2020 Boston Cannons and building out his offense around Lyle Thompson. To that end, I love the addition of Lyle’s Georgia Swarm teammate Shayne Jackson. Quirk also added one of the hottest scorers in 2020 with Kew, the league MVP in Wasserman, and who was pretty much the Finals MVP with Uppgren. There is now instant chemistry with this team, and it combines that with scoring midfielders like Buczek and presumably Paul Rabil, whom Quirk is banking on having a much more productive 2021 season.
Defensively, Quirk brought back two of his close defenders to surround Marrocco and Reece Eddy’s college teammate Chase Levesque to share LSM duties, giving the team excellent defensive familiarity on day one as well. Quirk now can roll into camp with an established culture, proven leaders and certified playmakers. He will need to make some more moves to free up space for the college draft, but he is in a great spot at the moment. Oh, and the Cannons are giving Chris Hogan a shot, because this is DEFINITELY not a Boston team. Don’t let the former Patriot wide receiver, two former BU players, former Tufts player, and eight former Cannons fools you.
Current Roster
Lyle Thompson (A); Ryan Drenner (A); Clarke Petterson (A); Andrew Kew (A); Shayne Jackson (A); Bryce Wasserman (A); John Uppgren (A)
Josh Currier (A/M); Brendan Gleason (A/M)
Paul Rabil (M); Connor Buczek (M); Deemer Class (M); Max Tuttle (M); Luke Anderson (M); Chris Hogan (M)
Tom Kelly (FO); Drew Simoneau (FO); Brendan Fowler (FO)
Reece Eddy (LSM); Chase Levesque (LSM)
Zach Goodrich (SSDM); Sam Duggan (SSDM); Tyson Bell (SSDM)
Brodie Merrill (D); Jake Pulver (D); Scott Hooper (D); Justin Pugal (D); Holden Garlent (D)
Nick Marrocco (G); Jacob Stover (G)
Holdout
Curtis Corley (D)
Archers
College Draft Picks: 3
Current Roster Spots: 26
Waiver Claims
Nate Solomon (A); Nick Washuta (G); Latrell Harris (LSM)
The Archers beefed up their close defense with the entry draft, but they still needed a No. 2 LSM. From there, they could pretty much grab anyone they wanted to bring into camp and see what they could offer, but they could have added another SSDM. That’s why Latrell Harris was a great pick up for the Archers.
While listed as an LSM, he’s also a proven NLL defender and has the speed to match feet on the field. I would not be surprised to see him on the active roster when camp wraps. Washuta and Solomon both have bigger hills to climb, but I love seeing Solomon get a shot. He had a pretty good career at Syracuse, but his rookie MLL campaign was lackluster. When he showed up in 2020, he was a different player. He was completely fearless and would dive headfirst in the defense to make a play. The Archers offense has no shortage of players who demand the ball, so a player like Solomon who can work to get open off ball fits their mold.
Current Roster
Grant Ament (A); Connor Fields (A); Marcus Holman (A); Will Manny (A); Joey Sankey (A); Nate Solomon (A)
Christian Mazzone (M); Ryan McNamara (M); Tom Schreiber (M); Ryan Ambler (M); Austin Sims (M)
Stephen Kelly (FO)
Scott Ratliff (LSM); Latrell Harris (LSM)
Mark McNeill (SSDM); Dominique Alexander (SSDM)
Eli Gobrecht (D); Graeme Hossack (D); Warren Jeffrey (D); Matt McMahon (D); Evan Connell (D); Jackson Place (D); Jack Rapine (D)
Adam Ghitelman (G); Nick Washuta (G); Drew Adams (G)
Atlas
College Draft Picks: 6
Current Roster Spots: 25
Waiver Claims
JD Colarusso (G); Kyle Pless (D); Mark Cockerton (A)
2021 Atlas will not resemble 2020 Atlas; it’s just incredible. And it still has a whopping six draft picks to use up. But it is currently over budget on spots, so something will happen. In the entry draft, the Bulls beefed up their already beefy close defense.
This time around, head coach Ben Rubeor pulled in the only non-MLL/non-NFL player of the day in JD Colarusso to be Concannon’s backup in goal. He also grabbed Mark Cockerton, whom he coached in Boston, which I’m a little more puzzled by. They now have Cloutier, Law, and Cockerton as potential inside finishers. He could bump them all into more wing players, but if looking at players’ strengths, there is quite a bit of overlap. This does also lead toward a theme developing on this roster: versatility. Aside from the players just mentioned, Bucaro and Adams can move around, Costabile can be a true two-way middie again, and a few of their listed close defenders, like Craig Chick, can definitely play LSM.
Current Roster
James Pannell (A); Eric Law (A); Chris Cloutier (A); Brendan Sunday (A); Mark Cockerton (A)
Daniel Bucaro (A/M)
John Crawley (M); Joel Tinney (M); Brent Adams (M); Bryan Costabile (M); Romar Dennis (M)
Trevor Baptiste (FO); Chris Mattes (FO)
Jake Richard (SSDM); Kevin Unterstein (SSDM)
Craig Chick (D); Michael Rexrode (D); Andrew Newbold (D); Tucker Durkin (D); Austin Pifani (D); Cade van Raaphorst (D); Aidan Hynes (D); Kyle Pless (D)
Jack Concannon (G); JD Colarusso (G)
Chaos
College Draft Picks: 6
Current Roster Spots: 23
Waiver Claims
Chaos made no waiver claims. It had room for one, but with so many college picks, its attention can be there.
Current Roster
Josh Byrne (A); Curtis Dickson (A); Chase Fraser (A); Miles Thompson (A)
Jake Froccaro (M); Ian MacKay (M); Sergio Salcido (M); Dalton Crossan (M); Austin Staats (M); Dhane Smith (M); Challen Rogers (M); Eric Scott (M); Kyle Jackson (M)
Max Adler (FO); Austin Henningsen (FO)
Mark Glicini (SSDM); Pat Resch (SSDM)
Troy Reh (LSM)
Jarrod Neumann (D); Jack Rowlett (D); Dan Coates (D)
Dillon Ward (G); Blaze Riorden (G)
Military Exempt
Matt Rees (LSM); Johnny Surdick (D)
Chrome
College Draft Picks: 4
Current Roster Spots: 26
Waiver Claims
Ryan Beville (SSDM); Greg Weyl (D)
If there’s any team in the PLL where prior experience with coaches and players matter, it’s the Chrome. They addressed their most pressing needs in the entry draft, so it made sense to grab a defensive mid and another pole. Weyl is a Rochester, New York, native, which puts him in good company on this team. Beville was also coached in college by John Galloway. The Chrome loaded up right to their magic number of 30, assuming nothing changes with their collegiate count. That did leave a few former Rattlers players on the table for head coach Tim Soudan, like veterans Kyle Denhoff and Mark Matthews, who are both still in the player pool.
Current Roster
Justin Guterding (A); Jordan Wolf (A); Matt Gaudet (A); Randy Staats (A); Simon Mathias (A)
Colin Heacock (A/M)
Ned Crotty (M); Jesse King (M); Jordan MacIntosh (M); John Ranagan (M); Brendan Kavanagh (M)
Connor Farrell (FO)
John Moderski (LSM); Eli Salama (LSM); Joel White (LSM)
Will Haus (SSDM); Donny Moss (SSDM); Ryan Beville (SSDM)
Jesse Bernhardt (D); Mike Manley (D); Tom Rigney (D); James Barclay (D); Greg Weyl (D); Foster Huggins (D)
John Galloway (G); Sean Sconone (G)
Redwoods
College Draft Picks: 4
Current Roster Spots: 26
Waiver Claims
Brian Phipps (G)
The ‘Woods really didn’t have anything too pressing for the free agent market before the collegiate draft. Adding IDA and Ryan Lee brought in some skill sets they either didn’t have or needed to reinforce. If they did nothing, I wouldn’t have been shocked. I love the addition of Brian Phipps, though. Even though he’s nearing the tail end of his career after being a pro for a decade now, he had an outstanding 2020 season for the Bayhawks and is also on the USA training team. Bringing him in not only offers great mentorship for two-year starter Troutner, but he will also push for the starting spot. The great thing about Phipps is that he can excel in either role, which is someone you want on your team.
Current Roster
Ryder Garnsey (A); Jules Heningburg (A); Matt Kavanagh (A); Rob Pannell (A); Ryan Lee (A)
Sergio Perkovic (M); Tyler Dunn (M); Kyle Harrison (M); Myles Jones (M); Joe Walters (M)
Greg Puskuldjian (FO); Peyton Smith (FO)
Larken Kemp (LSM); John Sexton (LSM)
Pat Harbeson (SSDM); Jack Near (SSDM); Nick Ossello (SSDM); Isaiah Davis-Allen (SSDM)
Garrett Epple (D); Eddy Glazener (D); Finn Sullivan (D); Chris Price (D); Hugh Crance (D)
Tim Troutner (G); Jack Kelly (G); Brian Phipps (G)
Military Exempt
Matt Landis (D)
Waterdogs
College Draft Picks: 3
Current Roster Spots: 26
Waiver Claims
Matt Whitcher (SSDM)
After adding two more strong poles in the entry draft, the Waterdogs were still going to look defensively more than any here else. Only having two SSDMs listed, finding another one made sense, and Whitcher is the perfect pick. There were definitely other options out there, but Whitcher is built exactly like the prototypical SSDM and has the skill set that fits the Waterdogs’ Swiss Army approach. His 2020 season was impressive to say the least, and he’s a physical defender who can clear the ball, plus can be a serious scoring threat in transition.
Current Roster
Ryan Brown (A); Christian Cuccinello (A); Kieran McArdle (A); Michael Kraus (A); Ben Reeves (A)
Wes Berg (M); Ryan Conrad (M); Zach Currier (M); Connor Kelly (M); Ben McIntosh (M); Drew Snider (M); Dan Eipp (M); Mikie Schlosser (M); Kyle McClancy (M)
Jake Withers (FO)
Steve DeNapoli (SSDM); Christian Scarpello (SSDM); Matt Whitcher (SSDM)
Ryland Rees (LSM)
BJ Grill (D); Chris Sabia (D); Patrick Foley (D); Ben Randall (D); Liam Byrnes (D)
Matt DeLuca (G); Charlie Cipriano (G)
Military Exempt
Noah Richard (D)
Whipsnakes
College Draft Picks: 4
Current Roster Spots: 23
Waiver Claims
Kevin Reisman (FO); Matt Abbott (SSDM); Alex Spring (LSM)
It might be getting old at this point, but the Whips are just an embarrassment of riches. They have the previous two league MVPs at attack, the best FOGO, and among the best LSM, close defenses, and goalie in the league. This whole offseason is just about depth. So what did they do? Added ridiculous depth.
The Whipnskaes only had one SSDM, so they added two of the best SSDMs available in Charlie Hayes and Matt Abbot. Joe Nardella is their starter for faceoffs without question, but Reisman won the MLL championship while having to deal with Max Adler on the other side. Like Reisman, Alex Spring won’t be pushing for starters’ minutes against Ehrhardt, but he’s a player who can be an absolute ground ball machine.
Current Roster
Jay Carlson (A); Matt Rambo (A); Zed Williams (A); Dylan Maltz (A); Chris Aslanian (A)
Jake Bernhardt (M); Mike Chanenchuk (M); John Haus (M); Brad Smith (M); Matt Hubler (M); Bryan Cole (M)
Joe Nardella (FO); Kevin Reisman (FO)
Matt Abbott (SSDM); TJ Comizio (SSDM); Charlie Hayes (SSDM)
Michael Ehrhardt (LSM); Alex Spring (LSM)
Matt Dunn (D); Tim Muller (D); Bryce Young (D); Sean New (D)
Kyle Bernlohr (G)
Trade Bait
With pretty beefy rosters and one more draft on the way, there are teams with needs, and there are teams with assets. Atlas and Chaos are sitting pretty with a ton of picks, while the Cannons are over budget on roster spots. Everyone except Chrome has wiggle room to add more from the player pool before or after the draft, or do a multi-player for higher pick trade prior to the draft to get a player they really want.
But, how likely are these to happen? Like I said in the beginning, 30 spots is the immediate goal while 25 is the long-term plan. So who could trade for what?
Cannons
Have: Too many spots filled, three FOGOs, lots of attackmen, and lots of scorers.
Want: Where the Cannons are lightest is at close defense. They could also get more active in trading if they get the right deals together to flip some of their unprotected expansion pickups to players who were protected the first time around.
Archers
Have: The Archers are in a great spot where they are very balanced and have established in key places.
Want: Defensive midfield is likely their focus, as is another faceoff guy.
Atlas
Have: Inside finishers, Close defense, and 2021 draft picks.
Want: Defensive midfield, just like the Archers.
Chaos
Have: A lot of midfielders and a lot of draft picks.
Want: They need to build out their defensive depth some more at both close and midfield. This isn’t a college draft article, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see them make some trades to move up for someone like Ryan Terefenko or try to lock in another pole.
Chrome
Have: Everything? Chrome have starters in every position right now. Positionally, they won’t be a target for other teams, but they do have some players who could be intriguing prospects.
Want: They will likely want another FOGO along with Farrell, but that’s the only gap right now. Aside from that, they can look to upgrade or take chances on players in the draft.
Redwoods
Have: The Redwoods are also in a spot where they have everything they need at each position. Starters across the board, and the right number of draft picks.
Want: The ‘Woods are in upgrade mode more than anything, especially at faceoff. But with who they have and their on-field track record, there’s no major reason to do anything drastic.
Waterdogs
Have: A ton of offense. Right now, 14 of their 26 players are middies or attack.
Want: Defensive midfield and faceoff. They could use another of both LSM and a dedicated SSDM, but they can rely on more versatile players anyway, so getting hung up on specialists here is not the way to go.
Whipsnakes
Have: Everything. They have everything.
Want: They’ve won the past two championships and kept their entire core, what do you think they need? OK, Being realistic, they could use a few more poles for depth and another goalie.
Who’s Left?
Focusing in on just the incoming MLL players (there are still plenty of previously-signed PLL players, too!), there are still a few who garner some attention for being left off of rosters right now. They could still wind up being signed before camp, or even during the season, but this list of players’ combined college and professional resume would be something most dream of:
Attack
Bradley Voigt; Connor O’Hara; Dan Lomas; Dylan Donahue; Dylan Molloy; Mark Matthews; Miles Silva; Mitch Jones; Reilly O’Connor; Shawn Evans; Stephen Keogh; Tommy Palasek; Will Sands
Midfield
Adam Osika; Anthony Malcom; Austin Shanks; Brendan Bomberry; Cal Dearth; Cody Radziewicz; Frank Brown; Garrett Thul; Jeremy Noble; Justin Reh; Kiel Matisz; Kyle Buchanan; Kyle Denhoff; Matt Mackrides; Nick Galasso; Rhamel Bratton; Sean Lawton; Steve Priolo; Tim Barber; Tim Edwards
Defense
Greg Danseglio; James Fahey; Leo Stouros; Matt Hossack; Mike Skudin; Nick Mellen; Will Nowesnick
LSM
CJ Costabile; Matt Gilray
SSDM
Drew Schantz; Mark Ellis; Michael Brown; Pat Aslanian
Goalie
Austin Kaut; Christian Knight; Kris Alleyne; Max Edelmann; Niko Amato
Faceoff
Casey Dowd; Noah Rak
