Why must I do this every year? With some things, one must not question the desire; just accept the will. Another pro lacrosse draft, another inertia-dampening blast from yours truly. That’s the deal, there will be no bargaining.
As a preamble - this draft was not great. I don’t mean the execution (although hype-host Chris Cotter poking fun at the robotic coaches who were clearly told to read off of the teleprompter did, indeed, evoke guttural ire) - I mean the overall talent. It was, as the kids say “Mid”. As in middling. Not bad. Not great. Just right there in the middle.
Or, as the great Bill Murray once said to Chevy Chase, “Medium talent.”
So, as we journey forward on this pothole-pocked road, I’ll do my best to grade on a curve. But you have to know there are several teams and players that will see this as a slight.
I prefer to think of it as free motivation to prove me wrong. And also a reason to start hiring General Managers.
Archers: Matt Moore, A (UVA); Brett Dobson, G (St. Bonaventure); Justin Inacio, FO (Ohio State); Jon Robbins, LSM (Bellarmine); Ryan Aughavin, M (Brown).
I’ll be honest and say that I have no idea why this team keeps drafting attackmen. Half of the offensive side of the roster is attackmen or converted attackmen. There has to be a point of diminishing returns and I think this draft is that point. Either coach Bates hated every pole in this draft or he’s trying to put heat on Holman and Manny to get more consistent with their output. Either way, I think it’s a mistake to keep loading up the goal cannon hoping that it won’t misfire.
Inacio and Dobson are necessary adds and, I think, have the highest ceiling of their respective positions in this draft. Question Dobson if you must, but do so after you take a gander at what he did for a Bonnies squad that didn’t have a SINGLE win until last year’s campaign.
I think Inacio will surprise a lot of people. Early Face-off woes are pretty common for rookies, but he has generated a lot of goodwill from his contemporaries, so his learning curve might be shorter than most.
Grade: B-
Atlas: Chris Gray, A (UNC); Koby Smith, LSM (Towson); Brendan Curry, M, (Syracuse); Max Wayne, D (Christopher Newport, aka: the best non-New England team in DIII).
Look, I can’t score this draft anything lower than an “A” simply because coach Rubeor landed the all-time leading point scorer in NCAA history. BUT - how do two ball-dominant #ShortKings mesh on the same attack line? Historically, it hasn’t even been attempted in the pros. Hopefully Jeff Teat and Chris Gray like the same anime or something because they NEED to get along for the Atlas to reach the next level of the PLL.
Koby Smith at No. 6 is too high. Offensive LSMs are great, but once teams realize that he is more about the breakaway than the takeaway they will start running right at him from the top. Brendan Curry could be an absolute theft for where he was taken. He is an excellent dodge-and-shoot midfielder, even if he’s a little one-dimensional in that skill set. It’s okay to be one-dimensional if your singular skillset is shooting the ball. And if you don’t know who Max Wayne is, you’re about to find out this Saturday when CNU holds two teams to under 10 goals for the twelfth and thirteenth time this season, respectively.
Grade: A-
Cannons: Asher Nolting, A (High Point); Bubba Fairman, M (Maryland); Bryan McIntosh, D (Hofstra) Colin Kirst, G (Rutgers).
I hate this draft for the Cannons. (I know, you’re shocked). Not because they got bad players, but because the players they got do not fit with their current personnel. Asher Nolting playing alongside Lyle Thompson is going to be a disaster simply because Nolting has never played off the ball before. Maybe he can make that adjustment, but considering the rest of the team couldn’t even adjust to a slightly hobbled Thompson last year, I don’t understand how you expect Nolting to do it in one training camp. The only way he works is if he’s the second pass hinge man on the corner who releases the pressure and carries to pass through the slide. Bubba Fairman is another tweener midfielder that coach Quirk will trot out to try and make a difference in transition alongside the team’s best midfielder player Zach Goodrich.
It would be foolish to question Quirk’s goalie credentials - the man knows his keepers and always has - but taking one here just signals to the numerous backups on the roster going into camp that they’re not really needed. Did anyone else want a goalie that didn’t get one? Bryan McIntosh is a solid No. 3 defenseman in the PLL, but Brodie Merrill is still going to start over him. Thanks, I hate it.
Grade: C-
Chaos: Brett Kennedy, LSM (Syracuse); Zach Geddes, SSDM (Georgetown); Jonathan Donville, M (Maryland); Kevin Lindley, A (Loyola).
Do I think Kennedy is a first-round talent in a normal draft? No. But I also don’t have to tell you that this was a brutal season for Syracuse. It’s not going to get easier for Kennedy who will have to step in and be a defensive LSM to compliment the rest of the Chaos’ violence-centric poles.
Geddes is a Pat Resch clone with more speed and Donville is a nice early-season makeweight for the Chaos’ lack of other Canadians due to the NLL playoffs. Kevin Lindley is the most Canadian American since Robin Scherbatsky. Typical draft for the Chaos - worry about now and prepare for the imminent war of 1812-inspired uprising that you’ll lead later. Maple Leaf jerseys for everyone, eh?
Grade: B+
Chrome: Logan Wisnauskas, A (Maryland); Brendan Nichtern, A (Army); Ryan McNulty, LSM (Loyola); Owen McElroy, G (Georgetown).
So, everyone keeps asking me why Tim Soudan picked Wisnauskas over Gray. This is what I think: Soudo loves to create a culture of team and family among his teams. He’s never really been the kind of coach to ever cater to a superstar. He’s had them, but they have come in bunches - in classes. Tim Soudan once cut a guy in training camp for being a dick to his teammates after scoring a goal. That’s not hyperbole; that’s a fact. I’m not saying Chris Gray is like that - I don’t know. But what I do know is that Logan Wisnauskas is NOT like that and comes into the league as one of the top five best “second” attackmen in the league.
The Nichtern pick makes sense combined with the Wisnauskas shocker, but Nichtern led the NCAA in turnovers this season with 47. He doesn't have enough speed to break GLE and score, but he’s an excellent feeder and can get open much better than most X-guys can. McNulty reads as slow to me, and to others, but bruiser-type poles tend to thrive under Soudan, so maybe that’s a little too much watching BU smash Loyola bias from me. McElroy was necessary cover after Galloway’s retirement and was the best keeper available, so tough to question that pick as well.
But…
Aren’t you going to regret passing on a generational scorer like Gray?
Grade: B
Redwoods: Arden Cohen, D (Notre Dame); Nakeie Montgomery, M (Duke); Mitch Bartolo, A/M (Rutgers).
Nakeie Montgomery is absolutely the steal of the draft. Straight up, he should be headlining the Redwoods’ second midfield line right next to Bartolo. The big/little potential is salivating. But this team still has chemistry issues that these picks don’t solve. If anything, drafting another ND defenseman in Cohen just papers over the issues in the six-on-six that led to the team’s dismissal from the playoffs.
This team needed to get faster all over the field - not bigger or meaner. Montgomery helps that a little, but not a lot. Add to that Cohen’s injury history and this draft could just be a drop in the bucket that is still waiting to be filled with a trophy.
Grade: B
Waterdogs: Jack Hannah, M (Denver); Jake Higgins, SSDM (Maryland); Jason Reynolds, LSM (Notre Dame).
This group is indicative of the quality dropoff in this draft class. I think all three of these players will struggle to get meaningful minutes this summer and beyond. Hannah’s final season at Denver has been marred by a truly despicable 24% shooting percentage, which ONLY went past the 20% mark after eight games. In his first six games, Hannah had seven goals from 56 shots. This is why we don’t just watch highlights, mmk?
Higgins and Reynolds are fine players, but are they going to start? No. They’re not. Could have done more with less, but overall this is a true reflection of the talent available when Copelan was picking in the draft order.
Grade: C-
Whipsnakes: Roman Pugliese, SSDM (Maryland); Wheaton Jackoboice, M (Notre Dame); Keegan Khan, A (Maryland); Jackson Reid, A (Ohio State); Colin Hinton, D (Jacksonville).
So, this grade is based more on the history of Stagnitta to develop players than it is directly on the players’ ability coming in. Let me break that down more - Stags is famous for his gruff exterior with the media and, uh, everyone else. But to his players, he’s a cantankerous old-school coach that some of them really connect with. That bond has turned players like Zed Williams, Matt Rambo, Michael Ehrhardt, Drew Snider, Matt Dunn, and Kyle Bernlohr into elite players. Rambo, Ehrhardt, and Snider all go back to the MLL days when they started as good players but became great playing for Stags. People forget that Zed Williams was playing out of position and sailing dozens of balls wide for the Cannons the summer before he came to the PLL and became an MVP.
But I don’t.
I still think a few of these players will struggle to see real playing time this summer, but you have to think taking two extra attackmen is cover for any potential injuries that the Whips had to endure last season.
Grade: B+