As I do every year, here are my predictions for the final regular season standings for the upcoming season, and also the major end-of-season awards.
Final Standings
East
West
Individual Awards
MVP
Winner: Garrett Billings. He’s been right up there in MVP voting for a couple of years, and I think this is his year.
Short list: Cody Jamieson, Mark Matthews
Goaltender of the Year
Winner: Matt Vinc. I may just pick Vinc every year until he retires or The Next Matt Vinc arrives.
Short list: Tyler Richards, Aaron Bold
Defensive Player of the Year
Winner: Kyle Rubisch. Like Vinc, I’ll likely just keeping guessing Rubisch until someone else rips the award away from him.
Short list: Mike Grimes, Rory Smith
Transition Player of the Year
Winner: Geoff Snider. This is who I think should win. If I were to pick who I think will win, it’d be Jordan MacIntosh. But MacIntosh isn’t strictly a transition player, and for some reason this really annoys me. This is similar to Jeff Shattler a couple of years ago – was he the MVP: yes. Was he the transition player of the year: in my opinion, no.
Short list: Jesse Gamble, Brad Self
Rookie of the Year
Winner: Robert Church. This award is almost always a tough one. It’s a crapshoot which rookies will quickly adapt to the NLL and which will not.
Short list: Logan Schuss, Jason Noble, Cody Bremner, Karsen Leung
Les Bartley (Coach of the Year)
Winner: Chris Hall
Short list: Troy Cordingley, Derek Keenan
GM of the Year
Winner: Steve Dietrich
Short list: Doug Locker
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