In October 2010, one of the greatest players in the game and a box lacrosse legend was traded for another one. After ten seasons, one missed season, a Rookie of the Year award, an NLL Championship, and an MVP award, John Grant, Jr. was traded from the Rochester Knighthawks to the Colorado Mammoth for reigning goaltender of the year Matt Vinc. Three other players as well as a few draft picks were also involved in this blockbuster, which transformed both teams. Some of those draft picks wouldn’t be made for almost three years, and the full extent of the trade wasn’t felt for quite a while.
Here is an article from a newspaper in Everett, Washington, home of the Washington Stealth, describing the trade. It’s interesting to hear what the writer thought of the trade at the time, like “The Cody Jamieson era officially [begins] in Rochester” (correct), “The K’Hawks also seem to have solved their goal-tending woes with the addition of Vinc” (correct), and “It’s tough to think John Grant Jr. will stay with the Mammoth” (incorrect).
With the benefit of hindsight, let’s look over this trade and see what impacts it had on the two teams involved and a few others.
Colorado received:
John Grant Jr. – Grant played six full seasons with Colorado, averaging 38 goals, 52 assists, and 91 points per year (remember that half of those were 16-game seasons). In 2012, he scored a league-leading 50 goals and added 66 assists for a record (at the time) 116 points. He only played 14 games that season but that pace would have given him 149 points in 18 games. Grant was named MVP for a second time that year, and was named to the Hall of Fame the second he was eligible.
Mac Allen – Defender Mac Allen played 18 games with Colorado over three seasons, then finished his career with one season for the Knighthawks. I believe he eventually became a lawyer and worked for the NLLPA (maybe he still does).
Rochester’s 1st round pick in 2011 – In March 2011, Colorado traded that pick along with Mike McClellan to Edmonton for Gavin Prout. In July, Edmonton traded the pick along with two other picks to Minnesota for Kevin Croswell, Ryan Cousins, Aaron Wilson, and a fourth round pick. At the entry draft in September, Minnesota drafted Evan Kirk.
Rochester’s 1st round pick in 2013 – In July of 2011, Colorado traded that pick along with another pick and Dan Carey to Toronto for Creighton Reid, Mat McLeod, and the 9th and 14th picks in 2011. The 9th pick eventually made its way to Buffalo, who used it to select Jeremy Thompson. The 14th pick was used by Colorado to draft Jamie Lincoln. With Rochester’s pick that was sent to Toronto, the Rock drafted Ethan O’Connor.
Rochester received:
Matt Vinc – Vinc played eight seasons with the Knighthawks. His time there included three Championships, one Championship loss, and five Goaltender of the Year awards. He’s since gone on to Buffalo where he won another Championship, lost two more, and won two more Goalie of the Year awards. Vinc is widely regarded as the best goaltender in NLL history and the only reason he’s not in the Hall of Fame now is because he’s still playing.
Note that Vinc never played a game for the Mammoth. He was acquired that same off-season in the Orlando Titans dispersal draft.
Matt Zash – Zash played 4 games with the Knighthawks before being traded to the Wings for a 5th round pick. That pick, Aaron Tackaberry, never made the NLL. Zash played six games for the Wings before calling it a career.
Brad Self – Self hadn’t played in the NLL for over two years when this trade happened, and didn’t play in 2011 either (I believe he was playing hockey in Europe at the time). In 2012, he returned to the Knighthawks and played there for five years, winning the Transition Player of the Year award in 2016. He played most of 2017 in Buffalo before being traded back to the Mammoth. He played the remainder of that season plus the next two for Colorado and is now the Mammoth’s GM. Interestingly, he’s not mentioned in the Everett newspaper’s article on the trade.
Colorado’s 1st round pick in 2012 – Rochester traded that pick along with Shawn Evans to Calgary for a 2012 first, with which they picked Johnny Powless. The Roughnecks used that pick to draft Joe Resetarits.
Colorado’s 3rd round pick in 2012 – Rochester chose a player named Robbie Campbell. Nobody by that name ever played in the NLL, although a Rob Campbell played one game with the Wings in 2013. I would guess that it’s the same person, but perhaps not. We’ve had two guys named Chris Gill play in the league at the same time (on the same team, for a while), and there are two guys named Justin Martin in the league now.
Like many other big trades, this one had a significant effect on the two teams involved. You could certainly make the argument that Rochester “won” the trade, since Vinc led them to three straight NLL Championships from 2012-2014, while the Mammoth never won a playoff game while Grant played there. But we must also remember that Grant was almost 36 at the time of the trade, while Vinc was 29. But in addition to those two teams, a handful of other teams were affected as well, and the trade ended up launching the careers of Johnny Powless, Joe Resetarits, Evan Kirk, and Ethan O’Connor.
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