All things considered, it hasn’t really been a busy off-season for the NLL. There have been some retirements and some team changes (one will change colours, one will change arenas, and two will vanish entirely). We also had the first NLL Hall of Fame inductees in several years, but there was only one trade and not much else. But the two-team dispersal draft, the opening of free agency, and the entry draft are all within the next two weeks. It’s not unlikely that an awful lot of player movement will occur during that time, so let’s go over what’s already happened and then we can discuss those changes later.

Trades

The only trade came in mid-August, as Halifax sent Nonkon Thompson and Drew Hutchison to Rochester for Tyler Biles and Riley Hutchcraft. Each team sent a tough, gritty defender and a backup goalie named Hutch and received a tough, gritty defender and a backup goalie named Hutch. Sounds pretty even.

Retirements

Only three players announced their retirement in the off-season, though it’s likely that other players also retired but didn’t announce it.

Stephen Keogh hung ’em up after 13 seasons in Rochester, Colorado, Rochester again, Halifax, Toronto, New York, and then back in Halifax. He was part of Rochester’s three straight Championships from 2012–2014, and lost the Championship with Halifax last year. Keogh could score with the best of them but was also great at creating space in front of the net for his teammates. When you talk about guys that “get to the dirty areas”, Keogh was the poster boy.

Ian Llord started his career with the old Wings in 2007 before playing with the Bandits, the old Knighthawks, six games with the Mammoth in 2019, then finishing with the new Wings and the new Knighthawks. Llord is the only player who played for the old Wings, the new Wings, the old Knighthawks, and the new Knighthawks. And now that the new Wings are gone, he will forever be the only member of that group. Llord also won three Championships, first with the 2008 Bandits then with both the 2013 and 2014 Knighthawks.

I have a ton of respect for both Keogh and Llord but let’s be real, Matt Vinc is the biggest name to retire from the NLL in 2026. We’ve all heard the incredible numbers: eight Goaltender of the Year awards* and six Championships (back-to-back-to-back twice). He also is the league’s overall leader among goalies in games played, minutes played, shots faced, saves, and wins – and he leads all of those categories in both the regular season and the playoffs. In the playoffs, his numbers in each of those categories except games played are more than double those of second place, and he’s only three short of doubling Nick Rose, Mike Poulin, and Frank Scigliano in games played.

The GOAT of goalies, Matt Vinc

Vinc is so far ahead in regular season minutes played that the second-place goalie, Nick Rose, would have to play 60 minutes per game, in every game his team plays, for the next 5½ seasons to catch him.

* – Only two other goalies have won this award more than once: Steve Dietrich and Bob Watson each won it twice.

Fun fact: Keogh, Llord, and Vinc played together for the old Knighthawks from 2013–2017 and won Championships in 2013 and 2014.

Team changes

In July, Rochester announced that they are returning to the traditional teal and purple colour scheme that the previous incarnation of the Knighthawks used for many years. I was just getting used to the new khaki colours and starting to like them, but truth be told, I do prefer the teal.

In August, the Seals announced that they are moving from Pechanga Arena in San Diego to Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California. The new arena is about 60km north of Pechanga. Being located outside of the “downtown core” has worked very well for Las Vegas over the last two seasons, but didn’t work for Ottawa, Chicago, Washington (Stealth), and various New York teams. We’ll see how this affects the Seals, who have been one of the best regular season teams since they came into the league but have struggled with low attendance anyway.

Execs

After Randy Mearns filled in as interim head coach for part of last season, Dan Carey decided not to give him the full-time job. It’s also possible that he did but Mearns said no, I have no idea. Former Calgary, Toronto, Buffalo, and Vancouver coach (and two-time Les Bartley award winner) Troy Cordingley was hired as the new head coach in Rochester, and Phil Sanderson was later hired as D coach. The other assistant coaches currently listed on the Knighthawks web site are Kyle Kallay and Matthew DiLella, who were both there under Mearns last season.

Hall of Fame

There was a five-year break between the class of 2016 and the class of 2021, when ten new inductees were added to the NLL Hall of Fame. After another five year break, eight more people were added this past summer:

• Players: Sandy Chapman, Shawn Evans, Dan Dawson, Mark Steenhuis
  • Also nominated: Jordan Hall, Jeff Shattler, Geoff Snider, Billy Dee Smith
• Veterans: Mike Accursi, Jake Bergey, Gavin Prout
  • Also nominated: Glenn Clark, Duane Jacobs, Brian Voelker, Cam Woods
• Builder: John Gurtler
  • Also nominated: Leif Elsmo, Craig Rybczynski

I’m particularly happy for Chapman, who was a standout defender (they called him “Charlie Hustle” for good reason) for many years but because, like many defenders, he wasn’t flashy, he might have flown a bit under the radar. Obviously the people who did the HoF voting were very familiar with his game. Similarly, Gavin Prout never had the huge offensive numbers of guys like Shawn Evans or Dan Dawson (Prout never broke 100 points in any season), but he was a leader in the dressing room and a real presence on the floor.

And not only is John Gurtler an NLL broadcasting legend, but he’s been a big supporter of my nllstats.com web site. He’s mentioned it on numerous Bandits broadcasts and has interviewed me on the radio twice, so I’m very happy to see him get the Hall of Fame nod as well.

Contraction

Of course, the biggest and most disappointing news of the off-season is the contraction of the Philadelphia Wings and the Ottawa Black Bears. We knew last season that the Wings were having trouble and that they would not be run by Comcast in 2027. But it’s very disappointing that new ownership couldn’t be found anywhere, not just in Philly. It appears that nobody from Edmonton, Minnesota, Nashville, Montreal, or any of the other cities that have been mentioned as possible NLL destinations were able to put together a compelling bid for either the Wings or the Black Bears.

As for Ottawa, despite an exciting young up-and-coming team including guys like Jeff Teat, Rob Hellyer, Callum Jones, and Zach Higgins, they still struggled at the gate. Ottawa’s troubles weren’t quite as well known as Philly’s but given their last-place finish in attendance in 2026, I don’t think the news really surprised anybody either.

I’ve written what seems like dozens of articles over the years about teams folding or moving, so I’m not going into all of that again. Suffice it to say that I’m sure the league did what they could to find new ownership for both teams, and it sucks for fans of both teams as well as all of the now-unemployed players, coaches, trainers, and other staff that they were unsuccessful.