It’s been a busy off-season so far, and there’s lots more to come. Because we don’t have a CBA for next season, teams aren’t allowed to sign free agents yet though they’re allowed to talk to them. I’m sure many handshake agreements have been made and once we have a new CBA and free agency opens up, all of these deals will be announced. Then we’ll see how much the NLL landscape has really changed.
Until then though, let’s take a look at some of the significant moves made so far.
Another exciting weekend in the NLL, and we’re a little closer to knowing the final playoff positions. We now know that Buffalo has clinched first overall, Saskatchewan is second, third and fourth will go to two of Halifax, Rochester, Vancouver, and Calgary (though Calgary can’t finish third and hasn’t actually clinched a playoff spot), and only Toronto and Las Vegas have been eliminated.
The March to May continues and the playoff races got a little tighter this past weekend. Buffalo and Saskatchewan have clinched playoff spots and Las Vegas has been eliminated, but everyone else is still in the mix. Obviously some teams are in better shape than others, so it’s unlikely that Halifax will miss, and unlikely that Toronto or Philly will make it. But there are still seven or eight teams that have a decent chance of doing either one.
My Awesomes this week include three teams that are at the bottom end of the standings, but don’t take that as any kind of prediction. They were just awesome last weekend.
Another busy weekend in the NLL with seven games. Blowouts were the name of the game this weekend, as four of the seven games featured a team that led by at least nine goals and three of them led by eleven. To balance things out, we had a one-goal game and a two-goal game, but most of the games were decided well before the fourth quarter even started.
I have more Not Awesomes than Awesomes this week, which is unusual, but even the Not Awesomes aren’t really that bad.
Trade deadline day in the NLL was pretty uneventful and boring… until it wasn’t. And then it really really wasn’t. First, former MVP and Goaltender of the Year Christian Del Bianco was sent to the Vancouver Warriors for defender Brayden Laity and some pretty high draft picks. Del Bianco had been holding out this entire season, asking for a trade closer to his home in Vancouver, and since Calgary is the closest team to Vancouver that isn’t Vancouver, there was really nowhere else for him to go.
There were a few other deals made that day as well which I’ll touch on too.
We saw a few significant trades this past week, notably two huge ones involving the Toronto Rock as well as another significant one involving the Wings and Desert Dogs. Then on Saturday, the Seals and FireWolves made a deal. The Toronto trades look like they’ve given up on the season and have begun the rebuild, but it may not be as bad as that. The Wings have massively improved their defense, the Seals and Rock get picks for the future, and the Desert Dogs and FireWolves both get some more firepower up front.
Another busy week in the NLL with seven games, though not much really changed. The Bandits are still perfect, the Rock, Knighthawks, and Thunderbirds continue their climb back into the playoff race, the Swarm and Rush continue their strong seasons, and the Black Bears are still having trouble scoring.
A light week in the NLL with only four games but it was another exciting week with no shortage of stories.
What a wild weekend! We had lacrosse being discussed on the most popular podcast in the world, every team played a game and a couple played two, a sellout in the desert, close games, comebacks, a blowout that turned into less of a blowout, the last winless team winning, and the second NLL broadcast in a language other than English.
An incredible week of games starting with one of the best rivalries in the game, despite the results in recent years (Buffalo has won 11 of the past 12 matchups with the Rock since 2022). As I mention below, every game was a comeback to some extent but some were significant comebacks. Halifax/Rochester was as close as a game can be, to the point where we still don’t really know who won it.
NLL Chatter 