The NLL is back! The 2026 season began last Friday with the first-ever game in Oshawa, followed by three games on Saturday in Buffalo, Ottawa, and Vancouver. Buffalo won their game, which surprised pretty much nobody, Colorado beat the heavily favoured Vancouver Warriors in an upset, and the other two games were kind of in the middle in terms of surprising results.
Goalies in the Sin Bin
In last Saturday night’s Georgia/Buffalo game, Swarm goaltender Brett Dobson took a major penalty for high-sticking. It’s a bit unusual for a goalie to take a major penalty but that was less unusual than what happened next: Dobson was sent to the penalty box to serve his own penalty. Social media went bananas with people wondering if a rule had changed or if this was par for the course in the NLL. The answers are no and no.
2026 NLL Rule changes
Every year, some tweaks are made to the NLL Rule book. There aren’t that many this year but Rule 67.16, the so-called “Bandits rule”, could significantly affect the defensive strategies of not only the Bandits but other teams as well – the Knighthawks come to mind.
2026 NLL Preview: Part II
Here’s part II of my pre-season preview; part I was here. For each team (alphabetically from Ottawa through Vancouver), I’ll share where I think they will end up, and who might have a breakout year.
As I did last year, I’m not going to make specific standings predictions. I’ll break things up into groups: Top 4, Middle 4 (i.e. #5-8), and Miss Playoffs (#9-14).
2026 NLL Preview: Part I
Here’s a quick look at each team, where I think each team will end up, and who might have a breakout year. I’ll go alphabetically and cover Buffalo through Oshawa in this article, and then Ottawa through Vancouver in Part II.
As I did last year, I’m not going to make specific standings predictions. I’ll break things up into groups: Top 4, Middle 4 (i.e. #5-8), and Miss Playoffs (#9-14).
Presenting the 2026 Panther City Lacrosse Club
I’ve done this for a number of years: I make up a team consisting of players who are not part of any team, whether on an active roster, IR, PUP, holdout list, practice roster, or anything else and who hadn’t retired. Sometimes this team is pretty decent, and there have been years where the team is better than decent – with the right coach and a bit of luck, they could possibly make the playoffs against the existing NLL teams. This year’s team is not bad goaltending-wise but is pretty good defensively and solid up front as well. Not sure they’re making the playoffs against the 2026 NLL teams but they wouldn’t suck.
NLL 2026: Who’s in, who’s out
Here it is: a complete summary of all the roster changes for each team, all in one place. I will update this article as things change, up until the beginning of the season.
Just to be clear, “In” means that the player is part of the announced roster for the 2026 season and was not on the active roster during the team’s last game of the season in 2025. “Out” means just the opposite: they were on the roster for the last game last year, but are not on the active roster as of now. So a player who was injured at the time of the last game last year but is back now is “In”, while a player who is currently injured might be “Out”.
Not all teams have announced who’s on their IR, PUP, or holdout lists so take an empty list with a grain of salt. Also most teams don’t have (or didn’t announce) a Protected or Draft list, but a few did.
2025 Offseason report, Part II
My goodness, the second half of the off-season was crazy busy. We had the new CBA finally agreed upon and signed, and then an absolute frenzy of free agent signings. Many free agents returned to their previous team but an awful lot of them signed somewhere else. If only half of those signings result in a compensatory first round draft pick in 2026, the first round of that draft could have 25 picks in it.
Anyway, he’s a summary of what’s happened since I last rapped at ya back in September.
2025 Offseason report, Part I
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.
The Streak: The story of the 1992-1994 Buffalo Bandits
Many NLL fans these days have heard the story that the Buffalo Bandits had a long winning streak back in the early 90’s that lasted an entire season. It’s true, but there’s more to it than just that. Let’s have a look the facts of this amazing streak.
NLL Chatter 