The National Lacrosse League season doesn’t begin until January, but the Washington Stealth are already making moves to improve the team that went to the West Division Finals a year ago.
Three players were added to the roster in a dispersal draft of Portland Lumberjax players, while three more were acquired through trades.
The Stealth added a 54-point scorer to their offense with their first pick in the dispersal draft, selecting forward Peter Morgan with the seventh pick. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward scored 29 goals and added 24 assists in 13 games with Portland last season. In his eight-year NLL career, Morgan has accumulated 175 goals and 172 assists.
In the second round, the Stealth picked up transition player Brad MacDonald. MacDonald adds size and speed to the Stealth transition game. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound native of Owen Sound, Ontario will be reunited with Stealth head coach Chris Hall; the pair won an NLL Championship together in 2004 with the Calgary Roughnecks. In 67 career games, MacDonald has scored 12 goals and added 19 assists with 116 loose balls.
The Stealth’s final selection in the Portland dispersal draft was forward Derek Lowe, an exciting young player entering his third NLL season. Lowe has seen limited action since being picked up by the Lumberjax in 2007, but will provide another viable option for the Stealth on the offensive end.
Following the draft, the Stealth announced a series of trades that will bolster their roster even further. Luke Wiles will be reunited with the Stealth after spending last season with the Toronto Rock. The Stealth sent Kevin Huntley and a second-round pick in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft to Toronto in exchange for the 5-foot-11, 200-pound forward. Wiles finished 2009 with 69 points, good for 20th in the NLL. Wiles spent over two seasons with the Stealth from 2006-2008, including a career campaign in 2007, when he was eleventh in the league with 82 points.
Finally, the Stealth added some local flavor to the squad, acquiring transition player Jason Bloom in a trade with the Boston Blazers. An Ohio State university graduate, Bloom currently lives in Mercer Island, and is a coach at Overlake High School. Bloom helped lead Overlake to a State Championship last season.
Bloom has been in the NLL for three seasons, playing in Colorado in 2007 and 2008 before heading to Boston last season. The Vancouver native has spent his career in the NLL traveling a great deal and is excited to play close to home. “I’m fired up to play in the same city I live in,” said Bloom after the trade was announced earlier today. “There’s a great lacrosse community in Washington and everyone here is excited to have the Stealth in town. I am pumped to be a part of it.” In 35 career games, Bloom has recorded 20 goals, 25 assists and collected 112 loose balls.
“We are a better lacrosse club today than we were at the end of last season,” said Washington Stealth President and General Manager Johnny Mouradian. “Our goal, as always, is to play in the championship game. These acquisitions get us closer.”
The Stealth begin play at the Comcast Arena in January.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
