For local fans, the biggest question of the 2011 National Lacrosse League season is, of course, whether or not the Washington Stealth can repeat as winners of the Champion’s Cup. But there are some other developments to keep an eye on :
1. Junior heads to Denver
No, not that Junior, Mariners fans. the Rochester Knighthawks traded NLL legend John Grant Jr. to the Colorado Mammoth in a blockbuster offseason trade. Grant, who ranked ninth in the league with 83 points last year (39 goals, 44 assists), had spent his entire 10-year career with Rochester. The Mammoth hope his pedigree and leadership will ignite a franchise that finished 4-12 and suffered through a league-high seven-game losing streak in 2010. The fans in Denver — all 120,299 who walked through the Pepsi Center turnstiles in 2010 — no doubt are ready for some changes after Colorado finished 0-8 at home last season.
2. Boston’s Big Three
There wasn’t a big production, no ESPN special, but the Boston Blazers pulled off what could be a spectacular coup by acquiring superstar forwards Josh Sanderson (in a trade with Calgary) and Casey Powell (Orlando dispersal draft). The Blazers, arguably the preseason favorite to win the title, already have Dan Dawson (who scored 88 points, sixth in the league). Now the questions are: Can the trio play together and will the Blazers’ defense under new head coach Matt Sawyer limit the scoring chances of Boston’s opponents? Speaking of Sawyer, he took over late in December after Boston fired head coach Tom Ryan following training camp.
3. Gaining strength
The league’s parity among franchises was already solid with 11 teams competing, now remove the Orlando Titans from the equation because of unfortunate financial trouble and ownership issues and divvy up their players among the remaining 10 teams. Talk about a level playing field. In a league where a majority of the games are decided in the final quarter, it might not be out of the realm of possibility to see a nine-loss team go deep in the playoffs. More than ever it could really be anyone’s year.
4. Will they come?
OK, there’s one more question surrounding the Washington Stealth: Will the team continue the upward trend in attendance that started during the latter part of the 2010 season and culminated with a sellout crowd for the Champion’s Cup? The Stealth ranked last in the NLL in attendance in 2010 (3,945 fans per game during eight regular-season contests), but the franchise loves Everett and season-ticket sales are up 20 percent.
5. Western contenders
Can anyone knock Washington off the top of the West Division totem pole? Edmonton pushed Washington to the limit in the West Division final during the 2010 playoffs, forcing Stealth transition player Paul Rabil to come up with a dramatic game-winning goal a mere 8 seconds into the OT. The Rush appear to have the keys to challenge again, but Calgary is rebuilding, Colorado is untested with its revamped squad and a less-than-impressive Minnesota team stayed relatively quiet during the offseason.
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