Clutch Kings: Chase for the Championship
After 22 weeks of National Lacrosse League regular-season action (albeit two of those 22 having no games due to a Christmas break and then an Omicron-forced holiday) The Lax Mag’s season-long clutch calculations have determined who 2022’s most money goal scorer was.
It’s the Colorado Mammoth’s Eli McLaughlin, by the most minute of margins.
The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings tracks the league’s goal scorers through a weighted point system that examines game-trying, go-ahead and game-winning goals, plus when within a game they score (first, second, third or fourth quarter, and OT) and in what on-floor situation (even strength, power play or short handed). A goal’s point value can be found at the bottom of this post, but here’s a full rundown of our reasoning too.
McLaughlin, who led our leaderboard for most of April, finished the season with a slim 1.5 point lead over Blaze Riorden, who this past weekend scored by far this season’s rarest of goals during the Philadelphia Wings’ dramatic, post-season clinching OT win against the Georgia Swarm. Riorden, who topped the Clutch Kings at the start of the season, scored a short-handed goal in OT, the highest possible point a player can pop in our clutch countdown.
Not only did Riorden’s ridiculously rare goal send the Wings to the postseason, a recent @TheLaxMag Twitter poll proclaimed them this year’s dark-horse selection after 37.5% of our followers felt the wild-card positioned Wings are the most likely to upset their first round opponent this year, the San Diego Seals.
With the NLL’s Chase for the Championship going into full playoff mode starting tonight, we took a data deep dive into who the regular season tells us should be the players that will be most potent for their squad this postseason.
Below, we added up every game-tying, go-ahead and game-winning goal players produced for their playoff-present team. As we’ve seen throughout this season, a team’s quantity goal scorers isn’t always leading in quality too.
Plus, our final Clutch Kings regular-season leaderboard led by McLaughlin is below too.
Albany FireWolves
Their most obvious scoring threat is Joe Resetarits, who finished tied for first in NLL regular-season goals this year (47). Ryan Benesch, who is actually tied in Clutch Kings points with Resetarits (they’re both inside the Top 25 leaderboard at the bottom), gives Albany an experienced clutch-goal producer who also can’t be ignored. Seven of rookie Charlie Kitchen’s 14 goals this year were either GTGs, GAGs or GWGs. That’s a really good ratio.
And lastly, look at how many of those clutch-defined goals have been scored by players who produce via Albany’s offensive press. Everyone below O’Connor is either a defender or transitional threat. If they hope to beat the Buffalo Bandits in their first-round match, they’ll need goal production from that usually potent press. In Albany’s two games against Buffalo this year, both losses, just one defender or transition player scored (Mike Byrne). Transitional assists are nice, but nothing swings momentum more than a back breaker directly from a defender’s stick.
Buffalo Bandits
While Dhane Smith’s 41 goals this year led the Bandits, he’s actually well behind both Josh Byrne and rookie Tehoka Nanticoke when it comes to goals that matter most (again, game-tying, go-ahead and game-winning goals). With that said, what makes Buffalo’s attack so difficult to defend is their overall depth, which is reflected in the ring above.
Unlike their opening-round opponent, the Albany FireWolves, the Bandits have gotten minimal money help through transitional goal scoring. Ian MacKay, who easily led Buffalo’s back-door players with eleven goals this year, had three register above too.
Calgary Roughnecks
Their vets not surprising top the charts here. While Curtis Dickson was their Clutch Kings leader (15th overall on the below league leaderboard) Zach Herreweyers has been critically clutch this year too. Of Herreweyers’ five above, three were game winners, all happening in the fourth quarter. He’s a secondary scoring option whose points could prove pivotal in Calgary’s first-round fight against the Colorado Mammoth. Lots of secondary-scoring support from their offensive press too, led by who else but Zach Currier.
Colorado Mammoth
Well we already know that McLaughlin was this year #1 clutch goal getter, plus Connor Robinson has been hanging around near the top of the leaderboard the last several weeks. After that, their clutch-goal production drops off, by a lot. When you peruse today’s pie charts, it’s pretty clear that no team relies as heavily on a pair of players for game-swinging & -securing goals more than the Mammoth do with McLaughlin & Robinson. If they hope to get by Calgary in the first round, they’ll need someone to step up when it matters most.
Halifax Thunderbirds
No team today got more GTGs, GAGs and GWGs from a wider array of players than the Thunderbirds. Although they’ve struggled significantly in the second half, it is their depth that differentiated them from most others during their successful early stretch.
While he only finished fifth on the team’s point-scoring charts, Chris Boushy has been a constant in the Clutch Kings since the start of the season, highlighted largely by two fourth-quarter winners. In their last two games, both wins, Boushy has had a hat-trick in each, and netted the comeback winner against Rochester last week too. When Halifax beat the Toronto Rock, their first-round opponent in the playoffs this year, twice, guess what? Boushy bagged hatties in each of those Ws.
Philadelphia Wings
Even though his regular-season goal count (21) barely ranked him inside the season’s Top 50, Riorden’s ability to score this year’s most-money goals places his #2 in the Clutch Kings. The team has received other momentum-shifting moments from their forward core (the first five names above), but are the only team today that don’t have a single money marker starting from their other side of centre.
San Diego Seals
Austin Staats and Wes Berg not so shockingly lead here, but it’s impressive to see how high Casey Jackson sits after injuries sidelined him for eight games this season. Brett Hickey, who’ll see is former team when the Seals host the Wings, has scored some big goals this year too. In fact, Hickey led the NLL in game-winning goals during the incomplete 2020 season, netting five winners in just 13 games.
Toronto Rock
Yes, the Rock are getting GOTY-good goaltending from Nick Rose. Sure, their defensive unit is maybe the most dynamic in the league. And yes, Tom Schreiber was arguably this year’s most gifted goal scorer. Their secret weapon though? Their oh-so-sweet-secondary scoring. Those lefties that everyone questioned coming into the season (Dan Craig, Zach Manns and Reid Reinholdt) have been undeniably clutch, especially Manns, who is the Rock’s Clutch Kings leader in 2022. Plus, they get additional secondary-scoring support from a potent press led by Latrell Harris, who had a nice little recent run with fives goals over three wins. And although he slipped off the CK’s leaderboard several weeks ago, Dan Dawson’s (Top 10 in NLL post-season games played, goals, assists and obviously points) Cup-winning experience is an additional significant asset to have too.
NLL Clutch Kings: Final Top 25
CKs Rank. Player (NLL G Rank), Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
1. Eli McLaughlin (T10), Colorado, 29.75 (5/7/4)
2. Blaze Riorden (T47), Philadelphia, 28.25 (3/3/3)
3. Lyle Thompson (T1), Georgia, 26.50 (8/3/3)
4. Tehoka Nanticoke (T24), Buffalo, 26.00 (3/4/6)*
5. Connor Robinson (T6), Colorado, 25.50 (5/4/3)
6. Shayne Jackson (15), Georgia, 25.00 (3/5/3)
7. Josh Byrne (T12), Buffalo, 24.75 (6/10/1)
8. Chris Boushy (T35), Halifax, 24.50 (2/6/4)
9. Austin Staats (T12), San Diego, 24.00 (10/4/2)
10. Ben McIntosh (T27), Philadelphia, 23.00 (3/5/1)
11. Phil Caputo (T17), Panther City, 22.50 (8/3/2)
12. Kyle Killen (5), Vancouver, 22.25 (4/11/0)
13. Robert Church (T10), Saskatchewan, 19.75 (9/3/1)
14. Dan Lintner (T35), Saskatchewan, 19.00 (6/2/2)
15. Curtis Dickson (T6), Calgary, 18.50 (2/4/2)
T16. Joe Resetarits (T1), Albany, 17.75 (6/5/1)
T16. Ryan Benesch (T31), Albany, 17.75 (2/6/1)
18. Zach Herreweyers (T47), Calgary, 17.00 (2/3/3)
19. Patrick Dodds (T35), Panther City, 16.75 (4/2/2)*
T20. Tyler Pace (T35), Calgary, 16.50 (7/4/1)
T20. Zach Manns (T59), Toronto, 16.50 (4/4/1)
22. Ryan Smith (16), Rochester, 16.00 (3/4/2)*
T23. Connor Kearnan (T17), New York, 15.50 (6/2/1)
T23. Stephan Leblanc (T76), Georgia, 15.50 (1/2/2)
25. Callum Crawford (9), New York, 15.25 (7/4/1)
*Rookie
Scoring System
First 3 Quarters (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Power-Play Goal: 0.50/0.75/1.00
Short-Handed Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
4th Quarter (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Power-Play Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Short-Handed Goal: 4.00/6.00/8.00
Overtime (GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 6.00
Power-Play Goal: 3.00
Short-Handed Goal: 12.00