2025 NLL Player Rankings: Jeff Teat and Ottawa’s forward formula

Jeff Teat, Ottawa Black Bears (Photo: Christian Bender)

After the first several weeks of the 2023-24 National Lacrosse League season are complete, The Lax Mag will publish a weekly NLL Player Ranking, examining the league’s Top 30 players from Week 1 right up until the end of the regular season.

TLM’s Top 30 NLL Player Rankings have nothing to do with reputations, career resumes, success in past seasons, whether we know a player personally, recognizing deserving players who’ve previously been passed over, player popularity, the size of their social media following, whether you slide into their DMs, or who others around the league tell us should get hype.

Our rankings, which only take into consideration a player’s performance for the current regular season, will be calculated using both our star-rating system after each game, but also a player’s season-long statistical position (based on per-game averages) across the league (more on both breakdowns below). Only players who have played two-thirds of their team’s games or more will qualify.

Click here for an even more in-depth breakdown of our scoring system.

Teat, Black Bears (Photo: Christian Bender)

From Week 8 during the 2022 season to Week 10 of the current season, Jeff Teat had appeared in every edition of The Lax Mag’s TOP 30 NLL Player Rankings. Had he not been hit with a case of COVID early in that 2022 rookie season, Teat would have been on here even earlier.

We’ve also ranked Teat 11th (2022), 1st (2023), 2nd (2024) and 2nd (2025) in our annual preseason NLL TOP 100.

A few weeks ago, Teat’s TLM player rating saw him slip out of our NLL TOP 30 for the first time in seemingly forever, largely due to his career-low averages almost across the board, and of course how his numbers compared to the rest of the league’s top-performing players. We covered his (and others) data decline earlier this year.

Well, after last weekend’s stunning sock-trick (6 goals) performance against the Albany FireWolves, the Ottawa Black Bears captain is back in the NLL TOP 30 this week.

While Teat has been one of the most dominant and electric point producers over his previous (and only) three seasons in the league, he’s garnered just a single MVP finalists mention, many around the league not voting for Teat due to his team’s playoff-missing campaigns. We’ve previously covered that (individual vs. team success as it relates to an MVP) to death too.

Teat, New York Riptide (Photo: Jenn Pierce)

Another major theme over his first three years in the league was the New York Riptide’s (since relocated to Ottawa) ridiculously high reliance on Teat for virtually any offensive success. Below are how much Teat’s goals and points contributed to the Riptide’s team goal total - goals are goals, and points are whether it was a Teat goal or assist.

Teat’s Total / Team Goals/ % of Teat’s Total of Team G

2022

Goals: 37 / 214 / 17%
Points: 108 / 214 / 50%

2023

Goals: 56 / 201 / 28%
Points: 136 / 201 / 68%

2024

Goals: 58 / 206 / 28%
Points: 130 / 206 / 63%

During his rookie year, Teat received considerable help, especially in the goal scoring department from Callum Crawford, who led New York with 39 goals to Teat’s 37. Connor Kearnan, who had a breakout year playing alongside Teat that winter, had 34 goals in 2022. In Year 2, Crawford was traded, a lot of expected secondary scoring ending up shrinking, and Teat was relied on to record-high levels. Ditto for 2024. As mentioned previously, the team failed to make that playoffs under this forward formula.

Gary had Paul. Tavares had Kilgour, Keenan, Cordingley and others. Dhane has Josh. Who does Jeff Teat have to relieve some of Ottawa’s offensive load?

Teat, Black Bears (Photo: Christian Bender)

Even after last weekend’s offensively explosive, average lifting performance, Teat is still on pace to produce record-low personal numbers this year. Still amazing totals that 95% of the league would love to have, but below what we’re used to seeing from the fourth-year phenom.

Are the Black Bears relying on Teat to the same levels they were during his first three seasons? While Teat’s slowed down stat line would suggest they aren’t, they kinda still are:

2025: After 9 Games

Goals: 19 / 88 /22%
Points: 48 / 88 / 55%

While not as reliant as they’ve been during 2023 and 2024, those percentages absurdly high, Ottawa still really relies on Teat for a lot. With Teat’s numbers trending slightly down this year, so is the Black Bears’ overall offensive output. Right now, no team in the league is scoring fewer goals per game than the Ottawa Black Bears.

Week 12: Team Goals Per Game

1. Buffalo 15.25
2. Philadelphia 13.40
3. Calgary 13.30
4. Halifax 13.00
5. Saskatchewan 12.90
6. Colorado 12.50
7. Georgia 11.67
8. Albany 11.40
9. Rochester 11.27
10. San Diego 11.00
11. Vancouver 10.40
12. Las Vegas 10.30
13. Toronto 9.80
14. Ottawa 9.78

How does Ottawa’s current 9.78 goals per game stack up to their year-end totals since Teat’s been with the franchise? Not great.

New York/Ottawa Goals Per Game

2022: 11.89
2023: 11.17
2024: 11.44
2025: 9.78

Stats suggest the Black Bears offense had their most success when Teat had another top-level player on the floor with him - yes, Crawford. You could argue he has that this year with Jacob Dunbar, who like Kearnan in 2022, is having a bananas breakout season after coming over to Ottawa via trade this past offseason.

Week 12: Individual Player % of Team Goals

Jack Hannah, Las Vegas 24%
Jacob Dunbar, Ottawa 23%
Jeff Teat, Ottawa 22%
Josh Dawick, Toronto 22%
Lyle Thompson, Georgia 22%
Dane Dobbie, Calgary 22%

While Teat is getting more goal-scoring help this year, past Dunbar, Ottawa is not getting enough after those two to stay consistently competitive. Teat and Dunbar account for nearly half of Ottawa’s goals this year, their combined 45% ownership the highest of any tandem in the league right now. The next highest two-teammate total is happening in Toronto right now, Josh Dawick and Chris Boushy making up 42% of all Rock goals. Ottawa and Toronto are currently the only two teams averaging under ten goals per game. Jack Hannah, who is arguably this year’s 22-23 version of Teat in New York, plays for a Las Vegas team who is only averaging more goals than… Ottawa and Toronto.

How does Ottawa’s first-nine-game record this year compare to previous seasons with Teat?

New York/Ottawa Record After 9 Games

2022: 2-7
2023: 2-7
2024: 5-4
2025: 5-4

Ottawa’s offense is underperforming in comparison to the rest of the league this year and last year’s best-ever franchise performance, so how are they 5-4 right now and still a serious threat to make the playoffs? Check out #2 on our updated NLL TOP 30 leading into Week 13 below. The Lax Mag’s annual mid-season goalie analysis will highlight next week’s Player Rankings post.

Zach Higgins, Ottawa Black Bears (Photo: Matt Zambonin)

NLL TOP 30: WEEK 13

TW. (LW) Player, Team (Pos.)

1. (1) Dhane Smith, Buffalo (F)
2. (5) Zach Higgins, Ottawa (G)
3. (3) Mitch Jones, Philadelphia (F)
4. (2) Josh Byrne, Buffalo (F)
5. (7) Zach Currier, San Diego (T)
6. (4) Joe Resetarits, Philadelphia (F)
7. (9) Curtis Dickson, Calgary (F)
8. (10) Robert Hope, Colorado (D)
9. (6) Matt Vinc, Buffalo (G)
10. (11) Jesse King, Calgary (F)
11. (8) Alex Simmons, Albany (F)
12. (15) Randy Staats, Halifax (F)
13. (12) Connor Fields, Rochester (F)
14. (13) Kyle Rubisch, San Diego (D)
15. (16) Connor Kelly, Colorado (F)
16. (17) Lyle Thompson, Georgia (F)
17. (14) Holden Cattoni, Philadelphia (F)
18. (18) Zach Manns, Saskatchewan (F)
19. (21) Owen Grant, Vancouver (T)
20. (22) Jake Boudreau, Saskatchewan (T)
21. (20) Aden Walsh, Vancouver (G)
22. (19) Ryan Lanchbury, Rochester (F)
23. (23) Clarke Petterson, Halifax (F)
24. (24) Matt Hossack, Saskatchewan (D)
25. (26) Mitch de Snoo, Toronto (D)
26. (25) Jake Withers, Halifax (D)
27. (30) Dane Dobbie, Calgary (F)
28. (28) Dillon Ward, Colorado (G)
29. (27) Jack Hannah, Las Vegas (F)
30. (NR) Jeff Teat, Ottawa (F)