Clutch Kings: GTG, GAG, GWG, ESG, PPG and SHG breakdowns
Connor Fields, Rochester Knighthawks (Photo: James Bennett)
The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings tracks an individual player’s game-tying, go-ahead and game-winning goals, then weighs them based on when they’re scored (first, second, third or fourth quarter, plus OT), but also in what on-floor situation they’re finished (even-strength, power-play or short-handed goals). The Clutch Kings countdown calculates the league’s most money goal scorer all season long, crowning the king at the conclusion of the current NLL campaign. Click here for a more detailed breakdown of Clutch Kings scoring.
This week we’re examining player’s personal goal-scoring portfolios after the NLL’s Week 10, specifically in the following categories:
Clutch Kings Goals (Game-Tying Goals, Go-Ahead Goals, Game-Winning Goals)
Even-Strength Goals
Power-Play Goals
Short-Handed Goals
So, in other words, who’s scoring the highest percentage of those goals from their total straight goal-scoring mix this year?
Zach Manns, Saskatchewan Rush
Since we’re dealing in percentages, to avoid including players who’ve scored only once or twice or players that have played in just a game or two, we’ve only included those who are averaging a goal per game (so, mostly full-time forwards and transitional regulars) and have played in at least half of their team’s games to avoid statistically skewing the results.
Clutch Kings Goals (GTG, GAG, GWG)
Connor Fields (Rochester) 55%
Zach Manns (Saskatchewan) 55%
Rob Hellyer (San Diego) 53%
Jonathan Donville (Las Vegas) 50%
Dyson Williams (Albany) 50%
Ryan Lanchbury (Rochester) 50%
Wes Berg (San Diego) 50%
Jacob Dunbar (Ottawa) 47%
Keegan Bal (Vancouver) 47%
Connor Robinson (Colorado) 47%
While Zach Manns tops our Clutch Kings leaderboard way below, Connor Fields matches him in percentage of goals that have tied a game, put his team ahead, or won it. Manns maintains his overall lead in our clutch calculations because more of his CK goals have been netted in the fourth frame, but anyone scoring those type of goals at around the 50% mark of your overall scoring mix, well, that’s impressive … While scoring is down in general in San Diego this year, it’s not surprise to see Rob Hellyer’s and Wes Berg’s names above, two talents that are typically on or just outside our leaderboard during the previous seasons … Jonathan Donville is only averaging a goal per game after eight GPs with Las Vegas this year, but as we saw in 2024 (he finished as our fourth highest Clutch King a year ago), he’s often burying important scoreline strikes – he scored four GWGs over nine Panther City wins last year … Jacob Dunbar, who we highlighted earlier this year as one of 2025’s top breakout ball players, has five go-ahead goals this year. The rest of the Ottawa Black Bears roster? One … And of course, Connor Robinson, who was our Clutch Kings, well, King, two seasons ago, is up there too.
Connor Kelly, Colorado Mammoth (Photo: Jonathan Tenca)
For a quick comparison, below are the Top 10 straight goal scorers so far this year (in order of highest to tied-for-tenth highest), and the percentage of their overall goals that qualify for CK calculations (GTG, GAG and GWG). Some do land on our updated leaderboard this week (scroll to the bottom of the page for that), while others do not.
Connor Kelly (Colorado) 38%
Ryan Smith (Rochester) 33%
Lyle Thompson (Georgia) 35%
Mitch Jones (Philadelphia) 45%
Zach Manns (Saskatchewan) 55%
Joe Resetarits (Philadelphia) 18%
Josh Byrne (Buffalo) 14%
Curtis Dickson (Calgary) 24%
Connor Fields (Rochester) 55%
Jack Hannah (Las Vegas) 40%
Will Malcom (Colorado) 25%
Alex Simmons (Albany) 45%
Jeff Teat, Ottawa Black Bears (Photo: Christian Bender)
Even-Strength Goals
Jeff Teat (Ottawa) 100%
Tom Schreiber (Toronto) 100%
Zed Williams (Colorado) 100%
Jackson Webster (Las Vegas) 100%
Kyle Buchanan (Buffalo) 100%
Brian Cameron (Toronto) 100%
Sam LeClair (Philadelphia) 100%
Mathieu Gauthier (Calgary0 100%
Taggart Clark (Ottawa) 100%
Marcus Klarich (Vancouver) 100%
Several players of varying goal-getting ranges (while still meeting our previously covered criteria) have seen 100% of their goals scored in even-strength situations this year. Teat has never been a big PPG producer during his previous three seasons in the league (8%, 14% and 14% of his overall goals in those first three years were PPGs), and obviously isn’t this year either. Not surprisingly, Ottawa’s Jacob Dunbar tied for the team lead in that category too … Ditto for Tom Schreiber, who has scored 100% of his goals so far this season in even-strength situations, and has only scored six PPGs in his last 40 regular season games (15%). In twelve total playoff games, Schreiber has one PPG (8%). As in Ottawa, Toronto’s power-play scoring punch has come courtesy of their own breakout forward…
Josh Dawick, Toronto Rock (Photo: Caroline Sherman)
Power-Play Goals
Ethan Walker (Albany) 50%
Connor Kearnan (Ottawa) 50%
Casey Jackson (Las Vegas) 50%
Kyle Killen (Vancouver) 44%
Austin Shanks (Saskatchewan) 42%
Ryan Keenan (Saskatchewan) 40%
Tanner Cook (Calgary) 38%
Jesse King (Calgary) 33%
Connor Kelly (Colorado) 33%
Larson Sundown (Ottawa) 33%
Ryan Smith (Rochester) 33%
Curtis Dickson (Calgary) 33%
Josh Dawick (Toronto) 33%
…Josh Dawick, who’s 6 PPGs make up a third of his overall scoring so far this season (18). In fact, those six PPGs account for 46% of the Rock’s PPG production coming out of Week 10 (his 18 goals also makes up almost a quarter of the team’s total scoring). Both Dawick and Rock teammate Chris Boushy cracked our Week 11 leaderboard this week … Albany’s Ethan Walker, who missed a game earlier this year (short-term holdout list on Dec. 7 vs. Toronto), easily leads the FireWolves with 8 man-up markers, half of his 16 total goals scored this year buried on the PP. Even with that missed GP, at Walker’s current offensive pace, he’s projected to set new single-season records for goals, assists and of course points. Walker is three PPGs away from matching his man-up total over his first three years in the league. Is that good?
Ian MacKay, Buffalo Bandits (Photo: Caroline Sherman)
Short-Handed Goals
John Piatelli (Albany) 29%
Owen Grant (Vancouver) 22%
Brennan O’Neill (Philadelphia) 20%
Ian MacKay (Buffalo) 18%
Rob Hellyer (San Diego) 13%
With short-handed goals scored at a much, much, much slower rate that any of the Gs we reviewed above (it’s why they’re worth so much in Clutch Kings), we’ll shorten our list up a bit … Owen Grant, who last year set a rookie record with four SHGs, already has a couple this year as well. His record may be in danger after just one season, with Philadelphia first-year forward Brennan O’Neill already sitting at three shorties for the high-scoring Wings … While John Piatelli’s role and goal-scoring requirements have changed since his impressive rookie year with Albany in 2023 (18G, 21A, 68LB), he’s showing this year especially that he still provides significant on-floor value. Of his seven goals so far this season, two have been shorties. Piatelli also owns one of two Albany GWGs so far this season, and his 8.50 Clutch Kings rating has him behind only Alex Simmons and Dyson Williams on Albany’s roster … Although he didn’t make the cut due to our cut-off criteria, it’s worth mentioning Colorado rookie Owen Rahn’s early transitional tallies. The Mammoth defender has three goals in eight games this year, which is the most of any Colorado D-first player, one of which is a short handed. Also, each of his three goals have been inputted into our CK calculator (1 GTG, 2 GAG). Don’t be surprised if Rahn ends up finding a spot on 2025’s All-Rookie Team … As we reviewed on Instagram earlier this week, Ian MacKay is on pace to match Curtis Dickson’s single-season SHGs record set just two years ago (9). Since 2005, there have been only 25 instances of a player scoring 4 SHGs in one season, an additional 18 cases of 5 or more – see them below.
2023 – Curtis Dickson (San Diego) 9
2008 – Jef Zywicki (San Jose) 7
2016 – Curtis Dickson (Calgary) 6
2005 – Craig Conn (Arizona) 5
2005 – Chris Seller (Arizona) 5
2007 – John Grant (Rochester) 5
2007 – Bill McGlone (Chicago) 5
2007 – Jeff Moleski (Calgary) 5
2008 – John Grant (Rochester) 5
2008 – Athan Iannucci (Philadelphia) 5
2013 – Curtis Dickson (Calgary) 5
2014 – Chris Corbeil (Edmonton) 5
2014 – Callum Crawford (Minnesota) 5
2015 – Shawn Evans (Calgary) 5
2016 – Shawn Evans (New England) 5
2017 – Tony Malcom (Buffalo) 5
2018 – Joey Cupido (Colorado) 5
2018 – Curtis Dickson (Calgary) 5
Andrew Kew, Georgia Swarm (Photo: Victoria Adkins)
NLL Clutch Kings: Week 11
CKs Rank. Player (NLL Gs Rank) Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
1. Zach Manns (T4) Saskatchewan, 24.50(5/5/2)
2. Mitch Jones (T4) Philadelphia, 20.25 (3/5/2)
3. Dane Dobbie (T13) Calgary, 19.50 (7/0/1)
4. Connor Fields (T9) Rochester, 17.75 (6/3/2)
5. Connor Kelly (T1) Colorado, 17.50 (5/3/1)
6. Andrew Kew (T37) Georgia, 16.00 (2/0/3)
7. Alex Simmons (T9) Albany, 15.50 (5/3/1)
8. Keegan Bal (T17) Vancouver, 14.00 (4/1/3)
9. Zed Williams (T37) Colorado, 13.50 (0/1/3)
10. Holden Cattoni (T13) Philadelphia, 13.00 (4/0/2)
11. Rob Hellyer (T28) San Diego, 12.75 (2/5/1)
T12. Jack Hannah (T9) Las Vegas, 12.50 (4/3/1)
T12. Clarke Petterson (T37) Halifax, 12.50 (0/2/2)
14. Austin Shanks (T37) Saskatchewan, 12.25 (2/1/2)
15. Connor Robinson (T28) Colorado, 11.50 (2/4/1)
16. Ian MacKay (T17) Buffalo, 11.25 (3/4/0)
17. Lyle Thompson (3) Georgia, 11.00 (5/2/1)
18. Ryan Smith (T1) Rochester, 10.75 (4/3/1)
19. Tye Kurtz (T15) Albany, 10.50 (4/2/0)
T20. Jacob Dunbar (T17) Ottawa, 10.25 (2/5/1)
T20. Chris Boushy (T17) Toronto, 10.25 (3/4/0)
T22. Dyson Williams (T37) Albany, 9.75 (2/4/0)
T22. Josh Dawick (T15) Toronto, 9.75 (2/2/1)
24. Ryan Lanchbury (T23) Rochester, 9.25 (4/4/0)
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
Fourth 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