Clutch Kings: Rookie Report

Jonathan Donville, Panther City Lacrosse Clube

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.

Tehoka Nanticoke, Buffalo Bandits

Last year’s NLL rookie class was one of the best ever, led by the likes of Jeff Teat, Patrick Dodds, Reid Bowering, Tehoka Nanticoke, Ryan Smith and so many others.

In fact, during the 2021-22 NLL regular season, 87 rookies were used across the league, likely a new NLL record.

Nanticoke set a new rookie record for game-winning goals in a single season with six. Those same six also matched Jeff Shatler’s all-time record of six in one season, doing it with the Calgary Roughnecks in 2012.

Of the league’s 124 regular-season games last year, 20 were won by a rookie:

6 GWGs

Tehoka Nanticoke, Buffalo

2 GWGs

Adam Charalambides, Vancouver
Jeff Teat, New York
Patrick Dodds, Panther City
Ryan Smith, Rochester

1 GWG

Charlie Kitchen, Albany
Dean Fairall, Panther City
Justin Scott, Toronto
Sam LeClair, Colorado
Tanner Cook, Calgary
Tre Leclaire, San Diego

Heading into 2023’s Week 10, 46 games have been played, but only two rookies have scored a winning goal: Panther City’s Jonathan Donville and Philadelphia’s Hunter Lemieux.

Just 44 rookies have played this year, and while there’s still more than half of the season to go, it’s highly unlikely 2023 will match the 87 players the league qualified as rookies in 2022. That 44 also includes a few players the NLL may not even consider rookies right now.

After Sergei Makaraov won the National Hockey League’s Calder Trophy (ROTY) as a 31-year-old rookie in 1990, the league updated their rulebook to only qualify players under 26 as legitimate rookies. The NLL doesn’t have the same memo mentioned in their available rules, but a player 26 or older hasn’t won their Rookie of the Year Award since Brian Langtry was honoured as a 27 year old in 2003. We’ll save you from searching: Tom Schreiber was 25 years old when he won it with the Toronto Rock in 2017.

Brian Langtry, Colorado Mammoth

Anyways, the presumed 26U rule would nix players like Las Vegas’ Emerson Clark (30), Saskatchewan’s Jerrett Smith (27) and Panther City’s Cameron Wengreniuk (26) this year, which sinks us to just 41 rookies in the league presently.

Years ago, the NLL would permit a minimum number of games played the previous season to allow a player to maintain their rookie status the following year. Based on how the league noted rookies in last year’s stats, that looks to no longer be the case (i.e. Jamison Dilks)

While they didn’t play during the 2021-22 regular season, San Diego’s Mike McCannell and Las Vegas’ Sam Firth (with Colorado last year) both made their debuts during the playoffs. While you would think they’d still be considered regular-season rookies this year, if they aren’t, our 2023 rookie count crumbles to 39.

Sam Firth, Colorado Mammoth, 2022 NLL Cup (Photo: Jack Dempsey)

Here are how many rookies teams utilized in regular-season games last year, and while we’re only nine weeks into 2023, we’ve also included the current season’s rookie sums.

Note: Although 87 rookies played in a regular-season game last year, some have been applied to two rosters due to trades in 2022. Since rookies are not noted on NLL.com this year, we included our full 44 total, ignoring any rookie-related rules that may or may not exist today.

Team Rookie Totals: 2022

Rank. Team, Rookies (Rookie GWGs)

T1. Panther City, 10 (3)
T1. New York, 10 (2)
T3. Rochester, 9 (2)
T3. Calgary, 9 (1)
T3. Georgia, 9 (0)
6. San Diego, 8 (1)
T7. Buffalo, 6 (6)
T7. Toronto, 6 (1)
9. Philadelphia, 4 (0)
T10. Albany, 5 (1)
T10. Colorado, 5 (1)
T10. Saskatchewan, 5 (0)
13. Vancouver, 3 (2)
14. Halifax, 2 (0)

Team Rookie Totals: 2023

Rank. Team, Rookies (Rookie GWGs)

1. Las Vegas, 6 (0)
2. Saskatchewan, 5 (0)
T3. Panther City, 4 (1)
T3. Vancouver, 4 (0)
T5. Albany, 3 (0)
T5. Halifax, 3 (0)
T5. San Diego, 3 (0)
T8. Buffalo, 2 (0)
T8. Calgary, 2 (0)
T8. Colorado, 2 (0)
T8. Rochester, 2 (0)
T12. Philadelphia, 1 (1)
T12. New York, 1 (0)
T12. Toronto, 1 (0)

The New York Riptide went from inserting the most rookies into their lineup a season ago to the fewest a year later. The Halifax Thunderbirds & Vancouver Warriors have already had more rookies playing on game days for them in 2023 than they had over a full 18-game schedule last year.

Rookies ended 16% of last year’s games with a winning goal. This year, they’re down to just 4% for the season so far.

Jack Hannah, Las Vegas Desert Dogs (Photo: Candice Ward)

In addition to having an excellent rookies class last year and two year’s worth of rookies after losing the entire 2021 season thanks to the pandemic, 2022’s COVID protocol list also allowed more rookies to be rostered while veterans sat sidelined until they no longer tested positive for the illness.

With that said, this year’s overall rookie impact does feel down, and not just in comparison to last season.

While Donville is clearly the early favourite for ROTY and one of just two rookies with a game-winning goal this season (get this kid a Schweppes), he actually isn’t the rookie leader in our Clutch Kings countdown. Click here for a more detailed breakdown of Clutch Kings scoring.

Below, see the Top 10 rookie goal scores, plus the Top 10 rookies in our Clutch Kings countdown too:

Rookie Goals: 2023

Rank. Player, Team, Regular-Season Goals

1. Jack Hannah, Las Vegas, 10
2. Jonathan Donville, Panther City, 9
3. Jon Phillips, Panther City, 7
4. Wake:Riat BowHunter, Halifax, 6
5. Austin Madronic, Saskatchewan, 5
6. Mathieu Gauthier, Panther City, 4
T7. John Piatelli, Albany, 3
T7. Austin Hasen, Rochester, 3
T7. Cameron Wengreniuk, Panther City, 3

Several tied at 2

Rookie Clutch Kings Points: 2023

Rank. Player, Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)

T1. Wake:Riat BowHunter, Halifax, 4.00 (1/2/0)
T1. Mathieu Gauthier, Panther City 4.00 (1/1/0)
T1. Hunter Lemieux, Philadelphia 4.00 (0/0/1)
4. Jonathan Donville, Panther City 3.00 (1/0/1)
T5. John Piatelli, Albany 1.50 (0/1/0)
T5. Seth Van Schepen, Calgary 1.50 (0/1/0)
T5. Jon Phillips, Las Vegas 1.50 (0/1/0)
T5. Jack Hannah, Las Vegas 1.50 (0/1/0)
T5. Austin Madronic, Saskatchewan 1.50 (0/1/0)
10. Sam Firth, Las Vegas 1.00 (1/0/0)

Plus, if you are up for reading another lengthy list of player & team names, below is our updated Clutch Kings leaderboard. With a few blowouts and not many lead changes, there was minimal movement on our money main board, although Toronto’s Stephen Keogh made a massive jump after his early OT winner against Calgary.

Clutch Kings: Week 9

CKs Rank. Player (NLL G Rank), Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)

1. Connor Fields (T3), Rochester, 17.00 (2/3/2)
2. Connor Robinson (T23), Colorado, 15.00 (2/4/1)
3. Josh Byrne (1), Buffalo, 10.75 (4/4/1)
4. Chris Boushy (T6), Halifax, 10.50 (3/4/0)
5. Rob Hellyer (T61), Las Vegas, 10.00 (3/1/1)
6. Will Malcom (T6), Panther City, 9.50 (3/2/1)
7. Stephen Keogh (T19), Toronto, 9.25 (1/1/2)
8. Joe Resetarits (T19), Philadelphia, 8.75 (0/4/1)
T9. Ryan Smith (T17), Rochester, 8.50 (0/4/1)
T9. Kieran McArdle (T31), Albany, 8.50 (1/1/1)
T11. Robert Church (T8), Saskatchewan, 8.00 (4/2/0)
T11. Colton Watkinson (T82), Albany, 8.00 (1/1/1)
T11. Curtis Dickson (2), San Diego, 8.00 (0/0/2)
T14. Tehoka Nanticoke (T8), Buffalo, 7.50 (3/1/1)
T14. Randy Staats (T31), Halifax, 7.50 (0/1/2)
16. Wes Berg (T31), San Diego, 7.00 (2/0/1)
17. Holden Cattoni (T8), Rochester, 6.75 (2/1/1)

Several tied at 6.50

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