Jeff Teat’s 2023 point total versus every National Lacrosse League leader ever
Jeff Teat, New York Riptide (Photo: Trevor McMillan)
While Jeff Teat finished a point shy of trying Dhane Smith’s 2016 record of 137 in a single National Lacrosse League season, the New York Riptide second-year forward did push his way near the top of a number of offensively notable solo-season lists in 2023.
Firstly, his 136 points was the second highest ever one-year total, behind of course only Smith, who owns the #1 (137 in 2016) and #3 spots (135 in 2022) in the record books.
Teat became one of just seven players since 1987 to lead the league in points in just his second season. The others? Joe Gold (Washington, 1988), Brad Kotz (Philadelphia, 1989), Paul Gait (Detroit, 1992), John Tavares (Buffalo, 1993), Athan Iannucci (Philadelphia, 2008) and Lyle Thompson (Georgia, 2017).
The only rookies to ever lead the league in points were Gary Gait with the Philadelphia Wings in 1991 and Windsor legend Terry Martinello with the Detroit Turbos in 1990, although Martinello was nearly 30 when he played his first season in the then known Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL). Martinello led the MILL in both assists (20) and points (34) during that year’s short eight-game season, but was oddly not included in either the league’s First or Second All-Pro Teams.
Turning 26 just a day after the 2022-23 NLL regular season ended, Teat is the ninth youngest player to lead the league in points. Other U26s that led the league in the same stat: John Tavares twice (24 years, 6 months & 25 years, 6 months) Joe Gold (25 years, approx.), Paul Gait (24 years, 11 months), Lyle Thompson (24 years, 7 months), Dhane Smith (24 years, 3 months), Gary Gait (23 years, 11 months) and the youngest-ever player to lead the league in points, NLL Hall of Fame inductee and Wings great John Tucker (22 years, 7 months) during the NLL’s (then known as the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League) inaugural season in 1987.
For those wondering, the oldest players to lead the NLL in points are, well, a number of the same names: Paul Gait (34 years, 11 months), Callum Crawford (35 years, 4 months), John Tavares (35 years, 7 months), Gary Gait (37 years) and John Grant (37 years, 5 months). During the 2004 season, Tavares & Gait tied for the title and were also two of the oldest players in the NLL that year. The only other time the point-scoring title ended with matching totals between two players was in 2000, when again, Tavares & Gait copied one another.
Fans of the league in the 90s, when seasons had as few as eight games played per team, often remark that the only reason single-season records are being broken in the modern game is because players today play sometimes more than double the GPs past greats did. Fair enough, but…
Where does Teat’s points-per-game average rank against all those former GOATs that played far fewer games? Well, still pretty high. Same with Smith’s recent single-season success.
The very few former league point leaders that finished with a better per-game average than Teat or Smith are all in the HOF, and on virtually everyone’s Top 5 all-time too:
2012: John Grant, Colorado (8.29)
2001: John Tavares, Buffalo (8.21)
1996: John Tavares, Buffalo (8.10)
2016: Dhane Smith, Buffalo (7.61)
1992: Paul Gait, Detroit (7.57)
2023: Jeff Teat, New York (7.56)
2022: Dhane Smith, Buffalo (7.50)
Six of the next seven highest spots behind Smith’s 7.50 are taken by either the Gaits, Tavares or Grant.
One category that Teat does easily lead in is the percentage of his team’s goals he was included in either through scoring the goal himself or assisting on a teammate’s goal. Below are the NLL PTS champions that were the most relied on point producers for their team, all coincidently coming from the league’s more modern eras.
2023: Jeff Teat, New York (67.66%)
2015: Shawn Evans, Calgary (61.32%)
2020: Callum Crawford, New England (56.30%)
2009: Colin Doyle, San Jose (55.50%)
2022: Dhane Smith, Buffalo (54.66)
2016: Dhane Smith, Buffalo (54.58%)
2019: Dane Dobbie, Calgary (54.25%)
2010: Josh Sanderson, Calgary (53.89%)
2016: Josh Sanderson, Toronto (53.85%)
2012: John Grant, Colorado (53.46%)
While the above only examined end-of-season scoring leaders, it would be hard to imagine any player owning a higher percentage (we clocked him as high as 70% earlier this year) on any other team during any other season than the demands put on Teat this year, especially considering the Riptide finished ten out of 15 teams in total goals for (201). Excluding 2023, which is still TBD on award winners, five of those nine heavy-hauling seasons were deemed MVP worthy. As we reviewed earlier this year, if Teat were to be named this year’s most valuable player, he’d be just the second ever to not make the playoffs but still be rewarded with that year-ending honour.
During this year’s upcoming NLL Playoffs, The Lax Mag will conclude it’s NLL Player Rankings with a weekly look at each of the league’s major individual player awards (Rookie, Defensive Player, Transition Player, Goalie and MVP) to determine who our in-depth rankings say should win those regular season honours. Our Rookie of the Year rundown, which Teat dominated last year, will debut the season-ending series next week. Check out the players we projected last year below…