NLL keeping wild card entry to determine final playoff spot for 2022-23 season
Colorado Mammoth, 2022 NLL Cup (Photo: Jack Dempsey)
The National Lacrosse League has confirmed that they will be keeping the “wild card” entry when determining the eighth & final playoff position for the upcoming 2022-23 season.
The first, second, third and fourth place teams in the East Conference will qualify for the playoffs - #1 against #4 & #2 versus #3. Those straightforward matches will again be single elimination.
While the first, second and third place teams in the West Conference will lock up a post-season position, the league’s last spot will again be up for grabs between the two conferences.
The league announcement confirmed, “…a “wild card” entry with the best record between the fourth-place team in the West standings and the fifth-place finisher in the East. This “wild card” will play in the West Conference side of the bracket as the fourth seed.”
With the addition of the Las Vegas Desert Dogs this year, the West Conference now sits at seven squads, just one behind the eight-team East. Regular-season games between the two conferences are minimal, with 13 of the league’s now 15 teams playing the opposite side of the standings just once. Only the expansion Deserts Dogs & second-year Panther City Lacrosse Club play three times against teams not in their own conference.
Landon Kells, Las Vegas Desert Dogs (Photo: Las Vegas Desert Dogs)
Last year, the wild card entry was taken by the East’s Philadelphia Wings, whose 9-9 regular-season finished higher than the 8-10 Saskatchewan Rush, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The Wings were eliminated in 2022’s first round by the San Diego Seals, 9-8.
While many around the league feel the NLL’s East is the superior conference, it was the West’s Colorado Mammoth who won the NLL Cup last year. In fact, over the last six seasons (excluding 2020’s cancelled campaign), the East has won just a single Cup when the Georgia Swarm knocked off the Rush in the 2017 Final.
The league’s recent announcement also confirmed the proposed dates for the 2022-23 playoffs:
The first round of the 2023 NLL Playoffs, beginning the weekend of May 5-7, will be single elimination, while the Conference Finals and NLL Finals will each be a best-of-three series. Game 1 and 2 of the NLL Finals will be played during Memorial Day Weekend, while Game 3 of the NLL Finals, if necessary, is scheduled for the weekend of June 2-4.
The squeezed-in schedule will likely mean less overlap with the Premier Lacrosse League, a pro field loop that dozens of NLL players also participate in. Last year the final NLL post-season game was played on June 18, while the PLL regular season started on June 4.
The PLL recently announced an offseason event, the PLL Championship Series, which takes places in the middle of the NLL’s upcoming campaign. Although there has been no official word from the NLL or any of its teams, it’s believed no current NLL player will be permitted to play in the PLL’s new late-February event.
Last year, the PLL prevented its players from taking part in any non-PLL play during their June-to-September schedule. While this did not exclude players from competing in the NLL’s playoffs, it did deny their athletes from playing in Canada’s Senior seasons, including Major Series Lacrosse and the Western Lacrosse Association.
The upcoming NLL regular season starts on Friday, December 2 when the host Halifax Thunderbirds take on the visiting Philadelphia Wings. The season-opening match will be broadcast live (6pm ET) on both TSN in Canada & ESPNews in the United States. All games this season will also be available on both networks’ streaming services.