NLL Player Rankings: 2023 Goalie of the Year
While The Lax Mag’s National Lacrosse League Player Rankings typically orders the league’s Top 30 players from #1 to #30 since soon after the league’s opening weekend and right up to the end of the regular season, now that we’re in playoff mode, we’re shifting our focus to NLL Year-End Awards.
Specifically, who our rankings system (more on that here) says should win all of the NLL’s most important end-of-season honours.
Last year, The Lax Mag’s Player Rankings math correctly predicted 2022’s MVP (Dhane Smith), Defensive Player of the Year (Mitch de Snoo), Goalie of the Year (Matt Vinc), Transition Player of the Year (Zach Currier) and Rookie of the Year (Jeff Teat).
How about this year? We’re starting with 2023’s rookie class and working our way to MVP prior to the NLL Cup being awarded. Our Player Rankings: Best Dressed Edition, which generated more traffic than the other five combined, will come out after the playoffs.
Nick Rose, Toronto Rock (Photo: Michael Hetzel)
Goalie of the Year
Similar to last year’s in-depth analysis, three goalies very clearly standout statistically and based on how often we ranked them within their team’s Top 6 players in every game they played this year (more on our Player Rankings scoring system here). Just like the league’s 2023 Goalie of the Year finalists, those three TLM top-ranked goaltenders are: Calgary’s Christian Del Bianco, Toronto’s Nick Rose and Buffalo’s Matt Vinc. The Lax Mag correctly predicted last years final three (Vinc, Rose and Dillon Ward) and winner (Vinc) too. Using the same year-end analysis we did last year, here’s our breakdown of those three in-the-running backstops, our final Top 5 highest-rated goalies this year, plus our pick for this past season’s Goalie of the Year.
Last year, we examined the Top 5 goalies ranked in the typical goaltending stats (GAA, SV% and wins), plus this year added points too since Del Bianco went off offensively. Only three goalies rank in each of those Top 5, but that includes only two of today’s top three.
After that, we took a deeper statistical dive into goals against average, save percentage and another stat we tracked all season long - saves per minute - across all 18 games played by this year’s top-rated trio.
Goals Against Average
1. Nick Rose (9.03)
2. Christian Del Bianco (9.28)
3. Nick Damude (10.31)
4. Matt Vinc (10.42)
5. Brett Dobson (10.69)
So to save you from scrolling & searching, the three goalies that rank inside each of these more straightforward stopper stats are Rose, Del Bianco and the Panther City Lacrosse Club’s Nick Damude, who had breakout season backstopping the second-year PCLC. Rose led this category last year with an almost identical year-end GAA (9.05). The Rock gave up the fewest goals this year (164), the team’s highly regarded defensive unit also allowing the fewest shots in 2023 (830 - Rose saw 816 of them). Rose’s Toronto teammates also ranked really high in our Transition Player of the Year & Defensive Player of the Year breakdowns.
Nick Damude, Panther City Lacrosse Club (Photo: Jordan Leigh)
Save Percentage
1. Christian Del Bianco (.810)
2. Nick Rose (.805)
3. Matt Vinc (.803)
4. Zach Higgins (.794)
5. Nick Damude (.789)
Again, the same trio, plus Damude, who - spoiler alert - is our fourth highest-rated goalie this year. Above we mentioned that Rose and the Rock gave up the fewest goals across the league this year, but Del Bianco and the Roughnecks were just three shy of matching them. Del Bianco did that while seeing nearly 50 more shots than Rose, which is partly why he sits slightly higher than him here. Philadelphia Wings players voted Zach Higgins their MVP this year. In addition to sitting super high in the SV% column, Higgins (729) also finished second to Vinc (742) for saves during the regular season. No goalie saw more shots than Vinc (924) & Higgins (918), although Rochester’s Rylan Hartley (916) wasn’t too far off.
Wins
1. Matt Vinc (14)
T2. Christian Del Bianco (13)
T2. Nick Rose (13)
T4. Nick Damude (10)
T4. Frank Scigliano (10)
T4. Rylan Hartley (10)
Like GAA, wins (and losses) are looked at as a team stat by most, but it is interesting to see those same three top this list as well. And just behind them… Nick Damude, again.
Points
1. Christian Del Bianco (19A)
2. Warren Hill (9A)
T3. Nick Damude (1G,7A)
T3. Nick Rose (8A)
5. Dillon Ward (6A)
Rarely do a goaltender’s goals or assists factor into GOTY debate because their totals are typically & understandably so low, but this year Del Bianco had a statement season when it came to setting up his streaking teammates. Damude did some damage scoring a single this year too, his second in as many seasons.
Although it didn’t factor into this year’s analysis (all-time didn’t, but goalie points essentially did), below are the highest point-producing seasons for an NLL netminder:
T1. Erik Miller, 2003 (23A)
T1. Pat O’Toole, 2007 (23A)
T3. Chris Sanderson, 1999 (19A)
T3. Dwight Maetche, 2002 (19A)
T3. Christian Del Bianco, 2023 (19A)
T6. Pat O’Toole, 2003 (18A)
T6. Rob Blasdell, 2002 (1G, 17A)
O’Toole & Blasdell were the only two to win GOTY during those high-assist campaigns. While looked at as more of a side-bar stat when analyzing goalies, with the fast-passed-press style many teams play today (some better than others), a goaltender’s offensive vision & outlet is actually extremely important.
Erik Miller, New York Titans 2008
Just like last year, our three top-rated goalies appear really high (so Top 5) in all major goalie categories and most minor ones too. For an even deeper analysis of this talented goaltending trio, we’ve further examined and compared their GAA, save percentage, and saves per minute, which analyzes how goalies do when they’re faced with mounting and usually above-average pressure in games. Just like last year, each goalie played in all 18 of their team’s games, eating up usually all of the 60 (or sometimes more) minutes in those games. Although we didn’t pull this year’s Top 5, we can confirm the Top 3 goalies in minutes played not-so-shockingly were: 1. Del Bianco (1,080:19), 2. Rose (1,056:46) and 3. Vinc (1,047:39).
Goals Against Average
Nothing too surprising here. Outside of Vinc’s 22.21 (played just over half that game in goal) vs. Rose’s Rock, everyone’s GAA in each game is relatively tightly tied to 10.00, which has always been (on average) enough for a W. Rose, who led the league with a 9.03 GAA, had a nice little run early to help snap Toronto out of a bit of a slump.
Save Percentage
Almost all of Del Bianco’s starts had him at a save percentage above (sometimes well above) the .750 mark. What’s also interesting to see is that all three goalies always rebounded extremely well after a stinker, rarely having back-to-back games with scary save percentages.
Saves Per Minute
So why did the Bandits vote Vinc their MVP and why does he creep into our GOTY conversation while left out by so many others? Well, we’ve outlined how high he ranks usually just behind Del Bianco & Rose in the more traditional two main goalie stats (GAA & SV%), but the above chart answers the question of why. We mentioned that Vinc saw fewer minutes than both Del Bianco & Rose, but also saw significantly more shots and made many more saves than either of those goalies. Del Bianco was twice pretty close to save-per-minute status (which Vinc pulled off last year), but Vinc was forced to make more .75 saves per game than either GOTY frontrunner. Like last year, Vinc’s numbers here are impressive, especially considering the Bandits finished first overall while relying on his consistent play.
Top 5 & GOTY
We’ve revealed everything but #5 and our order. Based on our year-long tracking of all of this year’s goalies, this is our final Top 5 for tendies:
5. Rylan Hartley, Rochester Knighthawks
4. Nick Damude, Panther City Lacrosse Club
3. Matt Vinc, Buffalo Bandits
2. Nick Rose, Toronto Rock
1. Christian Del Bianco, Calgary Roughnecks
While Rose was listed in our Top 10 for longer, Del Bianco surged in our Player Rankings standings through the second half of the season, and ranked as high as #2 across the entire league in our weekly Top 30 - three times in fact. Rylan Hartley, who was either inside or around our Top 10 for many weeks during the first half of the season, slide down the standings during Rochester’s rough second half. Our Player Rankings value Week 1 as much as they do Week 22, which is why Hartley still sits reasonably high on our overall list.