NLL Player Rankings: Week 14
After the first six weeks of the 2022-23 National Lacrosse League season are complete, The Lax Mag will publish our weekly NLL Player Rankings, examining the league’s Top 30 players from Week 1 right up until the end of the regular season.
The rankings are based on our star-rating system (individual game analysis) and overall statistical positioning (full season analysis). For a full breakdown of how both areas are ordered, click here.
Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits (Photo: Nate Brunt)
Our Top 10 had a bit of movement this week, but the players at the absolute top have remained the same, Dhane Smith still #1 for a sixth straight week.
While Jeff Teat (8.00) has overtaken Smith’s (7.91) points/game average, professional lacrosse’s reigning MVP out points him in our star-rating calculations, where involves TLM ordering each team’s Top 6 players in every game they play and attach a point value to that in-game rank (more on that here). Right now, the only thing keeping Teat back from jumping Smith are his low-ish grades in a couple of games prior to the New York Riptide’s roster rework & staff switcheroo. While some likely forget those low-scoring games, The Lax Mag’s Player Rankings don’t.
Curtis Dickson, San Diego Seals (Photo: Steven Richardson Jr.)
Curtis Dickson jumped back into the Top 10 after a strong showing (3G, 6A) in San Diego’s Stadium Showdown win last Saturday. Seals teammate Dane Dobbie stays just a few spots ahead of him while nearing the Top 5 after his own impressive outing (3G, 1A) outside at Snapdragon Stadium.
Josh Byrne, a former #1 this year, remains fairly high in the Player Rankings even though he hasn’t played since January 28 due to an injury sustained in a game against Teat and the Riptide. Byrne owns the seventh highest points/game average (6.38), has strong loose-ball numbers for a forward (4.38) and gives the ball away less that virtually all of this year’s top forwards (2.88). Listed as “questionable” by the league heading into the Bandits critical game against the Halifax Thunderbirds in Week 15, if Byrne misses the match, he’ll no longer meet TLM’s two-thirds GP criteria to rank. Note: The Bandits later tweeted that they have moved Byrne and Chris Cloutier to the team’s active roster.
How has Smith performed statistically since Byrne was sidelined? See how Smith did in his first severn games playing alongside Byrne this year, and then the four without him. We included Byrne’s eighth game (vs. New York) on the w/o Byrne side of Smith’s stats split since he exited that game early due to a suspected ankle injury.
Smith's stats w/ & w/o Byrne
The same five goalies remain in the rankings: Nick Rose (#5), Christian Del Bianco (#6), Rylan Hartley (#15), Matt Vinc (#17) and Dillon Ward (#27). Panther City’s Nick Damude sits just outside of the Top 30, most definitely one of the NLL’s top netminders this year.
Philadelphia’s mid-season pickup Mitch Jones made the biggest leap on this week’s list. Highly ranked in our pre-season Top 100 (even higher a season earlier), Jones’ addition to the Wings roster has clearly revamped the team’s struggling offense, especially this past weekend. Philly went 2-0 during Week 14, highlighted by their upset W over the Toronto Rock (11-10). His Week 14 two-game total saw the former Vancouver forward finish with 8 goals & 13 assists, bumping his points/game average to 6.36. That’s the eighth best average in the NLL right now.
Mitch Jones, Philadelphia Wings
NLL Player Rankings: Week 14
TW. (LW) Player, Team, Position
1. (1) Dhane Smith, Buffalo, F
2. (2) Jeff Teat, New York, F
3. (3) Connor Fields, Rochester, F
4. (4) Nick Rose, Toronto, G
5. (5) Tom Schreiber, Toronto, F
6. (6) Christian Del Bianco, Calgary, G
7. (8) Dane Dobbie, San Diego, F
8. (9) Will Malcom, Panther City, F
9. (12) Curtis Dickson, San Diego, F
10. (7) Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan, D
11. (11) Robert Church, Saskatchewan, F
12. (10) Zach Currier, Calgary, T
13. (13) Josh Byrne, Buffalo, F
14. (14) Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan, F
15. (16) Rylan Hartley, Rochester, G
16. (15) Reid Bowering, Vancouver, D
17. (19) Matt Vinc, Buffalo, G
18. (18) Randy Staats, Halifax, F
19. (17) Mitch de Snoo, Toronto, D
20. (21) Graeme Hossack, Halifax, D
21. (22) Brad Kri, Toronto, D
22. (26) Joe Resetarits, Philadelphia, F
23. (20) Wes Berg, San Diego, F
24. (23) Jesse King, Calgary, F
25. (NR) Mitch Jones, Philadelphia, F
26. (24) Rob Hellyer, Las Vegas, F
27. (25) Dillon Ward, Colorado, G
28. (28) Lyle Thompson, Georgia, F
29. (29) Steve Priolo, Buffalo, D
30. (27) Jake Withers, Halifax, D