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.

Last week, Dhane Smith did something no one else has achieved this year. It’s no doubt a rarity during any regular season.

Smith produced a point on every single one of the Bandits’ goals during their thrilling 11-10 OT win over Jeff Teat and the New York Riptide last Saturday night in Banditland. That tremendous tally included Smith’s game-tying goal with 29 seconds left on the clock, plus an assist on Josh Byrne’s extra-frame winner (see where he ranks in our Clutch Kings as a result).

Smith’s performance in that game, as well as all of our other season-long calculations (more on that math here), has pushed him just past Teat for #1 in our weekly Top 30 with just two weeks to go.

Dhane Smith sends game to OT in Week 20 (Photo: Michael Hetzel)

Teat & Smith sit #1 & #2 respectively in the point-scoring chase too, Smith slowly closing the gap between them, now only three points behind Teat’s total of 121. Neither are any longer on pace to break Smith’s single-season points record of 137, but it will clearly be close. Note: The league awarded Teat an additional assist a number of days after his Week 20 game, bringing him to 122 total points and a 7.63 points/game average that would match Smith’s record of 137 points.

But back to Smith’s significant goal-scoring involvement last Saturday night…

Although 100% goal participation (either scored the goal or assisted on it) is unheard of past Smith this season, others have statistically supported an alarmingly high amount of their teams’ goals in a single game too.

After examining every player and every game this year, we came up with a cut-off of 68% goal involvement (G or A on a team’s total goals in a game), which accounts for about the 60 highest team-goal-ownership percentages this season. Teat has eight games that finish within that Top 60ish, but so does Smith. Rochester’s Connor Fields is next with five, then Mitch Jones four times, all achieved with the Philadelphia Wings and not his former Vancouver Warriors team.

Below are the ten highest goal involvement percentages achieved in a single start so far this season (we examine full season in a bit), including whether their team won or not:

Dhane Smith, Buffalo
vs. New York, Apr. 15 (W)
11/11 (100%)

Josh Byrne, Buffalo
vs. Halifax, Mar. 10 (W)
9/10 (90%)

Mitch Jones, Philadelphia
vs. New York, Mar. 11 (L)
9/10 (90%)

Robert Church, Saskatchewan
vs. Georgia, Apr. 8 (L)
8/9 (88.9%)

Connor Fields, Rochester
vs. Toronto, Mar. 4 (L)
7/8 (87.5%)

Jeff Teat, New York
vs. Georgia, Mar. 25 (L)
7/8 (87.5%)

Jeff Teat, New York
vs. Toronto, Feb. 4 (L)
12/14 (85.7%)

Connor Fields, Rochester
vs. Albany, Apr. 8 (L)
10/12 (83.3%)

Eli McLaughlin, Colorado
vs. Saskatchewan, Dec. 3 (L)
5/6 (83.3%)

Josh Byrne, Buffalo
vs. Georgia, Jan. 14 (W)
9/11 (81.8%)

Outside of Buffalo following that formula and finding scoreboard success via Smith’s & Byrne’s heroics, most teams lose when they rely too much on a single player to produce most of their scoring.

When looking at two of this year’s most impressive offensive teams, the San Diego Seals in the West and Toronto Rock in the East, neither club sits many players in those almost 60 highest individual percentage performances. The two teams also sit first in their respective divisions right now.

As we’ve mentioned a multitude of times this year, the Riptide rely heavily on Teat for their overall offensive production, and while it’s resulted in a potentially record-breaking performance for the player, the team has suffered in the standings, New York just 4-12 and out of the playoff picture for weeks. No matter how next-gen good Teat is, the kid needs some help, pronto.

In the five games Fields has been required to contribute to 70% or more of Rochester’s goals, the team is 0-5, their offensive depth and/or transition-specific production going largely silent in those losses.

With that said, it’s worked for the Bandits, who have needed to rely on Smith (and Byrne) more throughout the season not due to strategy but rather necessity while the club continues to deal with injuries to various full-time forwards.

Below are the league’s Top 10 point producers ahead of Week 21, plus what percentage of their team’s goals they’ve either scored or assisted on this season. For Jones, who was traded midseason from Vancouver to Philadelphia, we’ve included his totals for each team (against the goals his team scored when he was there), plus his overall total.

Jeff Teat, New York
122 points (68.16%)

Dhane Smith, Buffalo
119 points (63.30%)

Tom Schreiber, Toronto
112 points (50.00%)

Mitch Jones, Philadelphia
35 points w/VAN (47.95%)
75 points w/PHI (64.10%)
110 points w/Both (57.89%)

Andrew Kew, Georgia
106 points (53.54%)

Connor Fields, Rochester
103 points (52.82%)

Wes Berg, San Diego
99 points (46.05%)

Lyle Thompson, Georgia
98 points (49.49%)

Joe Resetarits, Philadelphia
97 points (55.11%)

Robert Church, Saskatchewan
94 points (52.51%)

Jesse King, Calgary
94 points (48.85%)

Nearly 70% of every goal the Riptide have registered this year was either scored or set up by Teat. Smith is not that far off, and Jones, with the Wings (not nearly as much Warriors), is up there too. With two weeks of regular season lacrosse left, if the playoffs started today, only Smith would continue on. Teat has a max of two games left to go in 2023, and Jones and the Wings need a lot to go right if they hope to punch their postseason ticket over the next two weeks.

But then again, when it comes to naming as MVP, should team success matter? Is it impressive that a single player is relied on so heavily to produce at such a high rate, or are they simply scoring because no one else can?

In twelve of the 15 weeks we’ve published our weekly rankings this year, either Smith or Teat have been #1.

NLL Player Rankings: Week 20

1. (3) Dhane Smith, Buffalo,F
2. (1) Jeff Teat, New York, F
3. (3) Christian Del Bianco, Calgary, G
4. (2) Connor Fields, Rochester, F
5. (5) Tom Schreiber, Toronto, F
6. (6) Zach Currier, Calgary, T
7. (8) Nick Rose, Toronto, G
8. (10) Mitch Jones, Philadelphia, F
9. (9) Josh Byrne, Buffalo, F
10. (16) Andrew Kew, Georgia, F
11. (7) Reid Bowering, Vancouver, D
12. (17) Wes Berg, San Diego, F
13. (11) Lyle Thompson, Georgia, F
14. (13) Dane Dobbie, San Diego, F
15. (12) Curtis Dickson, San Diego, F
16. (15) Robert Church, Saskatchewan, F
17. (14) Will Malcom, Panther City, F
18. (18) Graeme Hossack, Halifax, D
19. (21) Jesse King, Calgary, F
20. (22) Matt Vinc, Buffalo, G
21. (19) Joe Resetarits, Philadelphia, G
22. (20) Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan, D
23. (23) Brad Kri, Toronto, D
24. (24) Steve Priolo, Buffalo, D
25. (25) Eli McLaughlin, Colorado, F
26. (27) Eli Salama, Calgary, D
27. (26) Latrell Harris, Toronto, D
28. (28) Dillon Ward, Colorado, G
29. (NR) Randy Staats, Halifax, F
30. (NR) Nick Damude, Panther City, G

NLL Player Rankings: Week 20

NLL Player Rankings: Week 20

NLL Power Rankings: Week 21

Clutch Kings: Oh, so close

THE LAX MAG