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: Steven Richardson Jr.)

Last year, during the final few weeks of the regular season, the Buffalo Bandits forward Dhane Smith was the overwhelming favourite to be named the NLL’s Most Valuable Player. We reviewed every MVP the league has ever had, and there was little doubt, based on Smith’s outstanding 2022 regular season resume, that it’d be him.

A year later, although Smith sits in our #1 spot with a weekend of regular season lacrosse to go, 2023’s most-valuable chatter is not nearly as contained.

After reviewing every MVP ever last year, there really are only a small handful of season types that have been deemed MVP worthy since the award was first officially handed out in 1994. Below are the types of seasons that typically and even rarely win MVP, plus this year’s pool of players that would be in consideration.

Jeff Teat, New York Riptide (Photo: Trevor MacMillan)

1.(a) A Leading Point Producer

In 20 of the 28 seasons an MVP was named, the league leader in points was voted most valuable, which includes Smith’s second nod last year. Tied with 126 points with a game to go for both, this year that would obviously be either Smith or the New York Riptide second-year phenom, Jeff Teat. Outside of both of those players peculiarly hitting pause on their point production this weekend and someone else dropping insane individual digits, it will clearly come down to Smith or Teat.

1.(b) An Offensive Record Breaker

When single-season goals, assists or points record are set, that player is almost always named MVP. Although they’d need a healthy 12 points or more this Saturday to set a new NLL high score, Smith & Teat could do it (Teat hit 12 twice this year, Smith once).

Here’s a brief recent record-setting history in those three main offensive categories:

Goals

1998: Gary Gait Baltimore 57
2003: Gary Gait Colorado 61
2008: Athan Iannucci Philadelphia 71
2016: Dhane Smith Buffalo 72

Everyone above was named MVP, including Gait in 2003, when he finished third in overall points. The others were, you guessed it, first in PTS.

Assists

2012: Garrett Billings Toronto 82
2015: Shawn Evans Calgary & Josh Sanderson Toronto 83
2018: Mark Matthews Saskatchewan 84
2022: Dhane Smith Buffalo 94

Outside of Billings and Sanderson, the others were named MVP. Billings beat the old record by eight apples, and was only two points shy of the league lead, so his MVP miss seems a bit suspect. Sanderson didn’t win, but Evans also had 83 assists that year and was voted most valuable. Last year, Colorado’s Ryan Lee kinda broke the assist record (85), but just didn’t bust it to the degree Smith did. And speaking of Lee, although he’s only fit into six games this year due to injury (he was placed on the IR again ahead of last weekend’s Colorado Mammoth game), he does own the highest assists/game average this year (5.50), better than Smith (5.31) and better than Teat (4.41), the two next highest on that per-game list.

Points

2001: John Tavares Buffalo 115
2012: John Grant Colorado 116
2015: Shawn Evans Calgary 130
2016: Dhane Smith Buffalo 135
2022: Dhane Smith Buffalo 137

Again, all MVPs, even in 2001 when…

1.(c) A Non-Playoff Record Breaker

John Tavares broke the single-season points record, but missed the playoffs with the Bandits. As we pointed out earlier this year, Tavares is the NLL’s only MVP to win the award but not extend his year past the regular season. This year, that would potentially be Teat, who has been flirting with a record-book rewrite for several weeks, but whose teams has been out of the playoff picture for a minute. Likely to finish third in points this year is Mitch Jones (currently at 118 points, ten ahead of the next nearest name that could catch him), who will have played for two teams that didn’t make the playoffs in 2023: Vancouver & Philadelphia.

Christian Del Bianco, Calgary Roughnecks

2. A League-Leading Goalie

There has been only one season when a goalie garnered MVP accolades, and that was in 2006 when current Buffalo GM Steve Dietrich was voted most valuable with the same team he’s still with today. He led the league in GAA and save percentage by a decent margin while guiding the Bandits to a first-place finish in the East and the top overall seed that season (edged out Portland via head-to-head tiebreaker).

While both Calgary’s Christian Del Bianco & Toronto’s Nick Rose have been mentioned often in MVP talk this year (deservedly so), neither lead both categories Dietrich did, but are about as close as you can get. Del Bianco is #1 in SV% (.810) with Rose #2 (.805), and Rose is #1 in GAA (9.03) with Del Bianco #2 (9.28). Both are done their seasons (Calgary & Toronto oddly end on a bye), so those numbers won’t be budging any. Both backstops repped their division’s second overall seed, not #1 like Dietrich.

Nick Rose, Toronto Rock (Photo: Ryan McCullough)

Buffalo’s Matt Vinc is the only goalie to ever be named an MVP Finalist (3x), most recently being recognized as a final three contender last year.

With all that said, if a stopper is going to be named MVP again, you couldn’t ask for much more than what Del Bianco & Rose have accomplished this year. We’ll have far deeper analysis (like this) on them and other top goaltenders when we delve into every year-end award while the playoffs are percolating.

3. A Very Versatile Veltman-like Player

In 2004, Toronto Rock captain Jim Veltman was voted MVP, the first non-forward to be named. Veltman’s claim to fame was his next-level loose ball scooping skills and Cup-winning leadership. As he did in most seasons he played, Veltman led the NLL in loose balls that year.

Seven seasons later, Jeff Shattler was an MVP. His season was split almost in a positional half with the Calgary Roughnecks, first playing a primarily defense-first role (heavy on transition) and then excelling while playing full-time forward minutes up front. Although Shattler had strong offensive numbers, he was tenth overall in points.

Zach Currier, Calgary Roughnecks (Photo: Angela Burger)

Who could that player be this year?

Currently second in the NLL with 226LB, Jake Withers (226) is surely to sit #1 in that column after Week 22, since the current loosie leader, Zach Currier (228), has played all of his 18 games already. While their style of play does differ, Currier’s full-floor role and spread-out stat line is much more in line with Veltman than really anyone else can claim in today’s game, Withers included (who is maybe more of Geoff Snider than Jim Veltman, which isn’t a bad thing). While caused turnover stats weren’t kept in Veltman’s day, it’s a digit he likely would have dominated in due to his unreal on-floor IQ, above-average anticipation, and relentless approach. Right now, Currier sits second overall in the NLL with 43CTOs. We’ve had Currier ranked within out Top 10 for most of this past season, currently in the seven spot.

The only player that comes close to the type of minutes Shattler logged in 2011 is maybe Rock captain Challen Rogers, but his end-of-season totals don’t come close to what Shattler produced. Shattler’s 2011 run remains one of the most unique regular season campaigns on record, and most definitely MVP worthy.

4. A High-Impact American Player

When Casey Powell was deservedly named the league’s first and still only American MVP in 2010, he was just 14th in overall points, but second in goals. He also missed two games, not something an NLL MVP often gets away with.

While they’ll rank higher in overall points than CP did, Connor Fields (born in East Amherst, New York) & Tom Schreiber (born in East Meadow, New York) have been in our Top 10 together for almost the entire year. Like Powell, they are critical components to their team’s offense and overall success. Fields, who like Powell missed a GP, is averaging more goals/game than any other player this year (3.13) and is likely to finish first or second in the straight-up category after Week 22 is done. The pair also has way above-average LB scoops for forwards (Fields 135 & Schreiber 110) and Schreiber owns an absurdly low turnover total for someone that shoots (and scores) as often as he does (46). Fields has also been a pivotal puzzle piece for a Rochester roster that had arguably this season’s most impressive turnaround (for those that need their MVP to have a storyline based on team success), while also ranking super high all season in our Clutch Kings countdown - no player has more tying, go-ahead and game-winning goals than Fields this year.

Tom Schreiber, Toronto Rock (Photo: Ryan McCullough)

If either gets voted most valuable, like Powell in 2010, it shouldn’t come as a shock. Being American is a nice sidebar, but if and more likely when Fields & Schreiber garner MVP mentions on various voting cards in coming weeks, it will be due to their overall impact in 2023, not their passport (passports in Fields’ case).

In Conclusion

Although you could maybe make a case for a few random MVP campaigns that don’t perfectly fit into one of our four categories, no one really matches them this year anyways. Based on almost three decade’s worth of voting history, there are seven players that have a chance at being named MVP in 2023, and guess what, they’re our Top 7 in this week’s updated 30 below…

NLL Player Rankings: Week 22

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