NLL Player Rankings: Every MVP Edition
After the first full month (four weeks of completed games more specifically) of the 2021/22 National Lacrosse League season were completed, The Lax Mag started publishing weekly updated NLL Player Rankings, examining the league’s Top 30 players from Week 1 until the end of the regular season.
The rankings only take into consideration how a player has performed for this specific season. TLM ranks the top six players from each team for every completed regular season game, utilizing an average star rating system. For a full breakdown of how players are evaluated and more on our scoring system, click here.
There are only two weekends of regular-season lacrosse left, and much is left to be determined, including who’ll be voted this year’s Most Valuable Player.
While Dhane Smith remains #1 in our NLL Player Rankings, does that mean he’s a lock for this year’s MVP? What does history tell us about his chances?
This week, we looked at every NLL MVP ever to determine who voters are most likely to name this year’s most valuable. We started with the 1994 Major Indoor Lacrosse League season, the first time an MVP was recognized, and all the way up to the most recent winner, Shayne Jackson.
While Smith appears to be the MOST likely, the NLL’s past also tells use he isn’t necessarily a lock, just ask his current coach (see 1996).
Mark Steenhuis and John Tavares (Photo: Larry Palumbo)
1994: John Tavares, Buffalo Bandits
Highlights: 1st in points, 2nd in goals and 2nd in assists
In 2022: Dhane Smith will be this year’s scoring champion, he’ll top Tavares’ assist position, and although he’s tied for 5th in goals with one game left, he’s only one away from second and four away from first. More on what that could mean a bit further down.
1995: Gary Gait, Philadelphia Wings
Highlights: 1st in points and 1st in goals
In 2022: It’s so difficult to compare an 8-game season from 1995 to today’s 18, so although it’s not a perfect match, Dhane Smith would be closest due to his league-leading point total for sure.
1996: Gary Gait, Philadelphia Wings
Highlights: 2nd in points, 1st in goals and 7th in assists
In 2022: John Tavares had a huge lead in the point-scoring race but voters went with Gait who had just two more goals than Tavares. If we ignored Dhane Smith’s similar lead this year and went with the top goal getter instead, right now that’d be Tom Schreiber. Even stranger that season; Tavares had two Player of the Months to Gait’s one, and was named Player of the Week three times, Gait just once.
1997: Gary Gait, Philadelphia Wings
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 1st in assists
In 2022: Going back to the start of the NLL (PKA Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League, rolls off the tongue, right?) in 1987, Gait’s 1997 totals are one of only three times the same player led the league in points, goals and assists. Although he’ll need to score four or more (and hope Tom Schreiber and a few others are kept relatively quiet over the next two weeks), Dhane Smith could become just the third player (fourth occurrence) in history to top all four key statistical categories. In addition to Gait here, John Tavares did it in 1993 and again in 2001.
Gary Gait (Larry Palumbo)
1998: Gary Gait, Baltimore Thunder
Highlights: 1st in points and 1st in goals
In 2022: This year’s top goal scorer and point producer will probably not be the same player, but Gait had a huge 29-point lead over Darris Kilgour in points in 1998, which is a similar sizeable span to what Dhane Smith will own this season too.
1999: Gary Gait, Baltimore Thunder
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 8th in assists
In 2022: No perfect match this season, but nearest name would obviously be Dhane Smith.
2000: John Tavares, Buffalo Bandits
Highlights: 1st in points, 5th in goals and 1st in assists
In 2022: The above are the exact spots on the statistical leaderboard Dhane Smith sits in right now.
Dhane Smith, John Tavares and Luke Wiles (Photo: Larry Palumbo)
2001: John Tavares, Buffalo Bandits
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 1st in assists
In 2022: See 1997 above, but spoiler alert, it’s Dhane Smith.
2002: Paul Gait, Washington Power
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 4th in assists
In 2022: Again, no one lines up 100% to what Gait did here, but it’s still gotta be Dhane Smith, again.
2003: Gary Gait, Colorado Mammoth
Highlights: 3rd in points and 1st in goals
In 2022: Not tops in points (like Gait) but the league’s #1 ranked goal scorer so far this year is Tom Schreiber, although a handful of others could finish first in goals after these next two weekends wind down, including Dhane Smith.
2004: Jim Veltman, Toronto Rock
Highlights: 1st in loose balls
In 2022: The loose-ball leader will almost surely be Zach Currier, but Veltman had a really high assist total too (53). Out of this year’s Top 30 LB grabbers, the only one around Veltman’s helper count is Jeff Teat, who unlike the Rock legend, has played up front all year. So, we’ll go with Currier, but really no one comes close to matching Veltman’s rare MVP resume.
Cam Woods, Colin Doyle and Kasey Beirnes (Photo: Larry Palumbo)
2005: Colin Doyle, Toronto Rock
Highlights: 1st in points, 5th in goals and 2nd in assists
In 2022: Right now, Dhane Smith sits 1st in points, 5th in goals and 1st in assists. Pretty close to Popeye’s placings.
2006: Steve Dietrich, Buffalo Bandits
Highlights: 1st in GAA, 1st in SV%, 1st in wins and 4th in minutes played
In 2022: When it comes to this year’s starting stoppers, with two weeks to go, Nick Rose leads GAA, Matt Vinc leads SV%, Vinc also with the most Ws, and Doug Jamieson in minutes played. Dillon Ward is Top 5 in each of those categories too, but the closest match would likely be Vinc. Dietrich is the only goalie in NLL history to be named most valuable. The only goalie ever named an MVP Finalist is Vinc, both in 2014 & 2019.
2007: John Grant, Rochester Knighthawks
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 2nd in assists
In 2022: Switch the Gs & As rank, and it’s Dhane Smith. Junior was oh so close to leading in goals, assists and points, but John Tavares had 61 helpers to Grant’s 60.
Athan Iannucci
2008: Athan Iannucci, Philadelphia Wings
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 41st in assists
In 2022: Iannucci led in points plus broke a single-season record, so Dhane Smith matches that criteria, but if you look at his goal-heavy stat line, it’s more similar to Tom Schreiber, who is 10th in points and only 28th in helpers this year. With that said, Iannucci was most valuable for his sky-high point total and record-setting goal tally, so that’s Smith surely.
2009: Dan Dawson, Boston Blazers
Highlights: 2nd in points, 17th in goals and 1st in assists
In 2022: Dawson finished second to Colin Doyle for the scoring title, but did put up big assist numbers, so probably more Ryan Lee than Dhane Smith, who will clearly be crowned top point producer in 2022.
2010: Casey Powell, Orlando Titans
Highlights: 14th in points, 2nd in goals and 26th in assists
In 2022: An American that isn’t overly close to capturing the point-scoring crown but has buried a ton, well, that’s more Tom Schreiber than Joe Resetartis right now.
Jeff Shattler
2011: Jeff Shattler, Calgary Roughnecks
Highlights: 10th in points, 12th in goals, 10th in assists and 16th in loose balls
In 2022: Shattler spent the first half of his season starting as a D-first transition player and the second half almost exclusively on the other side of centre. Based on that description, you could argue Challen Rogers, who has a similar split in playing time, but his stats aren’t near what Shattler achieved. If we define Shattler as a forward with extreme versatility, you could argue someone like Jesse King, who in addition to high-point totals, leads forwards with 13 CTs and is second behind only Jeff Teat in LBs, again, for forwards. But truly, Shattler’s 2011 season was so unique and special, we’ve never seen another like it since. Rogers is likely closest simply for the significant impact he regularly has at both ends of the floor for the Rock.
2012: John Grant, Colorado Mammoth
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 3rd in assists
In 2022: 1st in goals this year is currently Tom Schreiber (total & per game), but he’s not really near the Top 3 in the other key categories, so it’s Dhane Smith, who could even finish 1st in goals if he goes off vs. Schreiber’s Rock next week in Buffalo.
2013: Shawn Evans, Calgary Roughnecks
Highlights: 1st in points, 10th in goals and 1st in assists
In 2022: Dhane Smith.
Cody Jamieson (Photo: Ryan McCullough)
2014: Cody Jamieson, Rochester Knighthawks
Highlights: 1st in points, 6th in goals and 2nd in assists
In 2022: You could maybe awkwardly argue Joe Resetarits or Lyle Thompson this year, but Dhane Smith’s lead in points is so huge right now, it’s gotta be him here too.
2015: Shawn Evans, Calgary Roughnecks
Highlights: 1st in points, 6th in goals and 1st in assists
In 2022: At least right now, it’s an almost identical season in many ways to Dhane Smith today.
2016: Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits
Highlights: 1st in points, 1st in goals and 5th in assists
In 2022: If we’re talking goal-scoring rate, maybe Tom Schreiber, but the best match, and not only because it’s the same person, is Dhane Smith. Woulda been weird if we picked anyone else.
Dhane Smith (Photo: Graig Abel)
2017: Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm
Highlights: 1st in points, 3rd in goals and 2nd in assists
In 2022: No one ranks nearly as high in all three as Dhane Smith.
2018: Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush
Highlights: 1st in points, 18th in goals and 1st in assists (by a lot)
In 2022: Well, he already busted Matthews’ assist record earlier this year, so it would have to be Dhane Smith.
2019: Dane Dobbie, Calgary Roughnecks
Highlights: 1st in points, 2nd in goals and 2nd in assists
In 2022: He’s heavier on the helpers, but it’s still be Dhane Smith.
Dane Dobbie (Photo: Candice Ward)
2020: Shayne Jackson, Georgia Swarm
Highlights: 3rd in points, 3rd in goals and 5th in assists
In 2022: The only scorer inside the Top 5 of each of those stats is Dhane Smith (currently 5th, 1st and 1st), but the fact the scoring champ was rarely not recognized for MVP means maybe that player this year would be Joe Resetarits or even Ryan Lee? Jackson also owned one of the best shooting percentages among top forwards in 2020, so we’ll give this one two whoever has the better %. It’s Resetarits.
Conclusion
Unless something really strange transpires over the next two weeks, like Matt Vinc shuts out the Rock and scores seven himself, league history tells us that Dhane Smith is the overwhelming favourite to be named this year’s National Lacrosse League Most Valuable Player.
The updated current NLL Top 30 is below. For the few that paid attention to our point totals for players, we finally dropped them after a flurry of feedback told us people didn’t know what they meant. We’re still using them to rank players, but nixed them here to simplify things for most. It’s easier, we hope.
NLL Player Rankings: Week 20
Rank. (Previous Week) Player, Team, Position
1. (1) Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits, F
2. (3) Zach Currier, Calgary Roughnecks, T
3. (4) Jeff Teat, New York Riptide, F*
4. (2) Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm, F
5. (5) Joe Resetarits, Albany FireWolves, F
6. (8) Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan Rush, D
7. (10) Tom Schreiber, Toronto Rock, F
8. (6) Reid Bowering, Vancouver Warriors, T*
9. (9) Ryan Lee, Colorado Mammoth, F
10. (12) Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock, T
11. (7) Callum Crawford, New York Riptide, F
12. (11) Curtis Dickson, Calgary Roughnecks, F
13. (15) Dillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth, G
14. (16) Jesse King, Calgary Roughnecks, F
15. (20) Matt Vinc, Buffalo Bandits, G
16. (13) Austin Staats, San Diego Seals, F
17. (14) Wes Berg, San Diego Seals, F
18. (22) Keegan Bal, Vancouver Warriors, F
19. (21) Mike Messenger, Saskatchewan Rush, T
20. (23) Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits, F
21. (24) Mitch de Snoo, Toronto Rock, D
22. (26) Brad Kri, Toronto Rock, D
23. (18) Kiel Matisz, Philadelphia Wings, T
24. (17) Shayne Jackson, Georgia Swarm, F
25. (27) Tony Malcom, Albany FireWolves, T
26. (NR) Nick Rose, Toronto Rock, G
27. (19) Graeme Hossack, Halifax Thunderbirds, D
28. (NR) Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush, F
29. (30) Steve Priolo, Buffalo Bandits, D
30. (NR) Latrell Harris, Toronto Rock, D
NR = not rated in previous week’s Top 30
*Rookie