NLL Player Rankings: The unwritten rules regarding winning and MVPs
After the first several weeks of the 2023-24 National Lacrosse League season are complete, The Lax Mag will publish a weekly NLL Player Ranking, examining the league’s Top 30 players from Week 1 right up until the end of the regular season.
TLM’s Top 30 NLL Player Rankings have nothing to do with reputations, career resumes, success in past seasons, whether we know a player personally, recognizing deserving players who’ve previously been passed over, player popularity, the size of their social media following, whether you slide into their DMs, or who others around the league tell us should get hype.
Our rankings, which only take into consideration a player’s performance for the current regular season, will be calculated using both our star-rating system after each game, but also a player’s season-long statistical position (based on per-game average, not full-season totals) across the league. Only players who have played two-thirds of their team’s games will qualify.
Click here for an even more in-depth description of our scoring system.
Jeff Teat, New York Riptide (Photo: Brandon Hill)
This year’s regular season is winding down. Five teams have just three games to go over the next month. The Georgia Swarm have only two games left on their schedule.
There isn’t much time left for players to present their case for being voted this year’s Most Valuable Player, but whatever exactly are the league’s voters looking for?
Last year, we reviewed what requirements past NLL MVPs had needed to get the nod. The article was sparked by Jeff Teat’s potential record-breaking season (most points in one year) while he was at the same time likely being left off some voter’s ballots because his New York Riptide were highly unlikely to make the playoffs.
Teat led the league in points - something most MVPs, not nearly to his point-producing heights, had done before. He didn’t set a new single-season points record. The Riptide didn’t come close to making the playoffs. Teat was an MVP finalist, but failed to win the award.
As we’ve pointed out previously, John Tavares missed the playoffs in 2001, set the same record Teat was chasing last year, and was voted MVP. It’s the only time in NLL history (excluding the incomplete COVID-cancelled season) a player whose team didn’t make the playoffs was picked as most valuable.
So, why is making the playoffs so important when naming an MVP?
It’s a regular season-based honour, yet many voters put a high-level of importance on the playoffs.
When we asked our Twitter followers about last year’s Teat-for-MVP scenario, nearly 70% of the vote essentially said it shouldn’t matter if he makes the playoffs or not.
If team wins & regular-season success are so important when it comes to selecting an MVP, doesn’t that also imply the league’s most valuable player plays for the league’s best (aka most winning) team? Kinda does, no?
Since the NLL started naming an MVP in 1994, there have been 29 honours awarded to a total of 19 different players. How many times did those MVPs also lead their team to a first-place finish? Only ten times, and almost half of them have happened in more recent seasons – since 2016, four of seven MVPs played for the first-place team.
With playoffs meaning so much to many regular season MVP voters, how often did an MVP go on to lead his team to that season’s NLL Cup? Not many. Only seven in fact.
Hypotheticals also seem to often impact voters’ decisions too, like, “How well would <insert team name> do without <insert top player name> in their lineup versus how <insert another team name> would do minus <insert that team’s top player> on their roster?” It’s kind of an impossible-to-answer question with 100% certainty, but…
Tom Schreiber, Toronto Rock (Photo: Ryan McCullough)
It’s safe to say we all believe Tom Schreiber is easily one of the top players in the NLL, right? He passes both the eye and stat test in virtually every game he plays. Few play with the same skill, IQ and determination as Schreiber. In our common sense conclusion, Schreiber is an absurd talent that any team in the league would love to have.
Missing five games this year due to injury, the Toronto Rock actually have a better win percentage with Schreiber not playing (5-0, 1.000) than when he does (7-3, .700). Does that mean Toronto is a stronger side when Schreiber is sidelined? Of course not.
Sidenote: After finally playing in two-thirds of Toronto’s games this year (read our rankings rules in the intro paragraph), Schreiber makes his first appearance in our weekly Top 30. While Schreiber’s overall point total this year has him tied for 38th on the league-wide leaderboard, his 5.70 points per game is actually the 12th highest average in the NLL right now.
Connor Fields, Rochester Knighthawks (Photo: John Harrison)
This week’s Top 3 players in our updated Top 30 are all currently playing for clubs .500 or worse and have a lot left to do in order to qualify for the playoffs.
Josh Byrne, Jeff Teat (him again!) and Connor Fields are the only players presently averaging over seven points per outing. Byrne is scoring more meaningful goals than anyone else in the league right now (clutch-scoring proof here), Teat is again arguably the most relied on forward anywhere in the league (last week he assisted on or scored 13 of New York’s 14 goals, and was later voted the league’s Player of the Week) and Fields is doing what only one GOAT has also garnered…
All three are also on pace to finish with 130 points, and with increased production, could still catch Dhane Smith’s single-season record for most points (137). Oh, and Smith, who may or may not play in this year’s playoffs (TBD), is on pace to break his own (96) single-season record for most assists (99). Like Schreiber, their teams are significantly stronger with them in the lineup, whether that qualifies them as MVP contenders in your mind or not.
Below, check out this week’s updated Top 30, which is based on a player’s individual performance (statistical analysis) and value to their team, whether they win or lose (star-rating system).
NLL Top 30: Week 18
TW. (LW) Player, Team (Pos.)
1. (2) Josh Byrne, Buffalo (F)
2. (3) Jeff Teat, New York (F)
3. (1) Connor Fields, Rochester (F)
4. (4) Nick Rose, Toronto (G)
5. (5) Dhane Smith, Buffalo (F)
6. (6) Wes Berg, San Diego (F)
7. (10) Mitch Jones, Philadelphia (F)
8. (7) Ryan Smith, Rochester (F)
9. (8) Austin Staats, San Diego (F)
10. (13) Mitch de Snoo, Toronto (D)
11. (9) Jesse King, Calgary (F)
12. (11) Callum Crawford, Panther City (F)
13. (14) Will Malcom, Panther City (F)
14. (12) Alex Simmons, Albany (F)
15. (17) Doug Jamieson, Albany (G)
16. (18) Christian Del Bianco, Calgary (G)
17. (15) Jake Withers, Halifax (D)
18. (16) Clarke Petterson, Halifax (F)
19. (19) Chris Origlieri, San Diego (G)
20. (23) Robert Church, Saskatchewan (F)
21. (20) Matt Gilray, Rochester (T)
22. (21) Lyle Thompson, Georgia (F)
23. (25) Mark Matthews, Toronto (F)
24. (24) Brad Kri, Toronto (D)
25. (26) Graeme Hossack, Halifax (D)
26. (22) Zach Higgins, Philadelphia (G)
27. (NR) Andrew Kew, Georgia (F)
28. (NR) Tom Schreiber, Toronto (F)
29. (NR) Eli McLaughlin, Colorado (F)
30. (NR) Keegan Bal, Vancouver (F)