NLL Player Rankings: Week 6
Now that the first full month (four weeks of completed games more specifically) of the 2021/22 National Lacrosse League season are complete, The Lax Mag will publish weekly updated NLL Player Rankings, examining the league’s Top 30 players from right now until the end of the regular season.
How do they work?
At the conclusion of every weekend, TLM will rank the top six players for each team from that weekend’s game or games (double headers). Players will be selected and ranked in order of the impact & performance they had in that specific game(s). A player ranked first will receive six points, a player selected in the second spot will be awarded five, three gets four, four three, five two, and sixth gets a single.
A player’s entire point total will be divided by the number of games they played in order to determine their average star rating. If they were to rank #1 in every game (highly unlikely) the max average star rating they would receive would be 6.00.
A player’s average star rating will determine where they rank in the Top 30. Ties will be broken by determining which player received a higher ranking in individual games (whoever was ranked #1 in games more often would be placed higher, if the tied players were never selected #1, then who was #2 more often, and so on).
#1 Holden Cattoni (Photo: Micheline V/Rochester Knighthawks)
Similar to say a boxing scorecard (12 rounds vs. judging an overall bout in one shot), the TLM Player Rankings take into account an entire season. So, while a player may have had two really outstanding recent games but was either average or ineffective in his earlier ones, that will be reflected in their overall rating & rank. Just like in boxing, a fighter that may flourish in the later rounds after being beaten during the rest of the bout will likely have the crowd in their corner, but the scorecard may have a differing take on who is the better overall combatant. The TLM Power Rankings will have that same long-term memory.
To use a current player as an example: Dillon Ward. While some may question Ward’s high rank here (11th) due to his showing last Friday night in Vancouver, his previous three starts as the Colorado Mammoth’s starting stopper were spectacular. He was obviously not a top-six star after being pulled early last week (received 0 points), but was ranked the first star twice and second star once in the Mammoth’s three earlier games. Had we published results last week, Ward was tied for #1 in the TLM Player Rankings.
Unlike the more involved criteria we used for the NLL Top 100 (see it here, fifth paragraph), our NLL Player Rankings are about what a player does in that game and eventually for a full season. Out of the four or five bullets we used for The 100, the only one that applies here is “positional impact & overall value they provide their team” in that specific game and then stretched over the regular season.
#2 Dane Dobbie & Austin Staats (Photo: Mike McGinnis)
The TLM Player Rankings don’t take into account past-season success, potential future impact, reputations, resumes or anything else that isn’t specific to this season’s completed regular season games.
Also, since player availability has been heavily impacted by the pandemic, we’re only ranking players that have played in two-thirds of their teams’ games. So, someone like Jeff Teat, Tom Schreiber or even Eric Penney, who have played as little as one or two games, albeit impressive ones, won’t register until they hit that two-thirds GP threshold.
While this season has seen a number of teams play far fewer games than they should have by now due to pandemic-related postponements, the average star rating still allows players on those teams to be properly ranked right now.
For those shocked to see one player ahead of another or a player that didn’t make this week’s Top 30, relax. We’ve got a full season of NLL games to go (fingers crossed), and plenty of time for players to produce, perform and pick up points here.
In future NLL Player Rankings, this post will be exclusively dedicated to highlighting players’ performances from the previous week. This week needed a full scoring system explanation.
NLL Player Rankings: Week 6
Rank. Player, Team (Average Star Rating)
1. Holden Cattoni, Rochester Knighthawks (5.67)
2. Dane Dobbie San Diego Seals (5.50)
3. Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm (5.00)
4. Shayne Jackson, Georgia Swarm (5.00)
5. Mitch Jones, Vancouver Warriors (4.75)
6. Zach Currier, Calgary Roughnecks (4.67)
7. Matt Vinc, Buffalo Bandits (4.67)
8. Warren Hill, Halifax Thunderbirds (4.50)
9. Keegan Bal, Vancouver Warriors (4.33)
10. Callum Crawford, New York Riptide (4.33)
11. Dillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth (4.25)
12. Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock (4.25)
13. Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan Rush (4.25)
14. Jesse King, Calgary Roughnecks (4.00)
15. Reid Bowering, Vancouver Warriors (4.00)
16. Tony Malcom, Albany FireWolves (4.00)
17. Mike Messenger, Saskatchewan Rush (3.75)
18. Matt Hossack, Panther City Lacrosse Club (3.75)
19. Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits (3.67)
20. Steve Priolo, Buffalo Bandits (3.67)
21. Kieran McArdle, New York Riptide (3.67)
22. Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits (3.67)
23. Curtis Dickson, Calgary Roughnecks (3.67)
24. Kiel Matisz, Philadelphia Wings (3.50)
25. Graeme Hossack, Halifax Thunderbirds (3.50)
26. Ryan Lee, Colorado Mammoth (3.50)
27. Matt Rambo, Philadelphia Wings (3.50)
28. Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush (3.50)
29. Jake Withers, Halifax Thunderbirds (3.50)
30. Wes Berg, San Diego Seals (3.50)