NLL Player Rankings: Week 7
After the first full month of the 2021/22 National Lacrosse League season, 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.
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 to determine their overall ranking. For a full breakdown of how players are evaluated, more on our scoring system, how ties are broken and more, click here.
NLL Player Ranking Highlights: Week 7
Holden Cattoni, who hasn’t played in a month now due to various delays the Rochester Knighthawks’ schedule has been slammed with, still sits #1 after his tremendous start to the season. It case you forgot (it’s been a bit), he’s done no worse than a hat-trick in three games, has a strong shooting % and has rarely turned the ball over. Rochester has a double on deck this weekend against Georgia and Philadelphia.
#7 Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock (Photo: Ryan McCullough)
After yet another superb start against a top-ranked team, the Halifax Thunderbirds’ talented tendy, Warren Hill, slips into the Top 5. His SV% (.814) and GAA (9.43) are right up there, but Hill ranks this high due to the timely & clutch stops he’s provided the undefeated Thunderbirds. Halifax was outshot significantly by the Rock last week (65 to 48), but it was Hill’s heroics between the pipes that helped preserve their dramatic 14-13 victory in OT.
Toronto Rock captain Challen Rogers, who headed up the team’s offense due to being down a number of notable names (plus he’s fire up front), gets into the Top 10 after yet another impressive performance. The Rock’s offense looked arguably the best it has all year in their home loss to Halifax, and most of that is due to Rogers’ confidence, creativity and precision at the top of their O unit. Plus, he still puts in quality minutes no matter wherever else he’s needed.
Josh Byrne made the biggest jump of anyone already in the Top 30, his 7 points and 7 loosies last week were so key in the Buffalo Bandits’ 12-10 W over the Swarm. The athletic, agile and usually airborne Byrne also leads the league with 3 short-handed goals in just 4 games. Byrne had buried just 2 SHGs in the 38 regular season games he played previous to this season.
#15 Steve Priolo, Buffalo Bandits (Photo: Ben Green)
For the second week in a row, the Bandits own the most spots in the TLM Top 30 (Matt Vinc, Steve Priolo, Dhane Smith and the already mentioned Byrne), tied with the Saskatchewan Rush (Mike Messenger, Kyle Rubisch, Robert Church and Mark Matthews) with four apiece.
Dropped from last week’s Top 30 due to a declining point total are Tony Malcom (Albany), Kieran McArdle (New York), Matt Rambo (Philadelphia) and Jake Withers (Halifax), while Doug Jamieson (Albany), Austin Staats (San Diego), Robert Church (Saskatchewan) and Jordan MacIntosh (Georgia) cracked the countdown.
Also worth noting, there are still a handful of players (Tom Schreiber, Jeff Teat, etc.) who have a rating worthy of Top 30 placement, but have not appeared in enough of their team’s games to qualify (need to appear in two-thirds of their team’s games).
Check out the full Top 30 below, and remember read the TLM Player Ranking rules before you lose your mind on someone being missed.
NLL Player Rankings: Week 7
Rank. (Previous Week) Player, Team (Average Star Rating)
1. (1) Holden Cattoni, Rochester Knighthawks (5.67)
2. (3) Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm (5.25)
3. (2) Dane Dobbie, San Diego Seals (5.00)
4. (5) Mitch Jones, Vancouver Warriors (4.75)
5. (8) Warren Hill, Halifax Thunderbirds (4.67)
6. (6) Zach Currier, Calgary Roughnecks (4.67)
7. (12) Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock (4.60)
8. (9) Keegan Bal, Vancouver Warriors (4.33)
9. (7) Matt Vinc, Buffalo Bandits (4.25)
10. (22) Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits (4.25)
11. (11) Dillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth (4.25)
12. (17) Mike Messenger, Saskatchewan Rush (4.00)
13. (13) Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan Rush (4.00)
14. (14) Jesse King, Calgary Roughnecks (4.00)
15. (20) Steve Priolo, Buffalo Bandits (4.00)
16. (15) Reid Bowering, Vancouver Warriors (4.00)
17. (24) Kiel Matisz, Philadelphia Wings (3.80)
18. (4) Shayne Jackson, Georgia Swarm (3.75)
19. (19) Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits (3.75)
20. (NR) Doug Jamieson, Albany FireWolves (3.75)
21. (10) Callum Crawford, New York Riptide (3.75)
22. (18) Matt Hossack, Panther City Lacrosse Club (3.75)
23. (25) Graeme Hossack, Halifax Thunderbirds (3.67)
24. (NR) Austin Staats, San Diego Seals (3.67)
25. (23) Curtis Dickson, Calgary Roughnecks (3.67)
26. (NR) Robert Church, Saskatchewan Rush (3.60)
27. (28) Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush (3.60)
28. (30) Wes Berg, San Diego Seals (3.60)
29. (26) Ryan Lee, Colorado Mammoth (3.50)
30. (NR) Jordan MacIntosh, Georgia Swarm (3.25)
NR = not rated in previous week’s Top 30