NLL Player Rankings: Week 9

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.

NLL Player Ranking Highlights: Week 9

There’s a 5.00-point lock for the top spot between Lyle Thompson and Zach Currier, but the Georgia Swarm scorer maintains #1 through our tie-breaker rule (picked as a game’s first star more often, which Thompson has done four times to Currier’s two).

Actually, Thompson’s Week 9 game versus the Philadelphia Wings was his first game in a bit he wasn’t named the team’s first star. While he still controlled the Swarm’s offense and constantly created opportunity through his creativity & composure, his 3-point effort was his lowest of the season, while his 18 shots (only 1 goal) was his highest. We ranked Shayne Jackson, Mike Poulin and Bryan Cole ahead of Thompson this week, Chad Tutton and Brendan Bomberry also snagging stars in the Swarm’s OT loss.

#7 Tom Schreiber, Toronto Rock (Photo: Ryan McCullough)

Currier has quietly put together another outstanding season while the Calgary Roughnecks struggle in the standings. His 58LB rank him third in the NLL, but Currier’s LB/GP (14.5) is not surprisingly tops in the league. He may not have the same offensive upside as other transitional players, but his versatility, consistency, decision making and overall in-game impact far outweigh a handful of second assists that so many seem to think defines two-way talent in this league.

Mitch Jones still sits in the Top 5, but we’ll be dropping him next week after it was confirmed yesterday he’d be sidelined for the foreseeable future with a broken (and since repaired) foot via freak accident in Denver. It’s believed that Jones will miss a significant stretch of the season while resting then rehabbing.

Where will the Warriors get their goal production with Jones sidelined for so long?

While Keegan Bal, Logan Schuss, Kyle Killen and other Vancouver forwards are capable of steady offensive production, it’ll be interesting to see if rookie Reid Bowering sees more time up top. The first-year phenom cracks our Top 10 for the first time this year due to his dominating defensive play, but his stick is capable of much more than just creating caused turnover or garnering ground-ball grabs. Bowering played attack at Drexel during his five years there. His goal output from his freshmen to second-senior season: 24, 31, 47, 20 (pandemic shortened) and 25. While he played primarily defense with the Coquitlam Junior ‘A’ Adanacs, clearly the kid has a scoring touch too. Remind you of anyone? See #9 below.

#4 Mitch Jones, Vancouver Warriors (Photo: Jordan Leigh)

The NLL’s Rookie of the Week, Jeff Teat, slides into the Top 5 after yet another tremendous performance during the New York Riptide’s really impressive run over their last two. Teat has registered an absurd 19 points over the past couple weeks, numbers that pushed him into the NLL’s Top 10-point producers too. Also worth noting, he’s played as many as half the amount of games as some of the vets ahead of him. As we outlined in our rules breakdown, TLM Player Rankings have zero to do with rep and everything to do with right-now results. Since coming out of protocol, the Riptide rookie has produced at an a ridiculously high rate and should still certainly be a ROTY contender (duh!) and most definitely an MVP maybe too.

Colorado Mammoth’s starting stopper, Dillon Ward, who was actually #1 prior to the first edition of the TLM Player Rankings going live, but that rare off night versus Vancouver sank him a smidge. One game later, and he’s right back near the top after allowing just four goals against that same Warriors team last week. Ward became just the 25th goalie in NLL history to allow four or fewer goals during a regular season game.

Dane Dobbie, who was nearing #1 a few weeks ago, has slowly slid into sixth place. Clearly one of this year’s top talents, Dobbie’s last two games, at least statistically, have been by far his lowest of the year (2G, 1A and 1G and 2A). As his point production has slowed, so has his shooting. During Dobbie first three games this year, he was averaging 14 looks a game. His last three? Just six shots per outing. Part of that could very well be the addition of Austin Staats to San Diego’s lineup, who has hit a hat-trick on just nine shots in each of his last three games. Staats has also been one of our fastest rising forwards in the Player Rankings, currently in 13th place.

#6 Dane Dobbie, San Diego Seals (Photo: Mike McGinnis)

New names in this week’s Top 30: Adam Bomberry (Albany), Ryan Lee (Colorado), Callum Crawford (New York), and Tony Malcom (Albany), who continues to carve out a name for himself as one of the NLL’s most talented two-way threats. Dropped from last week: Bal (Vancouver), Matt Hossack (Panther City), Connor Kearnan (New York) and Mark Matthews (Saskatchewan Rush).

Check out the full Top 30 below, and again, for those new to this player-ranking program, we take into account every single game a player plays, not just the games they glowed in. A no star in a single game (0 points) will negatively factor into the TLM Player Rankings as much as a #1 game star (6 points) positively pops a player’s overall ranking.

NLL Player Rankings: Week 9

Rank. (Previous Week) Player, Team (Average Star Rating)

1. (1) Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm (5.00)

2. (5) Zach Currier, Calgary Roughnecks (5.00)

3. (6) Jeff Teat, New York Riptide (4.75)*

4. (3) Mitch Jones, Vancouver Warriors (4.75)

5. (12) Dillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth (4.60)

6. (2) Dane Dobbie, San Diego Seals (4.50)

7. (16) Tom Schreiber, Toronto Rock (4.50)

8. (4) Warren Hill, Halifax Thunderbirds (4.50)

9. (7) Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock (4.50)

10. (18) Reid Bowering, Vancouver Warriors (4.40)*

11. (8) Holden Cattoni, Rochester Knighthawks (4.40)

12. (13) Mike Messenger, Saskatchewan Rush (4.33)

13. (25) Austin Staats, San Diego Seals (4.25)

14. (24) Graeme Hossack, Halifax Thunderbirds (4.25)

15. (15) Jesse King, Calgary Roughnecks (4.25)

16. (20) Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits (4.20)

17. (21) Doug Jamieson, Albany FireWolves (4.20)

18. (11) Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits (4.20)

19. (19) Shayne Jackson, Georgia Swarm (4.20)

20. (14) Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan Rush (4.17)

21. (NR) Adam Bomberry, Albany FireWolves (4.00)

22. (30) Wes Berg, San Diego Seals (3.83)

23. (NR) Ryan Lee, Colorado Mammoth (3.80)

24. (26) Curtis Dickson, Calgary Roughnecks (3.75)

25. (NR) Callum Crawford, New York Riptide (3.67)

26. (23) Kiel Matisz, Philadelphia Wings (3.63)

27. (17) Steve Priolo, Buffalo Bandits (3.60)

28. (28) Robert Church, Saskatchewan Rush (3.50)

29. (10) Matt Vinc, Buffalo Bandits (3.40)

30. (NR) Tony Malcom, Albany FireWolves (3.40)

NR = not rated in previous week’s Top 30

*Rookie