Shawn Williams will begin to build Vegas roster via Expansion Draft on July 7th
Shawn Williams, Las Vegas Desert Dogs (Photo: Ontario Lacrosse Association)
Over the weekend, the National Lacrosse League announced that the Expansion Draft for the Las Vegas Desert Dogs will take place on July 7th, with teams required to submit their protected lists by June 23rd.
Although a breakdown of how many players can be protected was not included in the announcement, the league did confirm that, “No team can lose more than one player via the Expansion Draft.”
During the league’s last Expansion Draft, which was held just about a year ago for the Panther City Lacrosse Club, the following protected player combinations were provided to teams:
Goalie, Defenseman, Forward: Teams that selected that combination
1G, 5D, 5F: Buffalo, Calgary, Colorado, New York, Philadelphia, Rochester, San Diego, Vancouver
1G, 7D, 4F: Albany, Halifax, Toronto
6D, 5F: Saskatchewan
8D, 4F: Georgia
“We know from the experience of last year’s Panther City Lacrosse Club Expansion Draft that there are many outstanding players in the NLL that a team can quickly become a contender through these selections even in its first year,” said NLL Executive VP, Lacrosse Operations, Brian Lemon, in Saturday’s announcement, referring to PCLC’s recent 7-11 regular season record. The team finished a few wins shy of a 2022 post-season spot.
Las Vegas Head Coach & General Manager, Shawn Williams, was in attendance during Game 2 of the NLL Finals in Denver on Saturday. In addition to chatting about the upcoming draft and the team’s vibe in Vegas, Williams also confirmed that his assistant coaches would be announced soon as well.
Since 1999, NLL expansion teams have taken the following players with their first pick in the draft:
Expansion team, Year: Player (NLL team drafted from)
Albany, 1999: Rob Blasdell (Toronto)
Calgary (traded to Buffalo), 2001: Chris Langdale (Toronto)
New Jersey (traded to New York Saints), 2001: Jamie Taylor (Toronto)
Vancouver, 2001: Rich Catton (Buffalo)
Columbus, 2001: Phil Wetherup (Buffalo)
Minnesota, 2004: Cam Bergman (Anaheim)
Portland, 2005: Mike Hominuck (Buffalo)
Edmonton, 2005: Rob Blasdell (Edmonton)
Chicago, 2006: Brandon Miller (San Jose)
New York Titans, 2006: Pat Maddalena (Arizona)
Boston, 2007: Pat Merrill (Toronto)*
Boston, 2008: Mike Poulin (Toronto)
Philadelphia, 2018: Brett Hickey (Toronto)
San Diego, 2018: Turner Evans (Toronto)
Rochester, 2019: Shawn Evans (Buffalo)
New York Riptide, 2019: Jordan Durston (Buffalo)
Panther City, 2021: Matt Hossack (Saskatchewan)
*Boston did not compete during their anticipated expansion year after the league initially cancelled the season after not being able to come to an agreement with the PLPA on a new CBA. The season was eventually saved, but delays forced Boston and Arizona to sit the season out.