NLL 2023: Who have injuries hit the hardest?
Joey Cupido, Colorado Mammoth (Photo: Jack Dempsey)
Almost 370 players have played during the 2023 National Lacrosse League regular season. About 100 NLLers have been hurt or are still healing so far this year.
An above average amount of players, including several significant stars, have been stuck watching their team from the press box or at home on their laptops due to injuries.
During last year’s playoffs, the Colorado Mammoth turned that roster-crippling negative into a positive, when a number of notable names elevated their game to make up for the loss of offensive leaders Ryan Lee & Eli McLaughlin. Colorado’s incredible comeback effort was enough to capture the franchise’s second-ever NLL Cup.
The Mammoth were forced to move Lee to their injured reserve list on May 13, 2022, last year’s second-highest scorer (119 points) lost due to a devastating knee injury.
Now halfway through the following season, although the team plans to have him back at some point, Lee has remained on the IR 281 days later. Entering the NLL’s Week 12, the league has Lee listed as “out” for yet another week.
Colorado, who has struggled so far this season, have been missing much more than just Lee during their title-defense tour. Only nine players have played in all eight of the team’s games leading into Week 12’s critical contest against the Panther City Lacrosse Club. In comparison, the West-leading San Diego Seals have had 14 players fit into all eight of their games this year.
Dillon Ward, Connor Robinson, Zed Williams, John Lintz, Chris Wardle, Brett Craig, Jake Foster and Joey Cupido have all missed time this year on the Mammoth’s IR, Cupido confirmed to be out for the rest of the season with an Achilles tendon injury.
“Joe has already started his road to recovery,” said Mammoth GM Brad Self. “We can’t replace everything Joe brings Joe brings to our team but as we showed last year we know our team will step up in his absence.”
Clutch Colorado forward Rhys Duch, who the team only signed after the start of their injury-plagued season, has been listed as “out” of this weekend’s action. Leading point producers McLaughlin and Robinson are both “questionable” as of Friday evening as well.
If the playoffs started today, the Mammoth would miss them, a first for a Cup defender in the modern era. Their opponent tonight, PCLC, passed them last week for fourth in the West Conference standings, Panther City’s .556 win percentage enough to get them into the playoffs.
While Colorado has easily been this season’s most banged up squad, a few others aren’t all that far behind.
The Buffalo Bandits have been without Chase Fraser for every one of their games so far, an unconfirmed offseason injury seemingly keeping him sidelined. The hope during the preseason was that Fraser would be back sometime in February. Unlike most others mentioned today, Fraser doesn’t appear on the Bandits IR or their physically unable to perform list (PUP), last year’s 30-goal scorer moved to Buffalo’s protected list just prior to the start of the current season. A total of 82 days later, and Fraser remains inactive.
The Bandits’ injury-related issues don’t end there, the team losing forward Chris Cloutier after just two games this year, and Josh Byrne sidelined with what appeared to be an ankle injury when the dynamic forward went down against the New York Riptide on January 28. Listed as “questionable” by the league earlier this week, it seems likely Byrne will be out for a second straight start.
With that said, the East-leading (tied for first with Toronto & Rochester) Bandits are averaging nearly 14 goals per game and are getting another MVP-worthy season from Dhane Smith, plus reliable production from players like Kyle Buchanan, Tehoka Nanticoke and Brandon Robinson, as well as consistent transition scoring led by Ian MacKay.
When it comes to who injuries have hit the hardest, you could also easily make a case for the Vancouver Warriors, who last year were without the since-traded Mitch Jones for most of their season. This year they’ve had players like Shawn Evans, Connor Goodwin, Tyrell Hamer-Jackson, Matt Delmonico and Anthony Kalinich all missing time due to injury. Before yesterday’s eventual loss to the Calgary Roughnecks, the team moved starting rookie goalie Aden Walsh to their IR. The Warriors have now had five different netminders appear on their game-day roster, the most of any NLL team this season.
Of course, Vancouver’s most notable loss to injury this year is veteran Logan Schuss, the forward moved to the team’s season-ending IR on February 1. Schuss tore both his MCL & ACL during the Warriors’ loss to Panther City on January 28.
Only six players have played in all ten games for the Warriors so far this year, the lowest total of any team in 2023.
Other notable names sidelined this year:
Although he wasn’t moved to the season-ending IR list (placed on PUP December 13), it’s expected that Joe Nardella will be MIA for the rest of the year. The face-off force tore his ACL during a Team USA field lacrosse tryout soon after his one and only game for the Albany FireWolves in Week 1.
The Georgia Swarm, who were already missing a number of full-timer players due to retirement, lost Miles Thompson for the year just weeks before their 2022-23 season kicked off. Thompson has played just three times since the start of the 2021-22 NLL regular season. The league has also listed long-time franchise leader Jordan MacIntosh as being “out” of action this weekend, another noteworthy name nixed for the still winless Swarm. The team’s 0-6 start this year is the worst in franchise history, and that includes their time in Minnesota, which goes back to their expansion season in 2005.
A sizeable offseason signing, the Toronto Rock quickly lost the services of Chris Corbeil, a torn pec putting their prized free agent on the shelf before the season even started. The team hopes they’ll be able to get Corbeil back on their active roster later this year. Dan Dawson has had a couple stints on the team’s IR in 2023, listed as “questionable” for Toronto’s Week 12 match against Georgia. Ditto for reigning DPOTY, Mitch de Snoo.
Missing Ryland Rees for the first few weeks of the season due to injury, the Rochester Knighthawks are still without defensive leader Dan Coates, who was moved to their IR on January 14.
Riptide captain Dan MacRae has played just twice for the team this year, first spending 61 days on New York’s IR, only to be moved there again a week ago. In-season addition Brett Hickey was placed on the team’s season-ending IR earlier this week, New York confirming the former 50-goal scorer sustained a knee injury during their most recent win against Albany.
After getting the often-injured Casey Jackson back from a 53-day stay on their IR this past Friday, San Diego swapped Jesse Gamble to the same game-stealing list yesterday. Gamble, a surprise free-agent signing for San Diego this summer, has played a significant role in the Seals’ own end.
Clearly, NLL roster depth has been tested at a really-high rate in 2023. Some teams have responded, while others not so much. If this roster time-out trend continues, you’d have to think it will make for an extra active trade deadline later next month.