Clutch Kings: Zach Manns versus everybody
Zach Manns, Saskatchewan Rush
The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings tracks an individual player’s game-tying, go-ahead and game-winning goals, then weighs them based on when they’re scored (first, second, third or fourth quarter, plus OT), but also in what on-floor situation they’re finished (even-strength, power-play or short-handed goals). The Clutch Kings countdown calculates the league’s most money goal scorer all season long, crowning the king at the conclusion of the current NLL campaign. Click here for a more detailed breakdown of Clutch Kings scoring.
For the eighth straight week, Saskatchewan Rush forward Zach Manns leads The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings countdown, and honestly, no one is coming all that close to matching his money goal-scoring dominance this year.
In fact, since restarting and tweaking our Clutch Kings formula at the start of the 2021-22 NLL regular season, it looks likely that Manns will blast past any of our year-end leaders, in some cases, by a lot.
Even in last weekend’s narrow loss to the league-leading Buffalo Bandits, Manns’ goals mattered a lot when it came to keeping the Rush competitive.
After giving away an early lead to Buffalo in the first quarter, Manns would score a slick solo effort to tie the game at two…
A few minutes later and just before the break, Manns would again weave through the Bandits’ defense and net another to go up one…
Scoring again early in the second quarter to give Saskatchewan a sizeable 5-2 lead, the Rush failed to connect over the next several minutes, eventually leading to a Buffalo comeback through the second stanza and more-so into the third.
Down by one in the fourth-and-final frame, Manns would end an almost two-quarter-goal drought for the Rush, knotting the score at six with a quick-release stinger over Matt Vinc’s right shoulder…
The Rush had three CK’s calculated goals in that game (game-tying, go-ahead and/or game-winning goals – we don’t count the first goal of the game), and Manns sank them all, scoring four of the Rush’s seven in straight goals too. Minus the result, not a bad night for Manns.
So far this season, Manns has 8 game-tying goals (2nd overall), 7 go-ahead goals (1st overall), and 2 game-winning goals (tied 8th overall), one of which was scored in the fourth quarter and the other in OT.
That still-six-games-to-go resume has already surpassed virtually every player over the previous three seasons in our Clutch Kings countdown. Here are the highest scoring CK point producers since 2022…
Player (Season) GTG/GAG/GWG (CKs PTS)
*Josh Byrne (2024) 11/7/3 (38.50)
Austin Staats (2024) 5/8/4 (32.50)
Andrew Kew (2024) 5/5/4 (31.75)
Zach Manns (2025) 8/7/2 (31.50)
*Connor Robinson (2023) 3/7/4 (31.25)
*Eli McLaughlin (2022) 5/7/4 (29.75)
*Clutch Kings Year-End Leader
Again, if you need a reminder of how or clutch-scoring system works, scroll up to the first paragraph, or click here.
Based on his current pace, Manns should jump last year’s high-scoring trio (Byrne, Staats and Kew) over the next few weeks.
Manns has almost as many go-ahead goals this year as the Vancouver Warriors’ or Ottawa Black Bears’ rosters have combined. The Rush’s top goal getter and point producer has scored nearly 40% of all Saskatchewan’s GTGs and almost a third of all their GAGs.
Although eight players are scoring more goals per game than Manns right now (2.42 G/GP), no one comes close to catching him when it comes to goals that most impact scores this year (aka the ones we track here).
Should Manns’ clutch touch at the highest level of lacrosse come as a surprise? Not really.
Back in 2022, although Manns ranked just tied for fourth on the Toronto Rock’s roster in straight goals, he easily led the team in CK’s points. He ranked 59th in the league in goals, but was a Top 20 Clutch Kings finisher that season.
Now in a leading role with the Rush, Zach Manns has elevated his game even further, Saskatchewan’s recent success aligning with his own pretty perfectly.
NLL Clutch Kings: Week 15
CKs Rank. Player (NLL Gs Rank) Team, CKs Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
1. Zach Manns (T4) Saskatchewan, 31.50 (8/7/2)
2. Dane Dobbie (3) Calgary, 23.75 (9/1/2)
3. Mitch Jones (T6) Philadelphia, 21.75 (5/5/2)
4. Wes Berg (T14) San Diego, 20.00 (5/2/3)
5. Connor Kelly (T6) Colorado, 19.50 (6/3/1)
6. Connor Fields (T6) Rochester, 19.25 (6/4/2)
7. Lyle Thompson (T4) Georgia, 18.50 (5/6/1)
T8. Andrew Kew (T46) Georgia, 18.00 (4/0/3)
T8. Clarke Petterson (T36) Halifax, 18.00 (1/3/3)
10. Kyle Buchanan (T39) Buffalo, 17.00 (4/2/2)
11. Zed Williams (T46) Colorado, 16.50 (2/1/3)
T12. Rob Hellyer (T31) San Diego, 16.25 (3/6/1)
T12. Chris Boushy (T17) Toronto, 16.25 (5/5/0)
14. Alex Simmons (T14) Albany, 16.00 (6/3/1)
T15. Dhane Smith (T27) Buffalo, 15.00 (2/3/2)
T15. Austin Shanks (T27) Saskatchewan, 15.00 (2/2/3)
17. Jacob Dunbar (T17) Ottawa, 14.75 (3/6/2)
18. Keegan Bal (T17) Vancouver, 14.50 (5/1/3)
T19. Randy Staats (T39) Halifax, 14.00 (3/1/3)
T19. Tre Leclaire (T94) San Diego, 14.00 (2/2/1)
T21. Ryan Smith (2) Rochester, 13.25 (5/4/1)
T21. Ian MacKay (24) Buffalo, 13.25 (5/4/0)
T23. Connor Robinson (T31) Colorado, 13.00 (2/5/1)
T23. Holden Cattoni (T17) Las Vegas, 13.00 (4/0/2)
25. Jack Hannah (T6) Las Vegas, 12.50 (4/3/1)
Scoring System
First 3 Quarters (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Power-Play Goal: 0.50/0.75/1.00
Short-Handed Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Fourth Quarter (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Power-Play Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Short-Handed Goal: 4.00/6.00/8.00
Overtime (GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 6.00
Power-Play Goal: 3.00
Short-Handed Goal: 12.00