2024 PLL Season

[Powellfan]

Tomorrow is now today, but announcement is due at 2 pm, apparently on ESPN. Lots of rumors about some teams being rebranded to old MLL teams, which would be interesting, but not sure I totally understand the rationale. We shall see. Dan Arestia leaked a list a few weeks back but now says that has changed.

 

[Powellfan]

I am perhaps the only one who cares about this on the board (Lax Mouse?) but here are the new "homes" for the PLL. Homes is a stretch as they will continue their touring model for the foreseeable future. They left things pretty vague with only three teams having a specific city attached to a name, but I guess with only eight teams it makes sense. Personally I would have put the Chaos in New York, the Atlas in Utah and the Archers in Carolina, but alas, no one asked me.

The Chaos have a bunch of player already on the Bandits, drawing on that fandom would make a lot of sense to me, but the NLL and PLL never seem to want to acknowledge each other. Again, games in Buffalo are really well attended. I am guessing the New York team plays out of Albany. Atlas always struck me as a team that belonged in Texas, or at least out west (are there any bulls in New York?). Archers have a name that could go anywhere. MLL did very poorly in the California markets, so while I can understand trying to have a fully national brand, I am very curious to see how the league does West of the Rockies. The Utah games always look great on TV but the crowds were always pretty sparse. I feel like they decided to put a team in Utah when Brian and Marcus Holman and Adam Ghilteman were coaching the Utes and never thought to change track even after they left.

Best news is the return of the Denver Outlaws, who along with the Cannons were probably the only successful teams in terms of attendance. Getting rid of the Chrome makes sense as it always felt wrong that they had a Chrome and a Chaos, and despite winning that post season sixes tournament last year, I don't think the Chaos ever made much of an impact.

Anyways best of luck to the league in it's future endeavors, I think the sport as a whole is better off with high level pro leagues. Should be interesting to see when and if they put teams in actual cities. Feels like this little schtick can only last for so long.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Cuse All-In]

I am perhaps the only one who cares about this on the board (Lax Mouse?) but here are the new "homes" for the PLL. Homes is a stretch as they will continue their touring model for the foreseeable future. They left things pretty vague with only three teams having a specific city attached to a name, but I guess with only eight teams it makes sense. Personally I would have put the Chaos in New York, the Atlas in Utah and the Archers in Carolina, but alas, no one asked me.

The Chaos have a bunch of player already on the Bandits, drawing on that fandom would make a lot of sense to me, but the NLL and PLL never seem to want to acknowledge each other. Again, games in Buffalo are really well attended. I am guessing the New York team plays out of Albany. Atlas always struck me as a team that belonged in Texas, or at least out west (are there any bulls in New York?). Archers have a name that could go anywhere. MLL did very poorly in the California markets, so while I can understand trying to have a fully national brand, I am very curious to see how the league does West of the Rockies. The Utah games always look great on TV but the crowds were always pretty sparse. I feel like they decided to put a team in Utah when Brian and Marcus Holman and Adam Ghilteman were coaching the Utes and never thought to change track even after they left.

Best news is the return of the Denver Outlaws, who along with the Cannons were probably the only successful teams in terms of attendance. Getting rid of the Chrome makes sense as it always felt wrong that they had a Chrome and a Chaos, and despite winning that post season sixes tournament last year, I don't think the Chaos ever made much of an impact.

Anyways best of luck to the league in it's future endeavors, I think the sport as a whole is better off with high level pro leagues. Should be interesting to see when and if they put teams in actual cities. Feels like this little schtick can only last for so long.

I would like to see the league do well but the announcement doesn't get me excited. Interesting sponsor - Whirlpool ??

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Whitey23]

Bummed about Connecticut just missing the cut.

I bet they split the Atlas between LI and Upstate.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Cool. Can't wait to drop the kids off at PLL daycare Memorial Day weekend.

 

[Powellfan]

Nate Solomon has been added to the Utah Archers Championship Series roster due to Grant Ament being injured.

 

[Powellfan]

Nice to see Nate Solomon back playing professional lacrosse. He scored an identical goal against Rutgers in the Dome.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Powellfan]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Powellfan]

 

[AD31]

He would have a chance to coach Joey again in the pros. It's pretty awesome seeing Marcus Holman play for his dad in the PLL.

 

[Powellfan]

Drake Porter also got an extension with the Atlas a few weeks ago.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Powellfan]

This should be interesting. Joe Spallina and Stephen Brooks were in the running for the job according to reports.

 

[Lax Mouse]

I think it's an interesting choice. I get this move from a brand/publicity perspective, but I'm not a huge fan of it. Tierney could certainly be very successful in this role, and there's a lot of reason to think he will be, but I'd love to see them break the trend of hiring retired college coaches and put some faith in a newer or younger face. I know there's a lot that happens behind the scenes. I don't know who was offered or who was actively seeking the position, but I think the league might benefit from adding a rising star to it's coaching ranks.

I was very critical of Pressler in year 1 and his butchery of the Atlas roster. Soudan (different reasons) has also struggled to adjust. On the other hand, the work Coach Holman has done with the Cannons has been fairly remarkable. It comes down to having an adaptive mindset, and we'll see if Tierney can make the jump. Would love to see them take a chance on a fresher candidate someday.

 

[Lax Mouse]

Added this to Fanlax but would love to hear everyone's thoughts here too!

I took a first stab at a mock draft for this year and wow is it tough. The depth at the attack position is overwhelming, as is the lack of it on the defensive end. I think there are quite a few consensus top players that might fall a bit as teams try to snag players on the defensive end early. I've been debating doing a team by team preview in the coming weeks, but we'll see what my schedule looks like.

For the record, I'm not sold on O'Neill as the top pick, especially as the best fit for the Outlaws offense, but for the time being I'm sticking with it. There's enough offensive players to add complementary pieces later.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, good or bad.


Round Pick Team Player Position

1 1 (1) Outlaws Brennan O'Neill Attack
1 2 (2) Atlas Connor ShellenbergerAttack
1 3 (3) Whipsnakes Ajax Zappitello Defense
1 4 (4) Chaos Pat Kavanagh Attack
1 5 (5) Atlas Liam Entenmann Goalie
1 6 (6) Cannons Shane Knobloch Midfield
1 7 (7) Waterdogs Jake Piseno LSM
1 8 (8) Archers Kenny Brower Defense

2 1 (9) Outlaws Matt Brandau Attack
2 2 (10) Atlas Mason Woodward Defense
2 3 (11) Outlaws Eric Dobson Midfield
2 4 (12) Chaos Scott Smith Defense/LSM
2 5 (13) Redwoods Beau Pederson SSDM
2 6 (14) Cannons TJ Malone Attack/Midfield
2 7 (15) Waterdogs Jake Stevens Midfield
2 8 (16) Archers Brett Martin SSDM

3 1 (17) Whipsnakes Ross Scott Attack/Midfield
3 2 (18) Redwoods Will Mark Goalie
3 3 (19) Outlaws Roy Meyer LSM
3 4 (20) Chaos Graham Bundy Midfield
3 5 (21) Redwoods Payton Cormier Attack/Midfield
3 6 (22) Whipsnakes Grant Haus SSDM
3 7 (23) Waterdogs Dyson Williams Attack/Midfield
3 8 (24) Archers Saam Olexo LSM

4 1 (25) Outlaws Josh Zawada Attack
4 2 (26) Atlas Garrett Degnon Attack/Midfield
4 3 (27) Whipsnakes Mike Robinson Attack/Midfield
4 4 (28) Chaos Levi Anderson Attack/Midfield
4 5 (29) Redwoods Christian Ronda Midfield
4 6 (30) Cannons Jake Naso F/O
4 7 (31) Waterdogs JJ Sillstrop Attack/Midfield
4 8 (32) Archers Alex Vardaro Midfield

 

[Powellfan]

Added this to Fanlax but would love to hear everyone's thoughts here too!

I took a first stab at a mock draft for this year and wow is it tough. The depth at the attack position is overwhelming, as is the lack of it on the defensive end. I think there are quite a few consensus top players that might fall a bit as teams try to snag players on the defensive end early. I've been debating doing a team by team preview in the coming weeks, but we'll see what my schedule looks like.

For the record, I'm not sold on O'Neill as the top pick, especially as the best fit for the Outlaws offense, but for the time being I'm sticking with it. There's enough offensive players to add complementary pieces later.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, good or bad.


Round Pick Team Player Position

1 1 (1) Outlaws Brennan O'Neill Attack
1 2 (2) Atlas Connor ShellenbergerAttack
1 3 (3) Whipsnakes Ajax Zappitello Defense
1 4 (4) Chaos Pat Kavanagh Attack
1 5 (5) Atlas Liam Entenmann Goalie
1 6 (6) Cannons Shane Knobloch Midfield
1 7 (7) Waterdogs Jake Piseno LSM
1 8 (8) Archers Kenny Brower Defense

2 1 (9) Outlaws Matt Brandau Attack
2 2 (10) Atlas Mason Woodward Defense
2 3 (11) Outlaws Eric Dobson Midfield
2 4 (12) Chaos Scott Smith Defense/LSM
2 5 (13) Redwoods Beau Pederson SSDM
2 6 (14) Cannons TJ Malone Attack/Midfield
2 7 (15) Waterdogs Jake Stevens Midfield
2 8 (16) Archers Brett Martin SSDM

3 1 (17) Whipsnakes Ross Scott Attack/Midfield
3 2 (18) Redwoods Will Mark Goalie
3 3 (19) Outlaws Roy Meyer LSM
3 4 (20) Chaos Graham Bundy Midfield
3 5 (21) Redwoods Payton Cormier Attack/Midfield
3 6 (22) Whipsnakes Grant Haus SSDM
3 7 (23) Waterdogs Dyson Williams Attack/Midfield
3 8 (24) Archers Saam Olexo LSM

4 1 (25) Outlaws Josh Zawada Attack
4 2 (26) Atlas Garrett Degnon Attack/Midfield
4 3 (27) Whipsnakes Mike Robinson Attack/Midfield
4 4 (28) Chaos Levi Anderson Attack/Midfield
4 5 (29) Redwoods Christian Ronda Midfield
4 6 (30) Cannons Jake Naso F/O
4 7 (31) Waterdogs JJ Sillstrop Attack/Midfield
4 8 (32) Archers Alex Vardaro Midfield

Thanks for putting this together, it's pretty amazing how much top end talent is going to exit the college lacrosse world after this season (and enter the PLL one). Kind of amazing the front runner for the Tewaarton award (at least to me) could be a second rounder in this (Brandau).

I guess the biggest question is do the Outlaws want to draft O'Neil, already having a big lefty attackman on the roster in Logan Wisnauskis? Shellenberger would be a no doubt number one pick in any other year, perhaps they figure it's not worth trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Wisnauskis struggled last year though, I think he went a few games in a row scoreless. Also could run O'Neil out of the box like Team USA did last summer.

That said, if he falls the Atlas already have Teat on the left side as well, and I think they traded Chris Gray away with the idea that Shellenberger would take over for him (and reunite with his college teammate Xander Dickson).

The draft is wonky for sure, Sam Handley was everyone's first pick last year and I don't think he went till the seventh pick.

 

[Lax Mouse]

I went back and forth on a number of things here.

Shellenberger, to me, makes the most sense for the Outlaws at #1. They could find some great second attackmen at #9 depending on how the rest of the first round shakes out (Brandau, Malone, etc.). I do anticipate a run on defenders, lsm, and ssdm at some point. There are a lot of needs there among teams and not a lot of depth this year. This pushes quality offensive players down the order.

I genuinely do not try to be down on O'Neill, and I have to wonder how much the scheme and other personnel on Duke's current roster are holding him back.

On the one hand, I'm sure every team would love to have him. On the other, is he a luxury to have or a foundation to build the offense around? I have trouble finding any team (maybe the Cannons but I don't even know about that) who singularly could use a player of his profile (big lefty attackman). The Outlaws could also, of course, especially if Wisnauskas has another down year, but the game is getting quicker, what player is going to allow their offense to keep up?

It's hard to say, and compounding this is the baffling unpredictability of Coach Soudan. O'Neill would be in line with previous picks of his and with what all the commentators are saying (whatever that's worth). If it wasn't for Pressler, Soudan would've easily been the worst GM/coach this past year. Some truly bizarre personnel decisions.

In the end, I'm trying not to overthink it. In this mock anyway, the Outlaws also get Brandau and Zawada. Wisnauskas moves to the midfield to start the year and the Outlaws have 3 new starting attackmen, which they desperately need.