December has snuck up on us and brings with it the Major League Lacrosse Supplemental Draft. Here, teams will be able to build their rosters up to a maximum of 40 players. It will be on Wednesday, December 11 at 2:30 p.m.
It will be conducted by conference call and consist of 12 rounds and eight picks per round. The MLL website will update at the end of each round and they will use Twitter (@MLL_Lacrosse) to live tweet the first two rounds only.
With 506 players to choose from, one can only feel overwhelmed when looking over the list of players available. About 136 of the 506 were left off protected rosters.
During the 2013 Supplemental Draft, folks were shocked to see that Mark Millon had been picked up by Rochester followed by Casey Powell finding a way to the Chesapeake Bayhawks after “retiring”. Millon has since gone back into retirement and Powell is now with the newly formed Florida Launch. Who knows, maybe Jay Jalbert will make a return. Will there be a surprise choice this year? We will have to wait and see but by the looks of the list more than likely not.
With Ohio having the first pick and not protecting Chazz Woodson, we may see him back with the Machine. His leadership and experience will help the younger guys get better acquainted after their first year in the league. However, both of their goalies will be coaching at the NCAA Division 1 level with Scott Rodgers at Towson and Brian Phipps helping out Georgetown. So Bear Bryant and the Ohio office may go that route as well.
I believe New York will work on their defense in this draft, maybe not entirely, but will get some help back there in front of Drew Adams. Possibility of them going after a FOGO as well with greg Gurenlian attending team USA tryouts.
Boston has to get a close defender in their hands. Yes they just picked up Brodie Merrill, who can play both close and LSM. Merrill is one of the best conditioned athletes I’ve ever seen, but even he needs time for breathers so going close defense may be the best move for the Cannons and coach Tucker.
The Lizards’ second pick could consist of a goalie. With Adams possibly making it on to the USA National team, someone will need to man the defense back there. They have Sean Brady who has seen very limited time with Adams’ dominance between the pipes.
Florida comes in with most of the Hamilton Nationals roster, sending Joe Walters to Chesapeake in exchange for Casey Powell. I could see an attackman getting pick dup here with most of their squad partaking in the NLL or FOGO with Mike Poppleton being a prospect for Richie Mead and Team USA.
Denver gets the sixth slot and after going 14-1 last season, it’s hard to see where they need help. My thought is face-off. When Anthony Kelly sat out after injuring his arm in their semi-final matchup against Charlotte, they were hurting at the X. Bringing in a backup to Kelly, who may also make the US team, is not a bad move. Then again, with Lee Zink having a great possibility of acquiring a slot on team USA, defense may also be a good place to look.
Runner-up Charlotte has the next pick. They were young last year, but that worked in their favor with speed, health and conditioning as we saw in their matchup against Denver. Where do the Hounds go? Maybe for experience. Josh Sims is available after all.
Florida comes in again as the eighth overall and final pick of the first round. Go defense here. Merrill is gone and replacing him will be hard, better to get a head start than wait for something in the Collegiate draft if there’s someone available.
Trading away their first round picks were Chesapeake (to Florida) and Rochester (to New York). They finally get a chance to draft in the second round.
Rochester sent Ned Crotty and Matt Striebel to New York. In return, the Rattlers received Mark Matthews and Grant Cattalino. Two of the biggest attackmen on the field that can also play midfield. Rochester can go anywhere with this pick, defense, offense, face-off, short stick d-mid, goalie, you name it, they can go for it. Galloway is a possibility for team USA which is why I said goalkeeper.
Chesapeake has so many offensive weapons after acquiring Brendan Mundorf and Joe Walters. They send Powell to Florida and John Grant Jr to Denver. They also received Brian Megill with Mundorf in the Grant Jr trade. With three of their SSDM’s, three long poles, five offensive weapons and their starting keeper trying out for Team USA, it’s difficult to see where Coach Cottle and the Bayhawk organization will go with their first pick. If it were me, I’d go defense/SSDM or goalie.
Here is the order of picks prior to the draft:
| R1 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Boston | |
| New York from Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Florida from Chesapeake – 12/3/13 | |
| R2 | Ohio |
| Rochester from New York – 4/9/13 | |
| Charlotte from Boston – 7/1/13 | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R3 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Ohio from Boston – 4/22 | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R4 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Boston | |
| New York from – Rochester 11/15 | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R5 | Charlotte from Ohio |
| Chesapeake from New York | |
| Boston | |
| Rochester | |
| Boston from florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R6 | Ohio |
| Rochester from New York | |
| Boston | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R7 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Boston | |
| Chesapeake from Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R8 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Boston | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R9 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Boston | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R10 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Boston | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R11 | Ohio |
| New York | |
| Boston | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake | |
| R12 | Ohio |
| Rochester from New York | |
| Boston | |
| Rochester | |
| florida | |
| Denver | |
| Charlotte | |
| Chesapeake |
Who do you think will be taken first in the Supplemental Draft? Leave your thoughts below!
