The Edmonton Rush set an NLL record for consecutive wins during the 2014 season, but faltered at the end and found themselves eliminated from the playoffs during the West Division Finals, leaving them short of their goal of getting to their second Champion’s Cup. So although the season has to be thought of as a successful one, it looks like there may still be some room to improve going forward.
With the first pick overall—acquired from the Minnesota Swarm in an offseason deal that saw goalie Brodie MacDonald go to the Swarm and fellow goalie Tyler Carlson come to Edmonton—the Rush selected Ben McIntosh. The 6’2″ forward is already familiar with many of his new Rush teammates as he plays alongside them in the summer with the Maple Ridge Burrards in the WLA. Matching up with Riley Loewen, Mark Matthews, Robert Church and Jarrett Davis for the last few months means there should be a much shallower learning curve for McIntosh compared to other picks.
McIntosh has proved himself to be a scorer both with Maple Ridge and in college at Drexel where he earned Second Team All American honors. He should compete for floor time immediately and improve an already-strong offensive unit.
With their second pick, Edmonton decided to go with goaltender Adam Shute. With the Coquitlam Adanacs over the summer, Shute got stronger as the season wore on and was one of the main reasons the Adanacs fought their way into the postseason after a slow start to the year.
The Rush had a second pick in the second round; a compensatory pick for the loss of Ryan Ward who was snapped up as a restricted free agent prior to the 2014 season. With that compensatory pick Edmonton selected forward Tyler Melnyk. With the Langley Thunder Melnyk picked up 34 points over the summer and in his senior year at Marquette he set a school record with 36 goals.
Edmonton didn’t pick again until the fourth round, when they took 6’4″ defenseman Matt MacGrotty, another Adanac product who will bring size to one of the best defensive units in the league.
In the fifth round Edmonton chose Chad Mitchell who picked up 32 points with Bellarmine University last year.
With two picks in the sixth and final round, the Rush took faceoff specialist Mitch McAvoy, who played his college lacrosse at Mercyhurst, and goalie Mike DiGirolamo. Both McAvoy and DiGirolamo hail from Sherwood Park, so they’re both local products.
In the last couple years General Manager Derek Keenan has had the Midas Touch, drafting a ton of talent including Loewen, Church, Matthews and Curtis Knight. If Keenan’s track record holds true, he’ll have at least two more blue chip prospects in the fold now.
