2015 Record: 11-7 (third in division/lost in first round of Eastern playoffs)
Team Acquisitions:
(F) Anthony Malcolm
(F) Daryl Veltman
(T) Tim Edwards
(T) Craig England
Team Losses:
(F) John Tavares
(F) Corey Fowler
(F) Jordan Dance
(F) Joe Resetarits
(D) Derek Suddons
Offense:
The 2015 NLL season saw the Buffalo Bandits offense finally show some major signs of improvement. The offensive trinity of Ryan Benesch (led all Bandits in scoring with 55 goals, 58 assists, 113 points overall), Dhane Smith (second on the team with 39 G, 68 A, 107 PTS) and Mark Steenhuis (third on the team with 36 G, 59 A, 95 PTS) had some of the best seasons in their respective careers and helped lead the Bandits to an overall second place finish in the league for goals scored with 236.
Unfortunately for the rest of the Bandits offense, the next highest person on the list was Alexander-Kedoh Hill with 23 G, 26 A, 49 PTS which is almost half of Steenhuis’ total and the rest fared none better. Hopefully with the additions of veteran newcomer Daryl Veltman (formerly of the Calgary Roughnecks) with his extensive lacrosse IQ, Mitch Jones’ return to forward and preseason standout Tyler Ferreira, they will help bring the offense some much needed youth, experience and some desperately needed depth to the roster and help lessen the burden from Benesch, Smith and Steenhuis.
Besides depth, the Bandits will also need to improve on their special teams game if they want to make any kind of advances toward the top of the Eastern Division standings and delve even deeper into the playoffs.
The Bandits special teams play was incredibly lackluster last year and right now there’s nowhere to go but up.
During the 2015 NLL regular season, the Bandits were only able to generate 65 power play opportunities (ranked last in the league) and recorded a dismal 27 percent conversion rate of them. While the man-up situation didn’t pan out too well for the team, their man-down penalty killing effort didn’t fare well either. Out of the 92 penalty kill situations they faced last year, the team was only able to prevent a little more than half of them from finding the back of the net (53 percent rating).
The biggest hurdle the Bandits will face this upcoming season not only on the offensive side of the ball but also in regards to the team itself will be trying to move forward after the loss of the team’s captain, heart and soul of the franchise and arguably the greatest player to ever play in the National Lacrosse League in future Hall Of Famer John Tavares to retirement. The loss of his experience, leadership, lacrosse IQ and locker room presence will be a big blow to the franchise. Hopefully over the upcoming season a certain individual or individuals will come forward and step up when the time is right to help lead the franchise towards a new beginning.
Transition:
Faceoff superstar Jay Thorimbert, 2015 transition standout Hill, Brandon Goodwin, Nick Weiss, Mitch Wilde, and former 2015 practice squad member Matthew Bennett will return from last year’s squad to help keep the Bandits trademark up-tempo transition game going strong into the 2016 season.
Thorimbert had an incredible season last year destroying previous league records in the loose balls category with 246 and in faceoffs wins with 338. Hill also had an incredibly resurgent 2015 season for himself as well especially after taking a year off away from the Bandits in 2014 to help him reestablish his focus towards his overall game. Hill’s 49 points in 2015 ranked him fourth on the team in scoring and was nearly double the combined total of his previous three seasons in the league. Heading into the upcoming 2016 season, this new dual threat for the Bandits will now have opponents taking a much needed second look at Hill.
Regarding the rest of the Bandits transition squad, they will need players like Wilde, Weiss, Goodwin and Bennett to use their youth, athleticism and two-way skills in pushing the ball up, coming up with a breakaway goal or two in combination with some quick defensive takeaways for some powerful swings in momentum towards the Bandits favor.
Defense:
For the fourth straight season, the Buffalo Bandits defense has given up 200 goals or more and show no signs of improvement. One of the major reasons this occurs seems to stem from the fact that the team once again only has three stay-at-home defensemen while the rest are geared towards the transition game.
With the loss of veteran defenseman Derek Suddons to the New England Black Wolves during the offseason, this leaves the team with only two incredibly proven veteran defensive standouts in Billy Dee Smith and Steve Priolo.
Hopefully with a change in the defensive mindset from a man on man type of defense to a more pressure based kind of defensive scheme will help keep opponents to the outside and away from those deadly high scoring situations.
Goaltending: The last line of defense for the upcoming 2016 Buffalo Bandits will be the return of starting goaltender Anthony Cosmo. After a hard fought battle during training camp, Davide Diruscio will also return to the lineup in the backup role for Cosmo.
The 2015 season was also another stellar year for Cosmo during his tenure with the Bandits. Cosmo smashed another NLL league record with 681 saves while also ranking second in the league with 10 wins, fourth in save percentage with .781 and sixth in goals-against with 11.31 en route to earning a new three year contract with the franchise.
Hopefully the change to a new pressure-based defensive scheme will finally help keep opponents to the outside, take a lot of the burden off of Cosmo in regards to second and third chance high-percentage shots and help to restore his confidence once again.
Practice Roster:
Rounding out the Buffalo Bandits 2016 practice roster will be transition specialists David Brock, Tim Edwards, Craig England and Adam Will.
With the regular season expanded to 18 games and the possibility of many more past that due to playoffs, these players will be crucial to the Bandits success.
While no one likes to see any player injured, injuries do happen. Who will effectively step up to help the Bandits out this year will be anyone’s guess but the team does have a very deep pool of defensive talent to step in on a moment’s notice.
Season Outlook:
With the team being eliminated in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and unable to defeat the division leading Toronto Rock or Rochester Knighthawks from the top of the division standings it truly will be a make or break season for all involved considering that the nucleus of the roster has held strong over the past four years under Steve Dietrich’s leadership at GM with no championships won since 2008.
The addition of veteran Daryl Veltman to the Bandits from Calgary and preseason standout Tyler Ferreira I hope will bring some much needed depth and some new explosive offensive contributions from the team.
While Cosmo had himself an incredible 2015 season, his ability to maintain and possibly overcome last seasons’ totals will be no small feat. As long as his defense is able to keep opponents to outside shots and limited opportunities, his confidence will return and the all-star Cosmo we have seen in the past will return.
Seeing teams like the Georgia Swarm reap huge scoring benefits from its updated 2015 draft roster during the preseason and the rest of the Eastern Division upgrading their lineups with draft selections and notable free agent acquisitions during the offseason will truly keep the Bandits on their toes in the chance of making the playoffs for 2016. It truly will be anyone’s guess who will win the Eastern Division this year.
