Aaron Wilson has been released… Considering the amazing preseason performance he put in, that was the most surprising cut of camp. And in case you think they just released him to put him on the practice squad, I’ve already confirmed he won’t be on the practice squad.
In three preseason games, Wilson put in six goals and four assists for 10 points. This seemed to show a lot of promise for the 13-year pro as he had an injury stricken 2014 season where he only put in eight goals and five assists in eight games. The 2013 season was his first season with the Bandits after being traded from the Edmonton Rush; in that campaign he played all 16 games and registered 23 goals and 23 assists, not bad for your first year with a new team.
Before being acquired by Buffalo in 2013, Wilson played for Edmonton, Minnesota, Rochester, and Toronto. During his tenure with the Rock, he put up a career high 74 point season, he seemed to drop off a little after leaving the Rock, but he could have been a comeback player this year in my opinion, if he could stay healthy.
That raises the obvious question, why was he cut? Well let’s look at the right side of the Bandits. Dhane Smith and Mark Steenhuis used to be on transition, now they have been moved to working out of the front door as a forward, same as Wilson. Then add in Joe Resetarits and Corey Fowler at forward, it’s just too stacked and too much depth to have another righty forward who has had past injury issues. Then the other question raised was that of money. In 2013 he signed a pretty big three year contract, while terms of the deal haven’t been released (as policy), NLL teams don’t just sign an average player to a long term deal like that, so that could be another possible factor when you add in who had to be the odd man out on righty forward.
