NLL free agency opened up last night at midnight, and with that was the deadline to place the franchise tag on unrestricted free agents.
Only three teams elected to use their franchise tags, and they were the Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, and Saskatchewan Rush.
The Rush used their tag on veteran goalie Aaron Bold who was facing his first ever unrestricted free agency. ILWT had him ranked as the #1 free agent heading into the free agency period. Bold won a championship with the Rush in 2015, and he led the NLL with a 9.44 goals against average in the regular season.
The Bandits exercised their tag on Billy Dee Smith, a defenseman. Typically the Bandits have used their tags on veterans such as John Tavares and Mark Steenhius in the past. Steenhius is recovering from injury, however, and that may be why they passed with him.
The Roughnecks franchised Geoff Snider, their faceoff man and the #13 free agent.
No other teams are able to franchise players at this point. Players older than 34 years old are allowed to decline being franchised, which may be the reason why there were fewer franchised players than in years past.
