With the Calgary Roughnecks coming so close to the ultimate goal last year, they really didn’t need to change much but to keep the core and add a little more depth to an already talented roster.
This is where Casey Jackson comes into the picture. The Victoria native who plays his summer ball for the Burnaby Lakers is one player who could really be a dominant dark horse for an already potent offence to give head coach Curt Malawsky yet another option to send out and keep defence’s confused and on their toes.
In the last two seasons with the Lakers, Jackson has amassed a total of 103 pts (34G/69A) to keep pace with the leagues top scorers finishing eighth in the league respectively last season with 54 points and adding another 14 points in six games in the post season making himself a consistent threat to put points on the score sheet and keep his team in the game.
With Scott Ranger announcing his retirement earlier in the week this creates the open roster spot Jackson can fill if he plays his game. Thing is, Roughnecks don’t want him to try and fill Ranger’s shoes. They want him to play his style that has him putting up those numbers in the WLA which is a player who moves great without the ball and also has vision to find players in spots for easy opportunities to finish.
Jackson isn’t the scorer Ranger was, he is a pass first player who can find the open man back door or a quick stick out front for a player waiting for a pass (I recall Dobbie and Evans’s offices being both those spots last year) to make Jackson a dark horse on offence but definitely a threat teams will learn quickly they can’t leave alone for long or he will do damage, if not by beating a goalie himself than by pulling defence’s towards him to open up floor for other players.
Jackson is one of those players who makes whoever he is playing with around him better. With his quick hands and thinking he always makes defence’s think twice about over committing due to his ability to find the open man (or be that open man) and keep defence’s honest to no double team, with Jackson you just can’t double team as his ball movement will hurt you more often than not.
He isn’t the biggest player standing 6’1″ and 185lbs but its his quick thinking and positioning that makes him the dominant player which is exactly what the Roughnecks are looking for. He is definitely NLL ready, the only question is…Do the Necks have an open spot to fill considering a lot of the team from last year has been resigned to come back (last week finally resigning captain Andrew McBride) he will have to earn his spot among the new draft picks and players who weren’t full time in the lineup, but, if he plays his style of game he should be a good fit and great team player who has years left of good play in a league where players shelf life really isn’t that long.
