As the Colorado Mammoth get set for the 2016 season, their focus will be building upon the success they had in the second half of the 2015 season, going 6-3 in their last nine to improve to a 9-9 overall record and second place in the NLL West Division.
The Mammoth weren’t able to do much building via this year’s draft—they took only three players and didn’t start selecting until the fourth round when they chose defenseman Bryce Sweeting. But after having four of their rookies from last season named to the All-Rookie team—Jeremy Noble, Eli McLaughlin, Robert Hope and Alex Buque—Colorado might not need a lot more youth to fill out the roster.
Instead of focussing on the draft, Colorado instead went out over the summer and made a couple big acquisitions. Free agent Callum Crawford had 53 points last season in 12 games for the Minnesota Swarm and is a premier scorer in the league, having picked up 80 or more points in four of the last six seasons. Greg Downing, also formerly of the Swarm, is a consistent stay-at-home defenseman who collected 74 loose balls in the 2015 season as well as causing 21 turnovers.
One position the Mammoth won’t have to worry about in 2016 is between the pipes. Now entering his third season in the NLL, Dillon Ward has established himself as a solid No. 1 goaltender in the league (12.55 goals against average in 2015) and has plenty of potential to improve. His backup, Buque, was outstanding in relief of Ward in his rookie campaign, posting a 9.36 GAA and a .808 save percentage—better numbers than Matt Vinc, in fact.
Between Ward and Buque, Colorado should be set for years to come at the goaltender position.
The addition of Downing improves what was already a much-improved defensive unit. Hope recorded 72 loosies and 28 caused turnovers as a rookie and can be expected to get better as a sophomore. Along with transition Joey Cupido (31 points, 117 LBs, 40 CTs) and defensemen Cam Holding (110 LBs, 27 CTs), Creighton Reid (83 LBs, 20 CTs), and Bob Snider (119 LBs), the back end for Colorado should be pretty tough to deal with.
Snider has been re-signed to take on the duties as faceoff man once again. He had a down year for him in 2015 (49 percent success), but his career 62 percent winning percentage suggests he should be able to bounce back and return to his routine of giving his squad several extra possessions per game.
Offensively, the Mammoth have the potential to be one of the dominant scoring threats in the NLL in 2016. Adam Jones and John Grant Jr. were both over 90 points last season (93 and 91, respectively) with Drew Westervelt picking up 68. Noble had a 39-point season while only playing in nine games, so he could easily be over 80 in a full schedule. McLaughlin chipped in with 38 points and will likely get better in his second year as well.
Just on the basis of a little more maturity, the Mammoth look like a team that will improve significantly in 2015. The additions of Crawford and Downing make them even more dangerous on both ends of the floor. Look for Colorado to once again be in the top two in the West when the season wraps up.
