The Minnesota Swarm have stayed fairly quiet since the 2013 Entry Draft, where they had the most picks of any team and the most first round draft picks ever with four. The Swarm drafted a ton of young players that will be huge parts in the upcoming season.
At the moment the Swarm have only a handful of spots on the team up for grabs. This means that the Swarm will need to make cuts during the training camp.
Minnesota really does not need to work the free agent market this year. The Swarm really only need to sure up their goaltending. Right now the Swarm have Tyler Carlson, Zach Higgins, and Ryan Masters on the roster at goalie. Carlson split time for most of the season with Evan Kirk, who the Swarm traded for two futures picks. Higgins it looks like will be the number two behind Carlson. Higgins played college lacrosse at Davenport University and was on the MCLA National Championship team, he also won the Mann Cup the same year. Masters spent all of last season on the practice squad but could easily come out of camp as the number two goalie.
If the Swarm were to try and sign another goalie they would most likely look at either Nick Rose or Aaron Bold, both are restricted free agents. Now with that they would need to meet the qualifying minimums that would go to either the Toronto Rock or the Edmonton Rush respectively. This would give the Swarm a definite number one goalie that the Swarm were lacking last season.
The Swarm look to be uninterested at this point in the Free Agent Market at the moment. This is to be expected, seeing as they have so many young players looking to make the team this year.
At the moment the Swarm have two restricted free agents, Joe Cinosky and Greg Downing. Most likely the Swarm will not re-sign Cinosky, after he did not show for training camp and did not play at all last season. Downing is a bit different case. He is a five year veteran of the league and has been a huge player on the Swarm’s defense. Downing should be re-signed this year but it may come into the training camp before he is re-signed.
The Swarm have one of the youngest teams in the league and that makes them a free agent dead zone. This is going to be a slow second half of the off- season in Minnesota.
