The Minnesota Swarm got the most well known young player in Monday night’s Entry Draft: Miles Thompson. The Swarm got a bit lucky in being able to draft Thompson after an early morning trade by the Rochester Knighthawks that sent Johnny Powless and Joel McCready for the Vancouver Stealth’s second overall pick for later that evening. This trade blew up almost everyone’s mock drafts, including my own. With this trade anyone paying attention more or less assumed that the Knighthawks would take Thompson with the second overall pick and the Swarm would end up taking Jeremy Noble with the third pick. Fortunately for the Swarm the opposite happened and the Swarm were able to grab the young Albany alum with the third pick.
Thompson is most well known as one part of the Thompson Trio, that has torn up the field game at both the NCAA and the World Championship levels. Miles, as an Albany Great Dane, scored 119 points during the 2014 campaign. Of those 119 points he scored 82 goals and had 37 assists.
During the World Championships he accrued 31 points in eight games, helping the Iroquois Nation to a bronze medal. He then spent the rest of his summer with the Rochester Rattlers and the Onondaga Redhawks, helping the Rattlers to the MLL Championship game and the Redhawks to a Can-Am Championship and then a Mann Cup. And to throw a little more of a winning pedigree in as well, he shares the 2014 Tewaaraton Trophy with his brother Lyle Thompson.
The Swarm have just drafted one of the biggest names and a player with more winning in the last year than many of the players on the entire roster, period.
Thompson will bring an electricity that was missing last season in Minnesota. He will definitely bring in more fans just by his name but he will help keep them in the Excel Energy Center with great young talent like Logan Schuss, Scott Jones, Brodie MacDonald, Shane MacDonald, Kiel Matisz, and Jason Noble. The Swarm have one of the best group of young players in the NLL, and Thompson should lead the group.
Now this is where I get to make predictions, and the only one I’m willing to make right now is that Miles will win the 2015 Rookie of the Year.
