We are seven days removd from the draft and the New England Black Wolves made a huge splash by trading Jordan Hall back to the Knighthawks to get back into the first round as well as trading their captain Brodie Merrill to Toronto as they started to build their draft picks. But 10 days prior to the draft the Black Wolves traded (T) Kyle Belton to Vancouver Stealth for (F) Jamie Lincoln.
Lincoln who will enter his fourth season in the NLL has 51 G/34 A in his 39 games played. His best season was his 2012 rookie year in Colorado where he registered 27 G/19 A. Last season he split time in nine games starting with Colorado and then ending the season with the Vancouver Stealth.
Adding Lincoln to the roster will give them a left handed shot, something this team (Philadelphia Wings prior) has been lacking for years. The team has always been strong on the right side, but the left was very week. With Kevin Crowley, Kevin Buchanan, Paul Rabil returning along with the talent they drafted.
Lincoln is also the type of player who is not afraid to get dirty if needed. He will push his way into the middle and is not afraid to take that big hit if it means either he or a teammate scores the goal. For only having three years in the league he also has that leadership quality for the locker room and on the field.
Lincoln will also be a huge help on the power play and with the man down, basically being a thorn in the side of the opponents.
This is obviously a rebuild in progress, something the Philadelphia fans are far too familiar with. The Black Wolves loaded on young talent with the trades that I mentioned previously. Jordan Hall had a huge breakout year in 2014 so his scoring and his feeds will be something they need to fill.
They drafted Mark Cockerton, Quinn Powless and Ty Thompson to hopefully fill that roll and also give the team some extra scoring punch. For them it would be a knockout punch. The last several years that is one thing that has been missing, a player that has the knockout punch for a goal to put the game away.
So should these players crack the active roster and they start to mesh together, Jamie Lincoln could have a season like he did in 2012 or even better.
Training camp begins in 7-8 weeks, and the season kicks off for the Black Wolves on January 2, 2015. With the limitd number of practice sessions for camp , they will need to come together quickly.
