After last season the Minnesota Swarm were looking to be on high ground going into the offseason. The Swarm were definitely one of the teams most people would expect to be in the mix for the Championship in 2014. This included myself, after much contemplation and foreshadowing.
The Swarm spent most of the spring fairly quiet, but once the Draft started to roll around the Swarm started to make some moves. First they traded away Ryan Benesch and Andrew Watt, who both spent a long time with the Swarm, to the Buffalo Bandits for some draft picks and future picks. This held true to how the Swarm have run most of their trades, always get some picks. The Swarm also traded Evan Kirk to the Philadelphia Wings just before the draft. For this they also got futures picks.
In the draft the Swarm once again had the most picks, and actually set a new record for number of picks. The team drafted Logan Schuss, Jason Noble, Cam Flint, and Scott Jones all in the first round. The Swarm also drafted Reid Acton and Zach Palmer, in the third round, Dominique Alexander, in the fifth, Jordan Houtby and JJ Laforet, in the sixth, and hometown guy Nick Jones, in the seventh.
The Swarm have been fairly quiet during the signing period for draftees and free agents, not that they have a ton of spots on the roster open. Most recently the Swarm have signed all of their first rounders and Zach Palmer to contracts and they will be at training camp on Nov. 29th.
The Swarm are looking extremely good on paper at the moment. This seems like it could be a Swarm year and be a year to plan a parade through St. Paul. With it also being the Swarm’s tenth year in the league it has a whole other feel than it has the last few years.
