The MLL Draft came and went this past Friday and for the New York Lizards, there wasn’t much to build on. After a busy offseason that included adding a lot of offense and midfield help in the acquisitions of attackman Ned Crotty, midfielders Steve DeNapoli and Matt Striebel as well as long stick midfielder Kyle Hartzell.
As the Lizards headed into the draft there wasn’t much that needed to be improved upon for the upcoming season. They also didn’t have many picks to work with because of all the trades they made. Therefore, as they headed into the draft on Friday night, they had a total of four picks and had to make every one count.
With so much of the offseason activity geared towards the offense, the focus was clear that the Lizards would go defense. Right before the draft, they traded Justin Turri and the No. 2 pick to Rochester for the No. 3 and No. 4 picks in the draft. They used both picks to go defense and took Loyola defenseman Joe Fletcher and Duke long stick midfielder Luke Duprey with both picks.
The picks are both interesting for several reasons. Many viewed Joe Fletcher as the top defenseman in this draft but no more than a No. 2 defenseman at best. The pick of Duprey was especially puzzling because they now have 14 defensemen on the roster. Their best players, Brian Karalunas, Kyle Hartzell and CJ Costabile are former or current long pole defensemen. So adding Duprey, another LSM, now gives them four LSM’s and a handful of unproven close defesemen.
One possible outcome from the drafting of Duprey is that they could move some of their long poles to another team who would be in need for one. They may even move Duprey, however, that may not unfold until closer to the season. Another possibility is they are guarding themselves for if Karalunas and Hartzell both make the Team USA roster.
After their first two picks, the Lizards did not pick until the fifth round when they took Yale attackman Brandon Mangan. Mangan will have a tough time cracking this lineup as Rob Pannell, Ned Crotty, Tommy Palasek and Steve Mock make up the top four players on the roster. However, much like the situation with Karalunas, Mangan is a nice insurance pick should Crotty and Pannell play for Team USA this summer.
Also Mangan is no slouch in terms of running an offense having scored 39 goals and dishing out 25 assists for Yale during their run in the NCAA Tournament. So make no mistake that if Mangan sees the field, he will be able to play with the big boys.
The Lizards took another attackman in Bryant’s Alex Zomerfeld with their last pick. While he may not crack the rotation especially with the Lizards taking Mangan the pick before, he was needed for depth and is a nice player. The Lizards have 15 midfielders so drafting another midfielder would have been overkill. Last season, Zomerfeld registered 44 points, 26 of which were goals. He likely won’t play much this year.
All in all, the Lizards accomplished what they set out to do in getting better defensively. It will be interesting to see how they deploy their litany of long poles against their opponents this season and how all their offseason acquisitions mesh on offense this year. Regardless, the Lizards look like a team ready to make a serious run at MLL Championship Weekend.
