The NLL trade deadline has come and gone, and we saw three moves happen in the week ahead of time. All three moves included the current last place team in the east and the reigning champions, the Rochester Knighthawks.
First, the Hawks traded former MVP Casey Powell to the Colorado Mammoth for defenseman Jon Sullivan and a third round pick. They lose 22 points in Powell, but the Hawks have a strong offense with many shooters. Not really a huge loss on paper.
They add Sullivan, one of three defensive minded players to help out goaltender Matt Vinc. They acquired defensive transition man Jimmy Purves from the Buffalo Bandits for a second round pick.
Purves has struggled at times with Buffalo with three points and 26 penalty minutes, and it’s unclear how much time he will get in Rochester due to two other left handed transition mean. For the Bandits, they get a third second rounder for this season but they need to replace that left side of transition with no one to fill in for Purves.
Rochester then made another deal with Buffalo later for defenseman Scott Self who joins his brother Brad with the Knighthawks. Self joins a crowded right handed side for defense. They gave up Alex Kedoh Hill to Buffalo who has been playing in the Canadian Lacrosse League.
With three new players in the lineup, some will have to be out. One could be rookie transition man Matt Hummel, while another could be Tyler Burton on defense. However, we won’t know till the games are played.
The trade deadline was a bit more active than expected yesterday, even with just three teams making moves overall.
