Just twelve days after winning their fifth MLL Championship, the Chesapeake Bayhawks and the Denver Outlaws were involved in a blockbuster trade.
Championship Weekend MVP John Grant Jr., Michael Simon and the Bayhawks Second Round natural selection (No. 16) in the 2014 MLL Collegiate Draft are sent to the Outlaws for Brendan Mundorf.
Mundorf was selected 21st overall out of UMBC in the 2006 Collegiate Draft. Mundorf spent his entire MLL career in an Outlaws uniform. In 90 games played he recorded 229 goals and 118 assists. He has been a consistent leader in the Denver attack scoring no less than 20 goals per season. Mundorf will now join his NLL teammate Drew Westervelt (Wings) on the offense. This will add some youth to the offense of the Bayhawks
Grant Jr, one of the last of the MLL originals to still be in the game will now take his talent to Denver and will join Eric Law, Chris Bocklet, Drew Snider and Jeremy Sieverts on an already high powered offense that lead the league with 226 goals scored this past season.
Grant Jr., named MLL Offensive Player of the Year in the League’s inaugural season while with the Rochester Rattlers. He is in the top five of many All-Time Career records including points, goals and assists. Throughout his career he helped three teams win the Steinfeld Trophy, in 2008 with the Rattlers, 2009 the Toronto Nationals and this season with the Bayhawks.
Simon has spent his whole career in a Bayhawks uniform. He played in 12 games this season recording 1 goal and 29 ground balls. Most recently he has been selected to the 52-man training roster that will prepare for the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships.
Can this be the first of many trades to come? Could this trade been a suggestion from the league? I propose this question for this reason.
The NLL has gone to 18 games, and with a possibility of a new playoff format looming, the season may not end til Labor Day weekend. The MLL season starts April 26 (end of NLL regular season). This means the big name players who play both MLL/NLL can possibly miss 6 games of the MLL season should their NLL team make the playoffs and go to the title game.
With this trade it will enable Grant Jr (Mammoth/Outlaws) and Mundorf (Wings/Bayhawks) to play both NLL/MLL should the schedule fall that way.
Couple storylines for 2014… Can Jr help the Outlaws capture their first title? Will Mundorf help the Bayhawks to three-peat and capture his first MLL title?
