Since the Denver Outlaws began play in 2006 they have the best record in Major League Lacrosse. They have the only undefeated regular season in league history and have produced some of the top players in the league. But they have not won a championship despite trying to upgrade their roster year in and year out. Will John Grant Jr be the key?
Brendan Mundorf was the 2012 MLL MVP and has become one of the league’s top players. The Outlaws shocked the lacrosse world by sending him to Chesapeake this past week. The move makes sense for the player, moving to his home state of Baltimore and he is closer to the Philadelphia Wings, the NLL team he plays for.
Meanwhile, with Grant going to Denver he is closer to his NLL team, the Colorado Mammoth. We will examine those reasons later. Right now, let’s take a look at the rebuilding/roster turnover the Outlaws have attempted in the last few seasons.
In the middle of the 2009 season the Outlaws traded faceoff man Geoff Snider to the Toronto Nationals for the third round pick in 2010. They traded that pick to the Long Island Lizards and was Christian Scuderi. In return the Outlaws added Kevin Unterstein, and they also sent Mike Ward to the island.
Later on they sent Greg Downing to Boston for the seventh overall pick in 2009. That pick was Shane Walterhoefer who played in 11 MLL games with one point. They would then send Garrett Billings to Chicago for Brendan Loftus. Loftus would play in two games for Denver in 2010 while Billings has accumulated 46 points between Toronto and Hamilton.
Before 2012, Denver sent one of their top scorers Drew Westervelt to Chesapeake for Jeremy Sieverts and Joe Cinosky. Sieverts has become a top scorer for the Outlaws while they sent Cinosky to Charlotte for former rookie of the year Jeremy Boltus. They also traded Billy Bitter to Charlotte before 2012 for two expansion draft picks and a collegiate draft pick. That collegiate pick was Steve Serling who did not play an MLL game while the expansion picks were Greg Downing and Curtis Dickson.
Overall Denver has remained in contention every single season they have been in Major League Lacrosse. But their transaction history has been iffy at times. They have been a terrific drafting team it seems except for some of these picks after trades that didn’t work out. Mundorf was one of the Outlaws best players ever and was homegrown. However, John Grant Jr is an elite lacrosse player and it is unlikely that this trade will end in disaster; this is just another roster rebuild for the Denver Outlaws.
