Toronto Rock owner, president and general manager Jamie Dawick today announced the re-signing of Rock defenceman Bradley Kri to a 2-year deal and forward Dan Lintner to a 3-year deal. The Rock have also dipped into the unrestricted free agent pool by signing forward Michael MacDonald to a 3-year contract. The signings are pending league approval.
Kri returned to the Rock as a free agent signing just prior to the beginning of the 2016 NLL regular season. After originally being selected by the Rock in the second round of the 2012 NLL draft, he found himself on the outside looking in, heading into the 2014 season and eventually signed as a free agent with Vancouver. The 24-year old from Acton, Ontario spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons with the Stealth, but found his way back to Toronto in time to become one of the Rock’s most dependable defenders in 2016 and also asserted himself as the team’s faceoff man winning 55% of his draws. He came in and filled a void that was a longtime need, appearing in 16 games in 2016, collecting 2 assists and picking up 83 loose balls ranking fifth on the team.
“I think Brad is starting to come into his own in this league,” said Dawick. “He was a free agent addition that gave us a lot of quality minutes on the back end and showed he can hang with the top faceoff guys in the league. He has continued to get better playing for Oakville this summer and I’m looking forward to him continuing that growth this season with the Rock.”
Lintner was originally selected in the first round, 8th overall by the New England Black Wolves in the 2015 NLL Draft. He was then shipped to Toronto as a part of the deal that sent Kevin Crowley back to the Black Wolves prior to last season. At 23-years old, the Courtice, Ontario native is one of the core pieces of young crop of forwards on the Rock roster. A prolific goal scorer during his Junior A career with the Whitby Warriors, Lintner showed flashes of establishing that same consistency at the pro level, finishing the season with 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in 13 games played.
“Dan showed us what he is capable of at different times last season,” said Dawick. “He’s another very talented young piece of this team with high expectations for the future. He’s had a great summer lacrosse season and continues to develop. I’m excited to see what the future holds and I anticipate him being with the Rock for a long time.”
Hailing from Georgetown, Ontario, forward Michael MacDonald represents the Rock’s first unrestricted free agent signing of the off-season. Selected in the 3rd round, 22nd overall by New England in the 2015 NLL Draft, the Princeton grad finished the 2016 season on the practice roster of the Wolves, making him a UFA. The big offensive lefty got into just 2 games with the Black Wolves in 2016, picking up one assist.
At Princeton, MacDonald finished his brilliant four-year NCAA career fifth in program history in career points and third all-time in goals. He was also Ivy League co-Player of the Year, honorable mention All-America and set the program record for points in a season with 78 (48G, 30A) in his senior year in 2015. Prior to his collegiate career, he won a Founder’s Cup Canadian Jr B Championship with his hometown Halton Hills Bulldogs in 2010 and followed that up with a Minto Cup Canadian Junior A Championship with the Whitby Warriors in 2013. He has a connection to both Kri and Lintner as he won his Founder’s Cup title alongside Kri with the Bulldogs and his Minto title was won with Lintner as his teammate with the Warriors.
At the 2013 Minto Cup, he was second to only Lintner in goal scoring and prior to the Minto in the Ontario finals, was the game seven hero, scoring the tying and winning goals at Six Nations in a thrilling come from behind win to send the Warriors to the national championship. That Warriors team boasted current NLL players Curtis Knight of Saskatchewan and Reilly O’Connor of Calgary to put MacDonald’s Minto Cup goal-scoring accomplishments in perspective.
“In my opinion, Mikey is a player who should have gone much higher in last year’s draft and probably would have if his living and work situation was different,” explained Dawick. “He’s a guy with a huge upside who hasn’t played a lot of box lacrosse the last couple of years. I know he’s excited about getting back into the box game and we have high hopes for him.”
