Ahead of next week’s National Lacrosse League draft, two teams came down with a surprising trade on Monday afternoon. The Colorado Mammoth acquired forward Zack Greer from the Colorado Mammoth in return for forward Adam Jones. Both Jones and Greer have been two of the most prolific scorers in the western conference for the past half decade.
Both lefty forwards, the trade likely comes down thanks to location reasons. Jones is signed through the end of next season, while Greer will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2017.
Interestingly, both Jones and Greer are the only two players in NLL history to each score six goals in a single quarter of play. Greer and Jones were also tied for seventh in the league with 42 goals each in 2016.
Greer is one goal short of 200 in his seven year career, and he found a way to get touches and put the ball in the net despite the Rush being one of the deepest offensive teams in the league for the past two seasons. He joins Callum Crawford and Greg Downing in Denver as former members of the Minnesota Swarm.
Last season, Greer scored seven goals in the Rush’s western finals victory over the Calgary Roughnecks to help lead the team to their second consecutive title. He has scored 40 goals or more in each of his last two seasons.
Jones missed four games with injury last season, but in the year before eclipsed all of his single season career highs. An offensive leader on a stacked Mammoth team, Jones has the experience of not being the top guy on a roster despite excellent offensive talent that he will need to succeed in Saskatoon.
Both Jones and Greer were also third overall picks, in different seasons. Greer was drafted by the Swarm in 2009 while Jones was the Mammoth pick out of Canisius in 2012. Jones has 194 career goals, almost caught up with Greer despite being three seasons behind him.
In the league press release, Rush coach and general manager Derek Keenan cited that age difference as a key factor in the trade.
“Adam is an outstanding player who will be an excellent catalyst for our offense. It is not easy trading a player with the skills and character of Zack Greer, but he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2017 season and we have to mindful of the future. Adam is three years younger. He has already proven to be an elite offensive talent in the NLL and there is even more upside to come.”
The Mammoth also add the #9 overall pick in this year’s draft, an upgrade after not having a selection until the fourth round. There had been speculation Saskatchewan would look to move that pick for value since they also held the #1 and #3 overall picks in the first round.
The Rush will also acquire the Mammoth’s 2017 second round draft selection. That trade will see Colorado without a draft pick until the third round next year.
