Toronto Rock Off-Season Updates

Since the Rock won the Championship in May a lot has happened in terms of the roster.

1. Watson retired as a first ballot hall of famer.
2. Trade with Colorado.
3. Trade with Washington.
4. Trade with Minnesota.

Let's run through these in order.

1. Whipper went out a winner. Can't ask for anything more, except an unretirement. He wouldn't be the first Hall of Famer to return to the floor in the NLL (cough Gait cough).
2. Toronto sends Creighton Reid, Mat MacLeod and draft picks to Colorado for Dan Carey and draft picks.
1. Really gonna miss Reid. Solid defender. Young. Athletic. MacLeod is listed as a forward, but after the injuries to Sharp and Petkoff, the Rock started running him out the backdoor as a D to O transition guy. I'm always a fan of guys who are willing to do whatever it takes for the team to win. Reminds me of last summer when they moved Scott Campbell to Boston after he'd played out of position the previous season.
3. Kyle Ross goes to Washington and Matt Roik comes back.
1. I guess Whipper's unretirement is unlikely. This should make for an interesting camp: Roik and Campbell are both under contract, and Gee Nash is technically a free agent, but might be one of the goalies who gets an invite to training camp.
2. Liked Ross' hustle, not a big fan of his penalties. He's like a younger Pat Merrill, but Merrill has wised up and doesn't take as many penalties, at least not last season. It's easy to see why Ross was the Rock's third choice in their attempt to sign restricted free agents last offseason.
4. During the dispersal draft of the Boston Blazers (this sucks that the NLL is losing yet another team, but I'm mildly more optimistic that they will return than Orlando, Chicago, etc.) the Rock sent Jeff Gilbert, a dispersal draft pick (used for Greg Downing) and draft picks to Minnesota for Josh Sanderson (recently drafted from Boston) and Nick Inch.
1. Again, bummed to see another solid young defender leave, but at least the Rock get a quality D-man back in this move. They also picked up an other quality defender in the dispersal draft by getting Jon Durno.
2. I love the results you get with Shooter, but my lasting memory of him from his last stint with the Rock was his enigmatic hustle getting on and off the floor. After the Rock turned the ball over, which happened a lot in 2006 and 2007, he'd do the lazy man's jog off, as if he was completely exhausted, which would put the Rock D at a disadvantage in transition; 15 seconds later he'd be the first guy off the bench sprinting as fast as his cousin Phil during pregame introductions.

So the net result of all these moves is basically a shuffle, and an opening for one new defender in the depth chart. Given how low in the draft the Rock are picking this year, and how savvy Terry and Troy are at finding young athletic guys deep in the draft, I think the help on D will be a draft pick who fights his way onto the team. I could be wrong.

Here's how the shuffle affects the Rock by position:

One goalie retires : one is brought in. The one who retired was one of the best to ever play the game; the one coming in is competent, but not spectacular. On paper, the Rock are weaker in net than they have been in a long time.

Three and a half defenders out : two in. That's three guys who started the Championship game, and a guy who was pressed into a D roll by injuries, leaving town, and two defenders coming back. Sharp and Petkoff are hopefully returning at full form, but regardless the Rock are a little less deep on D, and last year those injuries to Sharp and Petkoff (at nearly the exact same spot on the rug at the ACC) meant that the Rock needed all of that depth. The D is still going to be good, no doubt about it, but it might not be able to sustain significant injuries. It might also be a little less confident without Whipper to bail it out. However, it might line up differently, because Whipper's known weakness was long shots, so the D last year stretched more; with different goalies in net, perhaps the gameplan is to pack it in more and leave the outside shots.

One and half forwards out : two in. If you read the Carey announcement closely you'll see that he's going to supplement existing lefties like Leblanc, Doyle and Pascas. No mention of Pat Maddalena, who is an unrestricted free agent. With the acquisition of Shooter Sanderson, Maddalena is almost certainly done with the Rock. Camp is going to be very interesting. The Rock now have six guys who have been "named" to an all star team on O (but haven't necessarily been able to play - Leblanc), and three quality pick and roll grinder guys. Since the Rock usually dress seven forwards for games, it's going to be a dogfight to get in the gameday lineup, but on paper at least, the demise of the Boston Blazers means stalling the careers of the Rock's two youngest forwards: Pascas and Hellyer. Regardless, Sanderson and Carey in for MacLeod and an injured Maddalena is a huge upgrade on O, assuming everyone can accept his role and put the team first; I have no particular reason to believe they won't, and the Rock O is scary. Just nasty. They should give Washington a solid run for the overall lead in goals scored this coming season, actually, let's rephrase that: Washington should be Toronto's closest competitor for offence next season ... but then (silly) people thought that about Boston's O last year!

So the question is: will the Rock's improved O outweigh the diminished D and goaltending? And, since I'm asking before the draft and training camp, will there be further moves to shore up either the missing D-man or to improve the goaltending?