NLL Off-Season In Review: Colorado Mammoth

The 2011 season was a mixed bag for the Mammoth. They had gone 0-8 at home in 2010, and start the 2011 season off with five more home losses in a row. Their first game of the season was a loss at home to the Stealth and they followed that up with a win in Calgary, but then lost their next seven in a row. They finally broke both streaks with a win at home to Boston – shortly after Gavin Prout was reacquired – and then things turned around from there. They finished the season 4-3, including 3 straight home wins, and made the playoffs. But the Mammoth only managed 6 goals against Mike Poulin and the Roughnecks in the division semi-final, and their season was over.

The Mammoth only scored 151 goals in 2011, by far the lowest in the league. But they only gave up 172, lowest in the West. So you might think that like the Bandits, acquiring some offense should have been priority number one during the off-season. Unlike the Bandits, this mission was not accomplished. On the contrary; this mission was an abject failure, since the Colorado offense actually got worse this off-season.

Who's In

Gary Bining: Acquired From: Boston dispersal draft Point Total: 0
Ryan Hotaling: Acquired From: Boston dispersal draft Point Total: 6
Mat MacLeod: Acquired From: Trade (Toronto) Point Total: 14
John Orsen: Acquired From: Boston dispersal draft Point Total: 1
Sean Pollock: Acquired From: Trade (Minnesota) Point Total: 27
Creighton Reid: Acquired From: Trade (Toronto) Point Total: 4
Rory Smith: Acquired From: Trade (Minnesota) Point Total: 2
Jon Sullivan: Acquired From: Trade (Minnesota) Point Total: 9

Of the eight players acquired by the Mammoth, only Bining, Pollock, and MacLeod are forwards. This is more than a touch puzzling, considering that defense wasn't the Mammoth's big problem last year, it was offense – and they lost Dan Carey and Brian Langtry in the off-season. That said, the Mammoth added some pretty decent pieces to their defense. Reid had two solid years in Toronto, and Smith and Sullivan were popular with the fans in Minnesota. Bining did not play last year, while Hotaling was Boston's face-off man for the past two seasons.

Who's Out

Dan Carey: To: Trade (Toronto) Point Total: 35
Brian Langtry: To: Retirement Point Total: 40
Steve Toll: To: Retirement Point Total: 13

Carey is a two-time All-Star who was the winner of the NLL's 2008 Sportsmanship award. He missed most of 2009 and all of 2010 with a concussion, but played well in his return to the Mammoth last year. In an interview on Boxla Beat last week, he said that he is fully recovered and is thankful for the chance to play closer to his job (a teacher in Toronto) and family. He was third on the Mammoth in scoring last season, but that's only because Gavin Prout only played in 6 games for Colorado. As talented as he is, he hasn't been a major contributor to the Mammoth for three years, so it's not exactly a devastating loss. Langtry, on the other hand, will be tougher to replace. He was never a 90-point-a-year kind of guy, but he was a hard-working veteran who an exciting player to watch; his level of energy might be more difficult to replace than the actual points. Steve Toll was once the fastest guy in the league, but has been losing a step a year for a few years now. I think he was a great player, but it was time to hang 'em up. Toll is now Director of Operations for two different CLax teams, Oshawa and Durham.

So the Mammoth had problems with offense last year but had a strong defense, and they lost two strong offensive contributors. So what happens? They pick up a bunch of defenders and are down 25 points. Maybe they plan on relying solely on the defense and winning a lot of 6-5 games. Good luck with that.