NLL Off-Season In Review: Washington Stealth

You might think that if your team has been to the Championship game two straight years (winning one of them), you probably don't have any glaring weaknesses that you need to address. That's not true for the Toronto Rock, but that's only because their goaltender – one of the best of all time – retired after last season. However it is also not true for the Washington Stealth.

The Stealth had a decent season following up their Championship win in 2010, but finished third in the West with a pedestrian 8-8 record. They caught fire in the playoffs however, taking out both Minnesota and the first overall seeded Calgary Roughnecks. The playoff games, 14-8 over Minnesota and 10-8 over Calgary, weren't especially high-scoring the way you might have expected, considering the Stealth had the top offense in the league and the second-worst defense. Would the Stealth have made it to the final if the playoff against Calgary was best-of-5 or even best-of-3? Personally, I don't think so, and I'm sure Calgary wouldn't have minded testing that theory. Such is life in a one-and-done league.

So with the best offense and the second worst defense, a good idea would be to give up a little offense for some defense. Well, they did, but not exactly the way you might have thought.

Who's In

Nenad Gajic: Acquired From: Free agency (Colorado) Point Total: 1
Jamie Rooney: Acquired From: Boston dispersal draft Point Total: 24
Kyle Ross: Acquired From: Trade (Toronto) Point Total: 4
Dan Teat: Acquired From: Boston dispersal draft Point Total: 0
Josh Wasson-McQuigge: Acquired From: Boston dispersal draft Point Total: 2

Kyle Ross is a big defender who played two solid years in Boston and one in Toronto before being traded to the Stealth for Matt Roik. Gajic scored over 60 points in his first two seasons with the Mammoth, but injury problems have kept him to only 18 games over the last three seasons. If his injury problems are behind him, he can be a big part of the Stealth transition.

Dan Teat retired almost a year ago, and is now an assistant coach in Buffalo, so I'm not sure of the logic of drafting him. Rooney scored 43 points in his rookie season in Philly but has barely reached half that level in three seasons since. Stealth GM Doug Locker said on Lax Live recently that he's pretty excited about Rooney joining the team. Wasson-McQuigge had all of two points in four games for the Mammoth and Blazers last year, and given the strength of the Stealth offense, it would seem unlikely that he makes the team.

Who's Out

Tom Johnson: To: Free agency (Edmonton) Point Total: 16
Matt Roik: To: Trade (Toronto) Point Total: 0
Luke Wiles: To: Trade (Buffalo) Point Total: 60

Wiles, an Ontario boy, must have requested a trade to the east since all the Stealth got for him were two draft picks. This for a player who's averaged almost 63 points over the past five seasons. He's not quite the steal that Tracey Kelusky was, but pretty close. Who knew that Darris Kilgour was such a shrewd GM? Oh wait, we all did.

Matt Roik was part of the Stealth's excellent goaltender tandem in 2010, but fell off a bit in 2011, which was fine by Tyler Richards who showed that he could be the starting goalie on a playoff contender. Considering Roik was likely to see even fewer minutes in 2012, picking up Kyle Ross for him was a pretty good deal for the Stealth. According to Locker, the Stealth have a few goaltenders in the organization who would be happy to fill the role of backup to T-Rich.

So with these changes, the Stealth are down 45 points from last season, but have beefed up their transition and defense a bit. They got a little weaker where they were strong, and a little stronger where they were weak. Seems like a pretty successful off-season to me.