The biggest surprises from the dispersal draft

The Boston Blazers dispersal draft was last Friday and the face of the NLL has changed significantly. There was a lot of talk on twitter and various blogs about who would go where, and both InLaxWeTrust.com and ILIndoor.com posted their predictions for the first round (that happened to be exactly the same). When the draft actually happened, things started out as was expected – Dawson went to Philly, Edmonton took Rubisch, Minnesota took Cosmo and Sanderson. But over the course of the next 20 minutes or so, a number of surprising moves were made. Here are the top four.

1. Josh Sanderson to Toronto. The possibility of the Rock trading for Anthony Cosmo was raised in a few different places, and so when I read that Minnesota had chosen both Cosmo and Sanderson and then made a trade with the Rock, I assumed that Cosmo would be replacing Watson in the Rock net, just like we all thought he would back in 2004. When I read that it was Sanderson coming to the Rock, well, to say I was surprised would be an understatement. I happened to be on the golf course with some friends at the time, one of whom, Steve, has never been Josh Sanderson's biggest fan, even when he was leading the league in assists and helping lead the Rock to the 2005 Championship. Steve had a pretty strong front nine but his golf game really went downhill after he learned of the trade. Whenever we wanted to rattle him, we'd just say "Wow, Josh Sanderson is back on the Rock!" and Steve would shank it into the trees. Sorry Steve. I, on the other hand, had a birdie (missing a hole-in-one by two feet) and a couple of pars on the back nine – none of which had anything to do with this trade, but I had to mention them. I digress.
2. Mike Kirk to Rochester. I heard no speculation about Mike Kirk in the days before the draft. I certainly did not see him being chosen fifth overall, before the likes of Casey Powell, Kevin Buchanan, Nick Rose, and John Orsen. I suppose the fact that he plays for Knighthawk coach Mike Hasen on the Brampton Excelsiors in the MLS makes it a little less surprising.
3. Casey Powell chosen 14th. Both draft previews had Powell chosen fifth by the Knighthawks, who decided to go defensive and chose Mike Kirk instead (see above). But then every other team (except the Rock who traded their pick away) had a chance to take Powell before Rochester chose again, and none of them did. OK, so he's 35 and he hurt his knee in the MLL Championship game. But he's only a year older than Josh Sanderson, and has been told that he does not need surgery on his knee. And c'mon people, he's Casey Freakin' Powell! Even new teammate Jordan Hall was surprised, though I think the #youloser hashtag may have been a bit harsh. It's also possible (pure speculation here) that he made it known to the league's GMs that he did not want to play anywhere in the west so they didn't bother picking him.
4. Washington chooses Dan Teat who retired before last season. The odds that the Stealth management simply forgot are low, so the likely explanation is that all of the remaining players are based in the east, and none would be interested in playing for a team that's about as far west as you can go. Rather than simply pass, the Stealth decided to take the chance that they could convince Teat to pull a Gary Gait and unretire. Look how well that worked for the Knighthawks. Or perhaps Stealth GM Doug Locker is a big Dan Teat fan and decided to pick him even though he knew there was almost no chance that he would ever suit up for the Stealth, similar to Calgary drafting NHL star Gary Roberts in the 2004 entry draft.