Bandits Offseason Review
What an offseason it has been for the Buffalo Bandits. Between the expansion draft, NLL entry draft, a new CBA for the league, and Free Agency a lot has happened. After losing to the Colorado Mammoth in the 3 game finals for the title, Bandits identified a direction they wanted to head in and I think it’s safe to say they did just that. In the end of the year press conference, it was made known that they wanted and needed to not only get bigger, but stronger as well. The team already has the best fans in the league and they have the best home field advantage due to those fans, all they need is the right team. They came into the playoffs with the highest scoring offense in the league averaging 13.72 goals per game. That was almost 2 full goals higher than any NY team. The Bandits had a 10.28 goals against average compared to the league average of 11.13. The Bandits also had the second best Power Play unit in the NLL at 52.6%, the best Penalty Kill unit in the League at 65.6%, were the league’s MVP, and had the Goalie of the Year, GM of the Year, and finalist for both Coach of the Year and Defender of the Year. The Bandits also had the 1st Team Rookie Player, were the number 1 seed in the playoffs and had homefield advantage in Banditland during the Championship. You look at all this and you wonder how this team could falter. Well, they did. But I am not here to address the past. I am here to write about the offseason moves and the work they did so this doesn’t happen again moving forward.
It all started with the NLL Expansion draft. July 7th the Las Vegas Desert Dogs began to build their team. Going into this we all knew it was inevitable that the Bandits were going to lose a key forward. They had 6 key guys that they needed to protect but only 5 spots (Kyle Buchanan was a UFA so no point in using a protected spot on him). For us it came down to Chase Fraser or Connor Fields after protecting the likes of Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Chris Cloutier and Tehoka Nanticoke. They chose Fraser and exposed Fields. This made sense. Fields is a hometown kid, who just a year prior requested a trade from San Diego. He is engaged, his job is here and he just bought a house. Vegas was going to have to trade him back east or risk having a very unhappy star on their new team. The Bandits set themselves up with the best chance to get him back in some sort of trade. A trade did occur with Fields as a key piece to it, but that deal was between Vegas and Rochester that saw the 2 teams swap 2022 first rounders, Fields and Riley Hutchcraft going to the Hawks while Charlie Bertrand, 74th overall, 91st overall and Roch 2023rd 1st rounder went out west to Vegas. This was the Bandits’ first loss of the offseason.
That’s okay. Players move on in the offseason every year. The team has plenty of youth in the forward room with guys hungry to step up into that role. August 1st was scheduled to be the start of Free Agency. Tons of great talent was going to be available like Curtis Dickson, Ryan Benesch, Kyle Rubisch, Kevin Crowley, Joe Resetarits, Kiel Matisz, Chris Corbeil just to name a few. But Free Agency was delayed as the new CBA was getting worked on and was rumored to be getting close. The league put out a memo that a big announcement was coming on August 2nd. Some thought CBA was signed, but for those that have been tracking it all off season (like the BSC has been) we knew that couldn’t be the case because it was only the NLL that put out the announcement, not the NLL and NLLPA. With that ruled out, the announcement had to be the New Commissioner. Brett Frood bust through the door from his time in racing with a set game plan and a great background in generating revenue for his sport. I’ve already stated my feelings on the hire but in short, I love it. I think he is going to bring more money to the sport and with doing so will be able to help stabilize the current teams and be able to help grow the game in ways we have yet to see.
August 5th both the NLL and the NLLPA release a joint statement announcing the agreement in principle to a new 3 year CBA!!! And the crowd goes wild! The last thing this sport needed was a delay or worse another lost season. Yes, it is a shorter CBA but personally I loved what the players were able to get. I also love their vision and why 3 years was the perfect length. If you want to hear more about what exactly is in the new CBA check out our show from August 15th at the 35:18 mark.
Alright, enough with the league’s offseason now. You all didn’t come here for that. Let’s get into the Bandits’ offseason moves.
July 12th - Buffalo places the Franchise Tag on Dhane Smith. Entering his 30th year of life makes it so the team can place the tag on him and he cannot refuse it. Dhane was scheduled to become a UFA this summer so locking him up prior to Free Agency was the right thing to do for the team. As of writing this article, he is still under the tag with the chance to work out a longer term deal.
August 11th - Buffalo made qualifying offers to both Ian MacKay and Chase Fraser. Both are scheduled to become RFAs, keeping them locked into the Bandits jerseys while they work on a new deal with the team.
August 14th - The eve of Free Agency opening up, the Bandits lock up 2 of their own. Bryce Sweeting who was set to become an RFA re-ups on a new 1 year deal, locking down the tough vet for another run at the title. They also signed Sam La Roue, the youngest member of the team to a new 3 year deal. The crafty front office was able to use a defensive spot in the expansion draft to protect the promising forward.
August 15th - Opening day of FA. Buffalo brings in their 2nd Robinson, Brandon Robinson, brother to Justin, who signed a 1 year deal with the team. Brandon Robinson is a 6’3” 200 pound lefty forward from Halifax. Last year he played in 3 games with the team and went 4-3-7 with 18LBs. This was the start of the Bandits’ move to get bigger guys.
August 16th - Buffalo re-signs young defenseman Dalton Sulver to a new 3 year deal. 4 games last year split between the active roster and the practice squad putting up 12LBs and 2 CTO. The team also signed young promising goalie Delvin Shanahan to a new 1 year deal. While the guy has yet to step foot onto the NLL floor, he has been killing it in the Western Lacrosse Association. With the Nanaimo Timberman he went 5-1 with a 9.17GAA and a .802 Sv% in the regular season. He was even better in the playoffs taking the lead in net going 5-3 with an 8.47GAA and a .823 Sv%. The Bandits were not done just yet. They signed Carter McKenzie to a 2 year deal. 6’4” 210 righty defenseman from Calgary. I told you the team was aiming to get bigger. 6 games last year for the 22 year old who scored a goal, and had 7LB and a CTO.
August 18th - Kevin Brownell. The longtime assistant captain and consistent defenseman signed a 2 year deal to join the Riptide out in New York. This was the Bandits’ 2nd loss in the offseason. Brownell was a UFA once again this year and chose to take his talents to the big apple. This one hurt because I felt he was one of our best defenders in the playoffs. But where there is a loss, there is also a return. Matt Spanger signed a new 2 year deal with the team. 5/7/12 with the team last year, he stepped up more in the transition game this season than in years past.
August 19th - The very next day saw the team sign their final RFA to a new 1 year deal. Frank Brown, after returning this year from the nasty knee injury, re-ups for another year in Banditland. A fan favorite and someone I think with a full offseason healthy should take his game to another level this year.
August 20th - Bandits sign 2021 draft pick Nick Miller to a 2 year deal. For those that have not listened to our show. First why not? No one else covers this team year round for you. Secondly, we love this guy. Why you ask? The St. John Fisher star put up 240 goals in only 78 games with the program setting records. That’s over 3 goals a game. Oh yeah, he also added 125 assist for a whopping 365 points. That equals over 1 assist a game and 4.68 points each game he played. In 2019 he scored 82 goals and 114 points in just 20 games shooting at a ridiculous .429%. How could you not be excited for what this guy could bring to the team next year?
August 25th - The team went a little quiet for a while there. They signed both UFAs Greg Harnett and Kyle Buchanan to 1 year deals. Bucky returns for this 2nd year with the team after putting up a very quiet 19/38/57 season and added 81 lose balls while being one of the hardest working guys on the field at all times. Harnett joins McKenzie in his trip east from Calgary. After 9 seasons and 119 games with the team, the former Assistant captain will dawn the black and orange for the first time.
August 26th - The day Phil and I, and probably all of Banditland, could let out a collective deep breath. Matt Vinc re-signs to a new 1 year deal. The 8 time goalie of the year will be back in the crease for at least one more year with the team. The 40 year old put up his 2nd best save percentage of his career with .807 (.808 is his best) and a 10.10 GAA which was his 6th best. But they were not done. What was probably overshadowed that day was Ethan O’Connor signing a new 1 year deal with the team as well. The UFA in his first NLL action since 2019 went 1/4/5 with 67LBs to his name.
August 29th - We saw a familiar face return to Banditland after a 5 year hiatus. David Brock returns on a 1 year deal. The team’s 4th new player in free agency. 77 Games played in the black and orange with 18/25/43 with 308LB and 54CTO.
August 31st - Final day of the month saw the Bandits sign their final UFA to a new 1 year deal. Nick Weiss, the hero of game 1 of the finals returns for his 8th year here. Weiss surpassed his 100 career game last year and he saw himself move up the leaderboard in many Bandits franchise stats.
September 6th - Our first player interviewee Jordan Stouros signs a new 1 year deal. He was still under team control so his rights were still with the Bandits but he needed a new deal done. Stouros stepped up in the playoffs when Sweeting was down. He also appeared in 10 games in the regular season and collected 24 LBs and 6 CTO.
September 22nd – Marcus Minichiello re-signs for another year. Former free agent who came to the club in 2019 returns as another depth speed piece on the back end. He hasn’t gotten a full workload with the team but has stepped up and played will when called upon with the club.
September 26th – Of course the day our last episode before our vacation kicks off the Bandits make 3 2-year deal signings. First was Nate Kozevnikov. Former 2nd rounder, 29th overall from the 2019 draft. Then 2021 1st rounder Thomas Vaesen comes in. Then their 2nd 1st rounder from this year’s draft Dylan Robinson. All 3 players have yet to play a second with the team and are looking to make a name for themselves in camp.
So, if you are keeping track at home here are the additions and subtractions for the team this offseason so far here is the list:
Additions/Returns
Dhane Smith (FT)
Chase Fraser (QO)
Ian MacKay (QO)
Bryce Sweeting (1 Year Deal)
Sam La Roue (3 Year Deal)
Brandon Robinson (1 Year Deal)
Dalton Sulver (3 Year Deal)
Delvin Shanahan (1 Year Deal)
Carter McKenzie (2 Year Deal)
Matt Spanger (2 Year Deal)
Frank Brown (1 Year Deal)
Nick Miller (2 Year Deal)
Greg Harnett (1 Year Deal)
Kyle Buchanan (1 Year Deal)
Matt Vinc (1 Year Deal)
Ethan O’Connor (1 Year Deal)
David Brock (1 Year Deal)
Nick Weiss (1 Year Deal)
Jordan Stouros (1 Year Deal)
Marcus Minichiello (1 Year Deal)
Thomas Vaesen (2 Year Deal)
Dylan Robinson (2 Year Deal)
Nate Kozevnikov (2 Year Deal)
Subtractions
Connor Fields (Rochester)
Kevin Brownell (New York)
Under Contract/Need new deal
Josh Byrne
Chris Cloutier
Justin Martin
Brad McCulley
Tehoka Nanticoke
Steve Priolo
Doug Buchan
Max Adler (TC)
Justin Robinson (TC)
Alec Tulett (TC)
Justin Guterding (TC)
Colin Munro (Draft Pick)
Joel Matthews
Saturday September 10th was the draft. Bandits went into the day with 7 picks. 3 firsts, a second, a fourth and 2 fifths. They left the draft using 6 of those 7 and packaged another with a 2024 pick in a deal.
With Pick 13 the team drafted Cam Wyers 6’5” 220 defenseman from Loyola College. Pick 14th brought the 3rd Robinson brother to Buffalo. Dylan Robinson is a 6’2” 180 defenseman. Pick #19 saw them take local product, 6’5” 225 defenseman Zack Belter. He went to Niagara Wheatfield HS. Pick #31 and a 2024 3rd were traded to San Diego for Devyn Mayea. A 6’4” defenseman and former 2019 2nd rounder.
I’m assuming you all are seeing the trend here. After a long wait in-between picks, Buffalo took Ryan Sharkey at #73, a Defenseman from Canisius. 2 fifth rounders saw them grab midfielder Christian Watts (#8) from Siena and attackman Austin Blumbergs (#88) from St. Bonaventure.
I personally loved the draft and the players they came away with. It’s a bit different than the direction I thought they’d take but like I said in the past, you can’t teach size. We won’t know what these players will develop into, but they looked to address the defensive side of the ball in this offseason after addressing the forward group for the past couple of years.
Overall, I thought this was a solid offseason for the Buffalo Bandits. I know there are fans that are unhappy with the moves, I know there are fans who wanted the team to go in another direction, and I know there are fans that wanted the team to do a complete overhaul. Its sports. You will never make everyone happy. For me though, I thought they got bigger, stronger and tougher on their back end. I believe Zed Williams is solely responsible for that. They were able to bring Matty Vinc back for another year which, in my opinion was the biggest objective going into free agency. They added a bit more size to the forward ranks while also keeping 6 of the 7 forwards around for another year.
Did they hit on everything I thought they would/needed to? No. Transition game I think still is on the weaker side. I also don’t think they addressed the size and grit issue in the forward room. They have a few younger guys who they might think can take on the role this coming year. I think we might have been dreaming a bit too much if we thought the Bandits were going to make any major moves. Team came up 1 game short of that 5th title. There’s only so much you can do to improve that type of team. While I personally think there were areas they could have addressed more, the team went into the offseason with a plan to get bigger, tougher and harder to play against and I think they achieved that on the defensive end of the ball. Playoffs either shine light on what you are doing great or what you are coming up short in. Not being able to break through that Colorado defense was a major issue for that offensive group. With the majority of that crew returning this year, it will be a test for the coaching staff to see if they can make the adjustments needed to get this group over that hump they have been stuck on. But make no mistake about it, this team is still one of the best in the league. The East got better for sure. But the Bandits are still top dog until someone knocks them off that thrown. My only fear is they put all their attention on one end of the floor and didn’t address the reason the team came up short in the finals.