Your 2023-2024 Buffalo Bandits

The Buffalo Bandits went to their third straight final last season. As I correctly predicted, they won; and took down the Colorado Mammoth while doing it. This year the Bandits will be looking to fight off the championship hangover while trying to bring home back-to-back championships. The Bandits are returning a majority of their championship roster with some new young blood added to the lineup. Let’s look at this year’s Buffalo Bandits roster.

The Offense

The forward group is returning every player from last year with no surprise additions. The biggest concern for the forwards this season is health. Last year, as we all know, the Bandits offense struggled to stay healthy throughout the season and playoffs. It appears every forward is coming into the season healthy including Chase Fraser and Brandon Robinson. We have yet to see this forward group healthy and active for multiple games. Throughout the playoffs last season, the Bandits were the healthiest they had been all year. They scored 87 goals in six playoff games, averaging 14.5 goals per game. Chase Fraser and Brandon Robinson could be difference makers for the offense this season. Brandon Robinson will have to contend with Brad McCulley who filled his role admirably in his absence. When healthy last season, Robinson had a career year with 13 goals and 8 assists for 21 points in 10 games. The last time the team saw Chase Fraser fully healthy he had a career year in 2022/2023 with 32 goals and 24 assists for 56 points in 18 games. This year in three pre-season games he led the team with eight goals. If the offense can remain healthy, they may be the best offensive unit in the league. There are only two questions for the dynamic duo of Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne. Can Dhane Smith eclipse 100 assists in a single season? Can Josh Byrne finish the season with more points than Smith? Josh has increased his points per game every single season. If he can stay healthy this year, I think he will have a chance to do it.

The Defense

The defense will look a little bit different this year. Returning full time starters are Justin Martin, Steve Priolo and Matt Spanger. There are two big new additions with former 2022 first round draft picks Cam Wyers (13th overall) and Zach Belter (19th overall) adding some youth to the unit. Both Cam and Zach have similar profiles at 6’5 and around 220 pounds. Not only are they physically similar but they have both found success creating caused turnovers as well. I am interested to see how these two will look on the field and if any aspects of their game will separate themselves from each other. Belter may miss week one as he recovers from an injury, but it seems as though he is close to joining the team for their first game or soon after. Justin and Dylan Robinson both look healthy and ready to start the season. They are not necessarily additions, however, they combined to play in only 15 games last season. Carter McKenzie, still only 23 years old, rounds out the defense with another chance to build his career after being active for 12 games last season.

The Transition

This year’s transition group looks the same as last year with Ian MacKay, Dalton Sulver and Nick Weiss. Weiss has been a solid part of this Bandits team for a long time now. Sulver was asked to step in and step up a few times last year and he did so effectively. It is great to see him back for another year. MacKay was among the league’s best transition player’s last season. He had career bests in almost every category including goals scored with 19, points with 38, and loose balls with 121. His 19 goals scored were 8 higher than any other season. MacKay was asked to play offense more often last season with injuries to the forward group. I wonder if we will continue to see MacKay play a more active offensive roll this season.

The Goalies

The only thing we need to know about the goalies is that Matt Vinc is back for another season. In other news, the Bandits did bring in Steve Orleman in a trade and 2023 draftee Evan Constantopoulos (38TH overall) made the practice squad. It appears that Buffalo is trying to give themselves as many future options as possible, preparing for if/when Matt Vinc finally retires. Orleman and returning goaltender Devlin Shanahan battled it out in pre-season for the honor of being Vinc’s backup. It appears that Shanahan has won the battle but game one will show exactly how the team feels about it.

The Injuries

There are a few significant injuries that have been reported. General manager Steve Dietrich said that Bryce Sweeting is done for the entire season. Other players starting the season on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list are Adam Bomberry, Frank Brown and Zach Belter. Bomberry is out for at least three months, if not more. Frank Brown is not ready to start playing yet. Belter, as I mentioned earlier, should be available early in the season, possibly in week one.

The Practice Squad (Plus Adler)

The practice squad will once again be an important part of this team’s roster. The oddly nice thing about starting the season with a few injuries is the fact that it gives the Bandits a little extra time and wiggle room for a few players. Goaltender Evan Constantopoulos, forward Alex Kew, forward Christian Watts, and forward/defenseman Sam La Rou make up this year’s practice squad. Watts, a 2022 fifth round pick, stands at 6’4 and about 200 pounds. He had an impressive pre-season and may be the next man up for the forward group this season. La Rou, still only 21, once again finds himself on the practice squad. It is hard to say where the Bandits see him fitting into this group, but he has plenty of talent to go around. That brings us to Max Adler who is on the protected player list. He does not currently have a contract with the team. However, the Bandits maintain his rights. If he wants to return to the NLL and the Bandits want to add him to the team, he will end up back in Buffalo.

Roster Wrap

Before I started writing this article, I believed the team was bringing back the same roster that won the championship last year. Outside of a few players here and there, they are. However, last season we did not have the opportunity to see the offense completely healthy. With the forwards entering the season healthy it will be fun to see what this offense will look like. On top of that, the defense has a few rookies as well as a healthy Justin and Dylan Robinson. The practice squad has a few new additions that may be able to make their mark on this season as well. Even though the roster looks similar to last season on paper, there are a few new faces and a few healthy players that have the potential to take this team to a new level.

Prediction

In our playoff breakdown on the podcast PK and I both predicted the Bandits to defeat the Toronto Rock in this year’s unified standings championship game and I am sticking with that prediction.