PLL protected roster speculation: Who’s keeping who?

PLL protected player rosters are due on January 13. Pro Lacrosse Talk examines who the original six teams should protect and who may be made available for Andy Copelan and Waterdogs LC to select in February’s expansion draft.

PLL Rules

Each team protects 11 players total, one goalie and ten position players. All other players head to the expansion draft pool. A maximum of four players can be selected from any given team, then all other unprotected players from that club return to their original roster. Waterdogs LC Coach Andy Copelan will select a total of 18 players. Rookie holdouts (didn’t appear on travel roster once) and military players are exempt from the expansion draft and automatically protected.

Our Rules

Nobody is safe here. In reality, the chances of guys like Paul Rabil and Kyle Harrison going unprotected are slim to none. But, from what we saw in season one, it’s tough to imagine really reasonably spending a protected slot on guys like that ahead of other middies or two-way personnel on their squads. Two-way middies and transition threats, especially younger ones, are usually going to be priority guys to keep. We also considered the personnel available in the upcoming college draft. We did NOT include rookie holdouts who played in the MLL in 2019, even though they would still be retained by the teams that drafted them.

Archers

Tough Decisions
G Drew Adams, G Adam Ghitelman, A Christian Cuccinello, A/M Joey Sankey, M Ryan Ambler, M Danny Eipp

Noteworthy Possible Departures
D Curtis Corley, D Mike Simon, SSDM Marcus McNeill, FO Stephen Kelly, FO Brendan Fowler

Expansion Draft Exemptions
A Pat Spencer (Rookie Holdout)

Arestia’s Analysis

The Archers have the first overall pick in the college draft, which allows them a great deal of flexibility here. They can decide who they’re drafting and let a player go in that position. For my money, the Archers should plan on taking Yale’s TD Ierlan, a game-breaking faceoff specialist who will allow an Archers offense with serious talent that perhaps adds Pat Spencer to the mix. I could see them drafting a guy like Dox Aitken as well, but that likely doesn’t affect my keeper slots.

The Archers also have two legitimate goalies that can start in the PLL, but the rules stipulate they can only keep one, so it’s more than likely one goes. I’d keep Ghitelman to keep the Utah coaching staff (Ghitelman, Manny, Holman) together, but could be easily persuaded to keep Adams.

Atlas

Tough Decisions
M John Crawley, M Paul Rabil

Noteworthy Possible Departures
G Scott Rodgers, D Noah Richard, M Jake Richard, M Joel Tinney, A Chris Cloutier

Arestia’s Analysis

Two-way middies like Ryan Conrad are too valuable in this league to chance losing, and that makes that possible departure list quite painful. I even considered keeping Richard ahead of McArdle, or dropping Hartzell for Tinney, but the Atlas should have the chance to grab the top player at any field position they like, and that’s a major help. Letting the Richards go feels wrong, but I’m not sure who you drop to make room for them. Rabil is getting high in years, is coming off a year that is far from his best, and has the added responsibilities of being a league operator.

Middies who can play the wing on a faceoff, stay on at either end, and crush transition are what teams will want. Good news for Atlas, with the four-player limit, at least two guys on the above list will be back with the Bulls.

Chaos

Tough Decisions
M Deemer Class, M Kevin Buchanan

Noteworthy Possible Departures
FO Tommy Kelly, D Brodie Merrill, A Curtis Dickson, M Dhane Smith

Expansion Draft Exemptions
LSM Matt Rees (Military), D Johnny Surdick (Military), M Greyson Torain (Military), A Austin Staats (Rookie Holdout)

Arestia’s Analysis

The hardest part of this was letting Brodie Merrill hit the draft pool. Using a protected slot on Merrill though seems terribly short-sighted, even though he was so incredibly valuable as a defensive field general, and is still a machine on ground balls. Letting Kelly go as well is difficult, but with protected spots limited, unless it’s a truly elite faceoff man (i.e. Trevor Baptiste), decisions have to be made to maintain depth.

The idea here was to try and keep the bomb squad together and make sure the transition opportunities continue to come. In that sense, it was actually quite hard to let Kyle McClancy go as well, as he came on at SSDM as the year went on. Curtis Dickson didn’t play a game for the Chaos last summer, reportedly due to injury. Even though his skill set is a great match for this group, it’s tough to protect him when he hasn’t played yet.

Chrome

Tough Decisions
G John Galloway, G Brett Queener, D Joe Fletcher, M Will Haus

Noteworthy Possible Departures
M Max Tuttle, M Matt Danowski, D Ryan Flanagan , D Chris Sabia, FO Drew Simoneau 

Arestia’s Analysis

There are more tough calls here. Truth be told, if it wasn’t required that each team keeps a goalie, I’d be inclined to let both Queener and Galloway go, and perhaps keep another defender (Fletcher if he’s going to play the full schedule), or midfielder (Tuttle for wings and two-way play). Galloway could be protected based on new Chrome LC coach Tim Soudan’s history with him in Rochester, but past loyalties don’t always outweigh recent performance.

Chrome can keep their two hyper-talented attack and use their high draft pick on one of the many attackmen that will be in the collegiate draft. Adding an Ament, Teat, or even Mac O’Keefe to hit some two-pointers for the Chrome would help this team end up on the right side of more close games. They could also draft a defender like Duke’s JT Giles-Harris, who figures to be an immediate impact player.

Redwoods

Tough Decisions
A Matt Kavanagh, SSDM Pat Harbeson

Noteworthy Possible Departures
FO Greg Gurenlian, M Kyle Harrison, M Joe Walters, M Jack Near, A Clarke Petterson

Arestia’s Analysis

The Redwoods lose the most of anyone really in terms of brand names. Gurenlian came out of retirement to join the PLL and suffered some injuries this season, it’s hard to tell how much he has left. Safe to bet it’s not enough to use a protected player slot. Kyle Harrison had a tough shooting season and doesn’t do enough as a two-way middie to warrant protecting. Walters is a close call as well. Truth be told, he or Near is the next man I’d protect in this group.

Matt Kavanagh is, of course, an outstanding lefty finisher, but as we’ve already said, the draft has quite a few quality attackmen, and it’s the easiest place for teams to choose not to protect someone. My protected list keeps the defensive unit that became an absolute monster as the season went on together as well.

Whipsnakes

Tough Decisions
A Ryan Drenner, M John Haus, SSDM Ty Warner

Noteworthy Possible Departures
A Ben Reeves, M Drew Snider, D Tim Muller

Expansion Draft Exemptions
D Foster Huggins (Rookie Holdout), M Brad Smith (Rookie Holdout)  

Arestia’s Analysis

The defending champs are going to get hit incredibly hard by this. Those four listed as possible departures are likely all going to be snatched up, or just about anyone else you want to swap them for from my protected Whipsnakes list, Drew Snider in particular. The biggest challenge here is that, in my list, only one Whipsnakes attackman was kept. Kelly can play at attack, but in terms of that being a listed position, it’s going to be just Rambo back.

As far as I know, Ben Reeves’ long-term plan is still curing cancer (seriously), and pro lacrosse can only intrude on medical school for so long, so best not to use a slot on him. Drenner had a great season, but the Whips have so many guys to keep at midfield, it’s just hard to keep a spot for him and he is a guy that could go unprotected.

What do you think of our protected player rosters? Who do you think your favorite team should keep? Let us know in the comments or on social media @prolacrossetalk on Twitter and Instagram.