The PLL Expansion Draft is almost here, and Coach Sean Quirk has both easy and hard decisions to make when crafting his 18-player (plus Paul Rabil) Cannons LC roster. So we decided to take a look at the players left off their team’s protected player rosters and make our predictions for who Coach Quirk will select.
Archers LC
PLL Expansion Draft Overview
There weren’t too many surprises with the Archers roster. Neither of us thought Coach Chris Bates would protect Stephen Kelly, but we weren’t shocked when he did either. Faceoff talent is hard to come by and only Max Adler and Alex Woodall would really be seen as an upgrade at the stripe if the Archers opted to select a faceoff specialist in the entry draft. As we expected, Coach Bates also left several of his poles unprotected, with the ability to bring a few of them back due to the three-player maximum or even upgrade on defense with the second pick in the PLL Entry Draft.
The biggest shock (at least for Hutton) was Adam Ghitelman being left off the protected roster. Ghitelman has been very vocal on social media that he won’t play for any team other than the Archers, yet that doesn’t necessarily stop Coach Sean Quirk from selecting him and trading him back to the Archers in return for a draft pick or two.
Coach Quirk will also likely target Mike Simon and/or Curtis Corley, both solid poles that can step in a perform seamlessly. The versatile Joey Sankey could also be on his radar. Sankey can play attack or midfield and found success in 2019 with the Redwoods before injuries and the addition of Jules Heningburg led to his trade to the Archers and ultimately a more limited role. Josh Currier also played well enough last season to deserve a look, but his chances of being drafted are slimmer.
