PLL Protected Player Roster Projections

Atlas LC

Adam

  1. FO – Trevor Baptiste
  2. A- Chris Cloutier
  3. A – Eric Law
  4. A – Ryan Brown
  5. M – Connor Buczek
  6. M – Bryan Costabile
  7. M – John Crawley
  8. M – Romar Dennis
  9. M – Jake Richard
  10. LSM – Craig Chick
  11. D – Cade van Raaphorst
  12. D – Tucker Durkin
  13. D – Austin Pifani
  14. G – Jack Concannon

Hutton

  1. FO – Trevor Baptiste
  2. A- Chris Cloutier
  3. A – Eric Law
  4. A – Ryan Brown
  5. M – Connor Buczek
  6. M – Bryan Costabile
  7. M – John Crawley
  8. M – Romar Dennis
  9. M – Jake Richard
  10. M – Paul Rabil
  11. LSM – Craig Chick
  12. D – Cade van Raaphorst
  13. D – Tucker Durkin
  14. G – Jack Concannon

Possible Departures: Aidan Hynes (D), Austin Piffani (D), Joel Tinney (M), Kevin Unterstein (M), Paul Rabil (M)

Is Paul Rabil a part of Coach Ben Rubeor’s plans for the Atlas? (Photo courtesy of the PLL)

Overview

Ben Rubeor showed his hand early by releasing Jeremy Thompson, Kyle Hartzell, Scott Rodgers and Callum Robinson rather than just leaving them unprotected. However, the odds are very slim that any of them would have been drafted in the PLL Expansion Draft anyway with the exception of possibly Kyle Hartzell (still a longshot), so releasing guys early doesn’t really affect our predictions. However, the move does shed some light on the new direction Ben Rubeor intends to take the Atlas in 2021, and while the 2021 Atlas protected roster is fairly easy to predict, there could still be some major shakeups on the horizon.

Adam

I know a lot of people enjoy bashing on the Atlas, but I think the bones are here to compete this season, even with the subtraction of Rob Pannell. The suggestion of competing next year somewhat contradicts the exclusion of Paul Rabil on my list for say Jake Richard. While I think Coach Ben Rubeor has every intention to win next season, I think the Pannell trade suggests that he may be looking to go in a different direction. (Okay, he probably keeps Rabil.)

Hutton

It is clear Ben Rubeor is planning to go younger with the Bulls in 2021, yet I still think Paul Rabil and his veteran presence has a home on this roster. Rabil is coming off a mediocre 2019 and truly abysmal 2020 (though the sample size is much smaller). Yet, I believe Rabil can still hang with the best of them, albeit in maybe a different role than in the past. I think Rubeor chooses to protect Rabil over Austin Pifani (and maybe targets a Ben Randall, Liam Byrnes or Michael Rexrode in the draft), and I think he does so as a lacrosse move, not a PR move.

Pro Lacrosse Talk was created by Adam Moore and Hutton Jackson, two former NCAA athletes and lifetime lacrosse fans who recognized the need for a news source devoted solely to professional lacrosse. The Pro Lacrosse Talk podcast is the first and only podcast covering all four professional lacrosse leagues (MLL, NLL, PLL, WPLL) and prolacrossetalk.com is the main source for pro lacrosse breaking news stories, featured articles on players, and fantasy lacrosse challenges.

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Further reading

2023 PLL College Draft Grades & Recap

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2023 Mock PLL College Draft

The 2023 Premier Lacrosse League College Draft is almost here and there’s nothing more fun than speculating about which PLL prospect will land where. I try my hand at mock draft and give my predictions for who each PLL team will select in each round–including some potential trades. PLL...

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