National Lacrosse League Week 16 Power Rankings and NLL Projections

Toronto and Albany appeared poised for strong finishes to their seasons despite their playoff hopes being slim. The Rock offense is good enough to still win games against the mid-tier teams and Albany’s defense is finally playing well enough to help their offense. While you should avoid any futures on these teams at this point, don’t discount these teams on a game-by-game basis based on their records. They’re playing better than some of the teams ahead of them in the standings…

And by “some teams” I’m referring to the Wings and Black Bears, who have proven that they’re the same old disappointing teams we’ve come to know the past two seasons. The Wings were winning games thanks to their high-powered offense, but that group has struggled lately and it’s exposed their major issues on defense. Their success has also been predicated on an efficient offense given that they’re constantly losing the possession battle without a dedicated faceoff specialist. I liked the trades for Chris Corbeil and Mitch De Snoo, but I’m still not confident this team can make the playoffs at this point.

As for a former Wing… poor Zach Higgins. He’s having a career year, but this Ottawa offense has looked so vanilla that little of Higgins’ success has translated to team success. This team would be so much worse without him. Ottawa could still be considered a bubble team based on their place in the standings, but their trade deadline moves were severely underwhelming. Travis Longboat and Sam LaRoue do nothing for me in the short-term and I think the loss of Kiel Matisz and Ron John outweigh these additions. I wouldn’t touch this team and they shouldn’t be favored over anybody but Las Vegas,