Go! ‘Necks! Go!

In the past week there has been quite a few trades between many of the teams in the National Lacrosse League. This was to be expected after the expansion draft where Chicago and New York ended up shaking more than a couple teams’ rosters. With the expansion draft firmly out of the way and the entry draft coming up in less than a month, many teams are jockeying to gain some of the experienced players as well as lining up their picks to get the most out of the entry draft.

Calgary Roughneck fans have been treated to a few different trades and a surprise or two during the expansion draft this year. First we lost Curtis Palidwor to New York and Callum Crawford to Chicago, followed by a trade sending Kevin Dostie to Buffalo for Jeff Shattler. Most recently we saw a trade that gave away our 3rd round draft pick to the Portland Lumberjax in return for former Roughneck Shawn Cable.

Personal thoughts on the trades so far

Unfortunately I don’t follow much lacrosse other than the NLL yet so at this time trading off draft picks doesn’t bother me too much — unless we’re talking about a 1st round pick for a third seat goal-tender. I do feel hurt when a young, talented player like Callum Crawford is left for the wolves during the expansion draft and a key workhorse — and quickly becoming a favorite player to watch — like Kevin Dostie is traded.

As an interesting little tid-bit, I found out today that Callum Crawford is moving back to the west. The San Jose Stealth have traded defenceman Cam Woods to Chicago for Crawford. So even though he won’t be playing for us at least we’ll have the opportunity to see him play.

As mentioned before, the most trouble I’m having is understanding what General Manger Kurt Silcott is trying to accomplish this year with the roster. Some players that we either haven’t used or were intent on retiring — or have been plagued with injuries — were protected, while younger, eager players that can be molded into championship caliber players were let go.

More will become clear after the free agent signing and entry draft — both of which are coming up, check the countdown in the sidebar. Whether I truly agree with the decisions made so far or not, I’m definitely looking forward to the Roughnecks taking the cup in 2007.