NEWS ITEM: The Vancouver Stealth traded for left-handed sniper Corey Small Monday, sending 2016 and 2019 first-round draft picks to Edmonton Rush in return.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?: Teams generally use 10 defenders and six forwards on game nights, but Stealth general manager Doug Locker says Vancouver will go 9-and-7 for their next game, a Saturday visit to the Colorado Mammoth.
History suggests the 9-and-7 can’t last long. It puts too much pressure on the guys coming out the back gate, especially those asked to spearhead the transition game. More than one member of the Stealth organization said that part of their 20-11 loss to the Toronto Rock in the home opener was tied to losing defender Tyler Garrison to injury in the first half and going the remainder of the evening with nine defenders.
As well, Vancouver’s invested heavily in Small and fellow southpaw Johnny Powless, who was part of an off-season deal that saw 2015 and 2017 first rounders go to the Rochester Knighthawks. You want them on the floor as much as they can handle, and that won’t happen with seven forwards.
Playing this out then and assuming the teams goes back to 10-and-6, the Stealth will either shift a forward to a checker spot, or one of them loses their post in the line-up and becomes an extra player or is moved out in some way completely.
Their new seven-man offensive group includes four lefties. One of them, Cliff Smith, has played the defensive end some in summers with the Western Lacrosse Association’s New Westminster Salmonbellies, and he went out the back gate against the Rock after missing the season opener against the Calgary Roughnecks with a lower body injury.
Vancouver could use help defensively. They’ve allowed 57 shots a game, and you’re seeing far too many highlights with Stealth goalie Tyler Richards and an opposing shooter and no checker in the vicinity.
Locker did say Monday that part of the reason that he added offence rather than defence is that he believes once the injuries to the back end clear up the group will be more than capable. Along with Garrison (lower body injury), Vancouver is without defenders Chris O’Dougherty (lower body injury) and Rory Smith (upper body injury). Locker expects at least one of the trio back for their Jan. 31 home game versus Colorado, although he didn’t name which player.
Also going against the idea of moving Cliff Smith to the back end is that Vancouver lacked cohesion and precision with their offence in their first two games and the thinking in their group was that missing Smith was a factor in that. He’s a banger and a crasher capable of creating space for his teammates, much like righty Joel McCready does on his side of the floor.
If Smith stays up front, the bullseye falls directly on fellow southpaw Lewis Ratcliff if the Stealth opt to drop to six forwards. The Stealth will go with equal numbers on the two sides, so they aren’t about to toy with the righty group of McCready, Rhys Duch and
Tyler Digby. As well, Powless and Small are line-up locks. Ratcliff is a likely NLL hall of famer. He became the ninth player in league history to pass the 900-point plateau last season. He is coming off the least productive campaign of his 12-year NLL career, one in which he scored 23 goals and team brass were openly critical of the club’s lefty offensive players.
He started slowly this season, with two goals on 27 shots in his first two games, but he had hat trick on nine shots in last Saturday’s 14-13 loss to the Buffalo Bandits.
