Premier Lacrosse Draft Recap

The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) draft was held on Tuesday, May 6 with the Philadelphia Waterdogs holding the No. 1 pick. 

The Waterdogs - to absolutely no one's surprise - took Cornell's CJ Kirst with the first pick. 

I think many of the teams had a solid night on draft night. There were also some surprises. Let's break it down.

Who did Well

First, I think the California Redwoods nailed their first three picks. Granted it's hard to mess up having three top-10 picks. The fact that they got Chris Kavanagh at No. 10 while also getting Andrew McAdorey and Sam English was an A+ job. 

I like the Atlas building through the midfield with this draft. That was a strategy that former head coach Ben Rubeor loved. Getting Matt Traynor at No. 8 was probably a dream scenario for Mike Pressler, and then he added Max Krevsky out of Yale in the second round. I also love the value of taking Hugh Kelleher in the fourth round. There are some concerns he will choose football, but Pressler seemed to indicate he expects Kelleher to be available to New York. 

The Denver Outlaws had a nice draft too. They wanted to get younger at the defensive end, and they did that. 

People Are Divided

The Carolina Chaos had one of the more intriguing drafts. They took Owen Hiltz at No. 8 after trading down from fifth. What the details of the trade were outside of the swap, I'm not sure we ever found out. The Chaos had two picks in the teens, where they took a pair of long poles. Paul Carcaterra and Ryan Boyle had a lot of issue with the picks because defense is the Chaos' strength. For me, this feels like a wait and see situation. If the Chaos know they are going to be without a few of their poles this summer, even part time, the selections of Levi Verch and Jack McDonald could make more sense. We just won't know until corresponding moves are (potentially) made. 

Sliders

Chris Kavanagh slid to 10 after being a projected top-5 pick. He had been mocked to the Redwoods with either of their top-3 picks, or to Chaos at fifth. He went to Redwoods, but not in round one. 

The bigger slide came from Ben Wayer. The once long projected first round prospect went in the third round. If there was a Shedeur Sanders type of slide in this draft, it was Wayer. It got to a point where someone on X questioned what Wayer had done to slide so far. 


Taking The Field With Stevie Mac: Join Steven MacDonald and guests as they talk about the Premier Lacrosse League, Women's Lacrosse League, and college lacrosse. Fantasy lacrosse, lacrosse betting, and all the latest news in one place! Listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, IHeart Radio, TuneIn, Audacy, and others!

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