ROUGHNECKS PREVIEW 2024-25: Massive changes to roster for NLL season
Dane Dobbie, Curtis Dickson in; Christian Del Bianco, Zach Currier, Shane Simpson, Tyler Pace out
The Calgary Roughnecks look a whole lot different these days.
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And yet, they somehow look somewhat like the National Lacrosse League championship squad of 2019.
Yes … it’s been that kind of an off-season for the transitioning Roughnecks, with enough moves to make your head spin.
A Tilt-a-Whirl ride, really …
Especially when the shift has involved the superstar names of Dane Dobbie, Curtis Dickson, Tyler Pace, Zach Currier and Christian Del Bianco.
“I guess we’re kind of bringing part of the old gang back,” said Roughnecks GM Mike Board, who’s plenty pleased to have brought a pair of legends — in Dobbie and Dickson — back into the fold. “Those are two names that have been in our room, know how to win, know what it takes …
“So to get those two guys back was important for us.”
The nausea, however, has come from the drama that’s unfolded around MVP goalkeeper Christian Del Bianco and offensive wizard Tyler Pace, both currently steering clear of the club, with the Roughnecks set to open the 2024-25 season Saturday against the host Halifax Thunderbirds (3 p.m. MT, TSN).
Combined with the loss of award-winner Currier and fellow transition star Shane Simpson, those happenings have made for quite the roster roller-coaster for the Riggers.
Here’s a look at the Roughnecks — and all the twists and turns of the off-season — heading into the campaign:
DRAMA WITH DEL BIANCO
The 2023 NLL MVP is an unrestricted free agent and made it known — publicly via social media — one week ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline for teams to sign pending UFAs that he would not return to the Roughnecks, in hopes of moving negotiations for a new contract along.
That didn’t stop the Riggers from slapping a franchise tag on their most important player to keep Del Bianco’s rights for at least one more year.
The 27-year-old superstar goalie says he was willing to sign a two-year contract with the Roughnecks at a slightly discounted rate with the caveat that he become a free agent at the end of contract, while the team is opting not to speak publicly about those talks.
So — somehow — here we are with Del Bianco holding out, much to the chagrin of the NLL, the Riggers and the goalie himself.
In lieu of a contract that fits his terms in Calgary, Del Bianco has stated his desire to be traded to the Vancouver Warriors. It’s home for him and would mean a happy reunion with former Roughnecks bench boss and good friend Curt Malawsky, now the Warriors GM/head coach.
But no deal has been worked out in that fashion, either.
That’s all left one of the league’s élite talents sidelined indefinitely, with the Roughnecks able to keep hanging the franchise tag on him for up to five years.
Ouch.
“He obviously let us know that he does not want to play here,” Board said. “So we’re dealing with the guys who are here — not the guys that aren’t.”
PACE NOT PLAYING
Another guy that isn’t with the team is Pace, who sniped 36 goals and counted 86 points for the Roughnecks last season.
The team tabled a qualifying offer to remove the pending restricted free agent from the free agency pool, but the 29-year-old point-producer has yet to accept it and remains estranged from the Riggers.
Pace, who has developed into a major talent for the Roughnecks, is keeping quiet about the situation, as — again — is the team.
DOBBIE, DICKSON BACK
Lost in all the off-floor kerfuffle is the surprising return of icons Dobbie and Dickson to the Roughnecks.
With transition superstar Currier becoming a free agent and Board having to deal also with other UFAs — including Del Bianco, Jeff Cornwall, Josh Currier and Dan Taylor — the Riggers traded him to the San Diego Seals for ‘Superman’ Dickson, a known commodity and a fan favourite around these parts.
What followed a few months later was another fan fave in Dobbie returning to the Roughnecks.
Together, Dobbie and Dickson led the team to the 2019 NLL championship, and them being reunited here — after both taking their game to the Seals three and two years back, respectively — brings back warm fuzzies and positive vibes.
The moves also bring back goal-scoring potential, something the Roughnecks desperately wanted after tying for the league’s third-lowest goals-per-game mark — with 11 — last year.
“It’s huge,” said Roughnecks second-year head coach Josh Sanderson of Dobbie and Dickson. “I coached both of them a couple of years ago in San Diego, and they each had over 100 points. They’ve got good chemistry, and they’re good leaders.
“We did feel we needed to get better offensively,” continued Sanderson, whose Roughnecks chose offensive talent Brayden Mayea — fifth overall — in the 2024 NLL Draft and plucked near-goal-a-game-guy Matheiu Gautier in the Panther City Lacrosse Club dispersal draft. “So we brought in some more goal-scorers. In our opinion, we think we’ve added some offence.”
MORE DEALS
That wasn’t the only wheeling and dealing done by the Roughnecks in the off-season.
A trade of youngster Seth Van Schepen to the Georgia Swarm brought back a dispersal draft pick used to grab goalie Cam Macleod, who joins 2024 draftee Colby Bowman to guard the Riggers goal. Without Del Bianco, the goaltending game experience for the team is nearly none.
They also traded away NLL Transition of the Year finalist Shane Simpson, who led the league’s defenders in goals — with 16 — during the 2023-24 campaign.
He was looking for a big bump in salary, but with all the pay raises in play, difficult decisions had to be made by the Roughnecks, who got 22-year-old defenceman Griffin Hall, an up-and-comer in the NLL, for Simpson in a deal with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs.
Without Simpson, Del Bianco and Zach Currier, the Riggers’ high-powered transition game is bound to take a hit.
But the team is preaching the power of upgrades in all the other areas of the game.
“We wanted to get more defensive,” said Sanderson, a defensive coach himself. “We still want our transition game, but I thought we pushed for our transition game more than we needed to, and it got us in trouble.
“We want to be known for a good five-on-five defence and then push the ball, and everybody’s going to have the green light. It’s just defence first, and we get our offence organically. We want to be good in every area.”
They simply want to be better than their 8-10 record of last year that left them outside of the playoffs.
“We’re gonna have high expectations on ourselves,” added Sanderson. “But we’ve got to play a certain way to win. The first thing we got to do is quit turning the ball over like we have so much the last few years. So we have to value the ball more — when we have it, they’re not scoring. I think we have to clean up that first and foremost. Because turning the ball over was a problem, not only last year but years before.”
2024-25 ROUGHNECKS ROSTER
IN: G Colby Bowman (2024 NLL Draft); G Cam Macleod (acquired in a trade with the Georgia Swarm for a pick in the Panther City Lacrosse Club dispersal draft); D Jack Follows (2024 NLL Draft); D Griffin Hall (acquired in a trade with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs); D John Lintz (unrestricted free agent); D Luke Williams (2024 Draft); T Caelan Mander (acquired in a trade with the Halifax Thunderbirds); D Justin Morgan (claimed in the Panther City dispersal draft); F Matt Abbott (unrestricted free agent); F Curtis Dickson (acquired in a trade with the San Diego Seals); F Dane Dobbie (unrestricted free agent); F Austin Ducommun (2024 NLL Draft); F Mathieu Gautier (claimed in Panther City dispersal draft); F Nathaniel Kozevnikov (unrestricted free agent); F Brayden Mayea (2024 NLL Draft).
RETURNING: D Reece Callies; D Liam LeClair; D Kieran McKay; D Eli Salama; D Bennett Smith; T Robert Hudson; T Justin Inacio; T Harrison Matsuoka; T Ethan Ticehurst; F Tanner Cook; F Haiden Dickson; F Riley Isaacs; F Jesse King; F Brett McIntyre.
OUT: G Steve Fryer (unrestricted free agent); G Adam Bland (unrestricted free agent); T Jeff Cornwall (unrestricted free agent, signed with the Vancouver Warriors); T Zach Currier (traded to San Diego); T Shawn Simpson (traded to Las Vegas); F Josh Currier (unrestricted free agent, signed with the Ottawa Black Bears); F Thomas Hoggarth (traded to Halifax); F Logan Schuss (unrestricted free agent); F Dan Taylor (unrestricted free agent, signed with Las Vegas); F Seth Van Schepen (traded to Georgia).
HOLD OUT: G Christian Del Bianco (franchise tag).
PROTECTED: F Tyler Pace (restricted free agent).
INJURED RESERVE: Hudson (upper body); McKay (upper body).
PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO PERFORM: LeClair (lower body), Williams (upper body).
PRACTICE ROSTER: Abbott; Ducommon; Isaacs; Morgan.
2024 DRAFTEES: Bowman; Ducommun; Follows; Mayea; Williams.
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