A Washington Stealth Fan Blog
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Wow, three of the first five picks belonged to the Stealth. And we took two American field players and lost Luke Wiles. Luke was a perfect compliment to Jeff Zywicki’s game. But, I think Peter Veltman can play that same role, especially since he knows he’s not a rental player this year but on the team because the Stealth really want him. We’ll miss you Luke. Good luck in Toronto, I’m glad you’re not in the West.
Here’s what I see happening. Paul Rabil plays outdoor for the Boston Cannons. I believe the Stealth really wanted Daryl Veltman, Peter’s brother, but couldn’t get the #1 pick. So maybe the Stealth picked up Rabil to package up to send to Boston to get the younger Veltman and unite the brothers. The draft analysis on nllinsider.com made it sound like the New York Titans also had lots of interest in Rabil. So maybe Rabil goes to New York and the Stealth can pick up Jarrett Park, I don’t think Rabil is worth picking up a British Columbia player like Jordan Hall. Either way I think it’s 50/50 that Rabil actually belongs to the Stealth when the season starts.
Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t want Rabil around at all. He’s a BEAST, having him in the Stealth line up would make the team more athletic. It’s just that Rabil wasn’t on my radar because he’s an American east coast player and they Stealth have committed to drafting guys that are willing to relocate to San Jose during the season. So based on that, there is a either a trade already setup or Rabil is willing to relocate to SJ.
The second Stealth pick was a young Canadian shooter named Rhys Duch. His selection was not a surprise. I was expecting Rhys and Curtis Manning to be the Stealth’s picks at #2 and #3. I don’t know much about Rhys because he’s been playing in BC and those games aren’t shown on TV like the college or MLL games that Rabil’s been playing in. The only thing I’ve heard about Rhys since the draft is from the NLL forums on Wingszone.com where someone from BC is saying the Rhys is a whiny player who won’t report to San Jose because he wasn’t even willing to play for Langley in BC. Rhys will hold out and only play with his boys in Calgary. I think the guy who said that is an idiot. If Langley and San Jose are too far away then how is Calgary not too far away? I could totally be wrong, but I doubt GM Johnny Mouradian would draft a guy at #3 without even talking to him to see if he’s willing to come play for your team.
Rounding out the top 5 was Kevin Huntley of Johns Hopkins and the LA Riptide of the MLL. Huntley is Canadian born and his father is the coach of the Philadelphia Wings. Huntley is also a left sniper, so he’s a good commodity to have around. NLL Insider ranked Huntley as a top 10 prospect and figured he’d be around for Philly to select at #9 to unite father and son. But it didn’t work out that way, Huntley is now going to play all his pro ball in California. OR he’ll head out east to Philly in a trade. Off the top of my head I can’t think of anyone on the Philly roster the Stealth are interested in picking up. The Wings did draft San Francisco Dragon Matt Lalli in the 4th or 5th round, which I think was a response to the Stealth picking Huntley in the 1st round. But Lalli and Who from the Wings for Huntley (and maybe someone else in a package deal) is something I feel could happen, but I can’t figure out any specifics.
What has been constant this summer is that the Stealth are cleaning house to build a new roster for new coach Jeff Dowling. From where I’m sitting it appears that there are some guys on the ’08 Stealth roster that Dowling feels we don’t need around to take the next step. And the only step left to take is winning the NLL Championship. The roster turn over is shocking. A top 20 league scorer is gone. The best goalie in the world is gone. Two defenders who played in just about every game are gone. Another lefty forward that’s played his whole career and *lives in San Jose* is gone. The amount of change the Stealth are making is scaring me. I feel it’ll take a year to work everything out and get the three rookies up to speed.
My faith in the team isn’t wavering, but I’m starting to lower my expectations until I see what the roster looks like on opening day. I don’t want a team that’s being built to compete in 2010 when they already had the best record in the West in 2008.
No matter what the Stealth end up doing with these picks, at least they’re not the Colorado Mammoth who spent their one first round pick on an unproven field player Matt Danowski of Duke and New Jersey Pride. (The Stealth did this with Ryan Boyle in ’05 and it worked out well for one season, but then everyone figured him out and he has not been as stellar since). I just love to bash the Mammoth.