2016 NLL season

The 2016 National Lacrosse League season, the 30th in the history of the NLL,[1] began on January 1, 2016,[2] and ended with the Champion's Cup Finals series on June 4, 2016. The Saskatchewan Rush won their 2nd straight title; their first while located in Saskatchewan.

2016 NLL season
League	National Lacrosse League
Sport	Indoor lacrosse
Duration	January 1 – June 4, 2016
Number of games	18
Number of teams	9
Regular Season
Top seed	Buffalo Bandits
Season MVP	Dhane Smith
Top scorer	Dhane Smith
Playoffs
Eastern champions	Buffalo Bandits
Eastern runners-up	New England Black Wolves
Western champions	Saskatchewan Rush
Western runners-up	Calgary Roughnecks
Finals
Champions	Saskatchewan Rush
Runners-up	Buffalo Bandits
Finals MVP	Aaron Bold

Milestones and events

Pre-season

• May 29, 2015: The Minnesota Swarm announce that they would move to the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia as the Georgia Swarm.[3]
• July 20, 2015: The Edmonton Rush announce that they would move to the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as the Saskatchewan Rush.[4]
• September 2, 2015: Buffalo Bandits forward John Tavares announced his retirement after 24 seasons. Tavares is the career leader in goals, assists, points, and games played. He will remain with the Bandits organization as an assistant coach.[5]

Standings

Reference: [6]

East Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Buffalo Bandits – xyz	18	13	5	.722	0.0	8–1	5–4	251	214	+37	13.94	11.89
2	New England Black Wolves – x	18	10	8	.556	3.0	6–3	4–5	229	212	+17	12.72	11.78
3	Georgia Swarm – x	18	8	10	.444	5.0	4–5	4–5	238	240	-2	13.22	13.33
4	Rochester Knighthawks	18	7	11	.389	6.0	3–6	4–5	200	215	-15	11.11	11.94
5	Toronto Rock	18	5	13	.278	8.0	4–5	1–8	190	224	-34	10.56	12.44

West Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Saskatchewan Rush – xy	18	13	5	.722	0.0	7–2	6–3	233	190	+43	12.94	10.56
2	Colorado Mammoth – x	18	12	6	.667	1.0	8–1	4–5	203	202	+1	11.28	11.22
3	Calgary Roughnecks – x	18	8	10	.444	5.0	5–4	3–6	216	216	0	12.00	12.00
4	Vancouver Stealth	18	5	13	.278	8.0	4–5	1–8	198	245	-47	11.00	13.61

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played
W: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed
Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

Playoffs

Division semifinals

Division finals (3-game series)

Finals (3-game series)

East Division

E1

Buffalo

2

E2

New England

14*

E2

New England

0

E3

Georgia

13

W1

Saskatchewan

2

E1

Buffalo

0

West Division

W1

Saskatchewan

2

W2

Colorado

10

W3

Calgary

0

W3

Calgary

11*

*Overtime

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Other Finalists
Most Valuable Player	Dhane Smith, Buffalo	Shawn Evans, New England Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan[7]
Goaltender of the Year	Evan Kirk, New England	Nick Rose, Toronto Dillon Ward, Colorado[8]
Defensive Player of the Year	Ryan Dilks, Saskatchewan	Chris Corbeil, Saskatchewan Steve Priolo, Buffalo[9]
Transition Player of the Year	Brad Self, Rochester	Jordan MacIntosh, Georgia Jeremy Thompson, Saskatchewan[10]
Rookie of the Year	Randy Staats, Georgia	Wesley Berg, Calgary Jesse King, Georgia[11]
Sportsmanship Award	Ben McIntosh, Saskatchewan	Karsen Leung, Calgary Kiel Matisz, Georgia[12]
GM of the Year	Steve Dietrich, Buffalo	John Arlotta, Georgia Rich Lisk, New England[13]
Les Bartley Award	Glenn Clark, New England	Troy Cordingley, Buffalo Derek Keenan, Saskatchewan[14]
Executive of the Year Award	Lee Genier, Saskatchewan	Mike French, New England Scott Loffler, Buffalo[15]
Teammate of the Year Award	Mike Poulin, Calgary	Joel McCready, Vancouver Andrew Watt, Buffalo[16]
Air Canada Wingman of the Year Award	Callum Crawford, Colorado	Rob Hellyer, Toronto Dhane Smith[17]
Tom Borrelli Award	Teddy Jenner, ILIndoor.com[18]

Monthly awards

Awards are presented monthly for the best overall player and best rookie.

Month	Overall	Rookie
January[19]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Randy Staats- Georgia Swarm
February[20]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Jesse King- Georgia Swarm
March[21]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Wesley Berg- Calgary Roughnecks
April[22]	Rob Hellyer- Toronto Rock	Randy Staats- Georgia Swarm

Stadiums and locations

Buffalo Bandits	Georgia Swarm	New England Black Wolves	Rochester Knighthawks	Toronto Rock
KeyBank Center	Infinite Energy Arena	Mohegan Sun Arena	Blue Cross Arena	Air Canada Centre
Capacity: 19,070	Capacity: 11,355	Capacity: 7,700	Capacity: 11,200	Capacity: 18,819

Calgary Roughnecks	Colorado Mammoth	Saskatchewan Rush	Vancouver Stealth
Scotiabank Saddledome	Pepsi Center	SaskTel Centre	Langley Events Centre
Capacity: 19,289	Capacity: 18,007	Capacity: 15,190	Capacity: 5,276

See also

• 2016 in sports

References

1. "NLL announces 30th Anniversary Team countdown". NLL.com. November 13, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
2. "League announces 2016 NLL regular season schedule". NLL.com. September 27, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
3. "Swarm Announce Relocation to Metro-Atlanta Area". NLL.com. May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
4. "Rush announce relocation to Saskatchewan". NLL.com. July 20, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
5. "Bandits legend Tavares retires after 24-year NLL career". NLL.com. September 2, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
6. "NLL Standings". NLL.com. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
7. "2016 NLL Most Valuable Player award finalists". NLL.com. June 30, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
8. "2016 NLL Goaltender of the Year award finalists". NLL.com. June 2, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
9. "2016 NLL Defensive Player of the Year award finalists". NLL.com. June 21, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
10. "2016 NLL Transition Player of the Year finalists". NLL.com. June 23, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
11. "2016 NLL Rookie of the Year finalists". NLL.com. June 29, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
12. "2016 NLL Sportsmanship Award finalists". NLL.com. June 20, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
13. "2016 NLL GM of the Year finalists". NLL.com. June 28, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
14. "2016 NLL Head Coach of the Year finalists". NLL.com. June 27, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
15. "2016 NLL Executive of the Year finalists". NLL.com. July 7, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
16. "2016 NLL Teammate of the Year finalists". NLL.com. July 5, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
17. "2016 NLL Air Canada Wingman of the Year finalists". NLL.com. July 6, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
18. "Teddy Jenner named 2016 NLL Media Person of the year". NLL.com. July 11, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
19. "Bandits' Dhane Smith wins Player of the Month for January". NLL.com. February 5, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
20. "Bandits' Smith repeats as NLL Player of the Month". NLL.com. March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
21. "Bandits' Smith wins third-straight Player of the Month award". NLL.com. April 1, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
22. "Rock's Hellyer wins NLL Player of the Month for April". NLL.com. May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2016.