👀 PLL AWARDS LOOKAHEAD

Heading into the final week of the PLL regular season, there’s not much wiggle room for the eight teams set to clash in Salt Lake City. Six of the seven playoff spots have been clinched, and it would take a miracle for Chrome to overcome their -32 score differential and leap Atlas for the seventh seed.

But when it comes to the individuals on the field, there’s a lot to play for this weekend. The PLL hands out 14 awards at the end of the season, and most of them are still up for grabs at this point.

Last year, the PLL Awards were held the day before the semifinals in Washington D.C. Let’s get the debate started early this year by laying out some of the front-runners in each category…

🏹 Schreiber Eyes First PLL MVP

Tom Schreiber won a pair of MVP awards in the MLL (2016, 2017), but he has never been named MVP of the PLL. This could be his year.

Schreiber is the best player on the best team. His Archers are 8-1 heading into the final week of the regular season, and he has a team-leading 36 points from the midfield.

Although he was the No. 1 player in the PLL Top 50 last season, Schreiber did not start pulling away in the MVP race until recently. Ryder Garnsey looked like the MVP front-runner for the first half of the season, but he hasn’t produced as many highlight-reel moments as of late and his Redwoods are just scraping by.

The Cannons and Waterdogs (both 6-3) are the next best teams in the league, but those squads are so balanced that it’s difficult to identify a single player who is “most valuable” to either team’s overall success.

The rest of the league is below .500 right now, so it would be difficult to justify the MVP coming from any of those squads.

💣 Holman Has Coach of the Year Vibes

When it comes to Coach of the Year, how can you pick anyone other than Brian Holman? He inherited a Cannons team that went 1-9 last year and is now headed to the playoffs.

Holman rebuilt the Cannons largely through free agency. Despite having just two picks in the draft, he hit on midfielder Matt Campbell in the second round and then found an absolute gem in LSM Ethan Rall as an undrafted free agent.

Under Holman’s leadership, the Cannons have fielded the best offense in the PLL with a league-high 128 total scores heading into the final week of play.

Chris Bates is the next best candidate for Coach of the Year, as his Archers also experienced a significant roster overhaul in the offseason and have risen to the top of the league in 2023. Waterdogs head coach Andy Copelan also deserves some credit for coming up with the “prevent” face-off technique, which teams have copied to combat the shorter shot clock.

💨 The Rookie of the Year Race

This one comes down to two primary contenders: Archers face-off athlete Mike Sisselberger and Whipsnakes midfielder Tucker Dordevic.

Sisselberger made a seamless transition to the pros and quickly established himself as one of the league’s best specialists. He currently ranks third in FO% (66.7), behind only Trevor Baptiste and TD Ierlan. He’s also scored three goals and registered one assist.

Dordevic, on the other hand, has been one of the best two-ball shooters this season. He’s tied with Connor Kelly for the most two-point goals in the PLL (5). His 24 points are tied with Mike Chanenchuk for most among the Whipsnakes’ midfielders this season.

Although this was a heavy defensive draft class, a long pole has never won PLL Rookie of the Year. The chances of that changing in 2023 are pretty unlikely.

🔮 Forecasting The Positional Awards

Attackman of the Year: Cannons teammates Asher Nolting and Marcus Holman are the top two candidates for this award. They currently rank first and second in total points and are largely responsible for the team’s offensive efficiency this season.

Midfielder of the Year: This award basically belongs to Tom Schreiber, as he’s won it three of the past four years and is a virtual lock to win it again in 2023. He is the only midfielder who ranks among the top 15 players in points.

Defenseman of the Year: There is no clear front-runner for this award, but Redwoods’ Garrett Epple leads the league in caused turnovers (18). Archers’ Graeme Hossack, Chaos’ Jack Rowlett and Cannons’ Jack Kielty have also been outstanding this season.

LSM of the Year: Michael Ehrhardt of the Whipsnakes has won this award four years in a row. Despite missing some time due to injury, he has seven points and six caused turnovers in seven games played. He’s still the favorite.

SSDM of the Year: Bubba Fairman has come on strong with the Cannons this season and has racked up a ridiculous 13 caused turnovers, but good luck prying this award away from Danny Logan. The standout SSDM for Atlas has claimed it each of the past two seasons and is still dominant.

FO Athlete of the Year: Trevor Baptiste. He’s the reigning MVP and is on pace to shatter the record for best single-season face-off percentage in history (he is currently at 79.1%). The shortened shot clock is a challenge, but Baptiste is doing his part — and more — with seven points for Atlas this season.

Goalie of the Year: This one is tough. Chaos’ Blaze Riorden is a three-time Goalie of the Year and has the most saves this season (122), but he has also allowed the most two-pointers (11). Dillon Ward has the best save percentage (60.5%), but he has only played in five games for Waterdogs. Brett Dobson has started all nine games for Archers and has the best scores against average (10.3) in the league…he may be the eventual winner.

🫡 Don’t Forget These Honors

In addition to the awards outlined above, the PLL also hands out the following honors: Jimmy Regan Teammate of the Year, the Brendan Looney Leadership Award, the Dave Huntley Sportsmanship Award and the Welles Crowther Humanitarian Award.

Since these are not statistically driven, we’ll wait to see who’s up for these awards before we speculate as to who may win them.

📺 PLL Broadcast Info

The PLL is headed to Salt Lake City this weekend. Here’s when and where you can watch the action (Eastern Time):

Friday, August 11
9 p.m. — Archers vs. Waterdogs (ESPN+)
11:30 p.m. — Atlas vs. Redwoods (ESPN2)

Saturday, August 12
8 p.m. — Cannons vs. Whipsnakes (ESPN+)
10:30 p.m. — Chaos vs. Chrome (ESPN+)