First, we got some important clarity this week from Joe Keegan.
Last year, the awards were announced on September 18th. Even if someone goes off in the playoffs or disappears, said performance won’t be considered.
What about Lyle?
Considering there are only eight teams, maybe we should be more willing to look at Lyle Thompson, the best player on the worst team in league.
The other day Lyle showed up to an indoor game. He scored two goals. His team lost 12-5. That won’t have anything to do with PLL MVP voting. Still curious that he has been snake bitten this year. He scored 102 points for the Swarm this winter which was fifth most in the league. The Swarm were 9-9 and failed to make the playoffs.
Thread continued:
In the NBA, they sometimes don’t name the rightful MVP if he won it recently. Didn’t Russell Westbrook have better stats the year after he won the MVP and they didn’t give it to him? They gave him the MVP because of his stats the year before no?
Have you ever been to an end of year awards banquet? No matter how the team finishes, the coaches award a most improved player, position of the year, and MVP.
0-12 we’re giving out awards
1-15 we’re giving out awards
And that is great because those kids deserve recognition even if it is just by their coaches. It means a lot to them and their parents.
On a grander scale, Lyle Thompson is absolutely the MVP of the Cannons. He kept the team relevant until the final weekend of the regular season, he was fabulous to watch without fail, and leads the league in points.
44 points
26 goals on 66 shots 39% shooting
18 assists
He never had less than 3 points in a game.
He never scored less than 2 goals in a game.
Can’t fault his turnover numbers. He’s the primary ball carrier and always had to make something happen for his squad. He only took one penalty for 30 seconds.
Unlike prime Westbrook, Thompson got his stats without home town cooking and whatever the lacrosse equivalent is of stealing rebounds from your bigs. It would be difficult for us to vote the best player on the worst team the league MVP but if it happens, be glad it’s Lyle.
We wrote that thread two days ago. This morning, we’re wondering once again can you really give the league MVP to the league leader in points who only has two more points than second place and he didn’t help his team get into the playoffs when seven of the eight teams make the post season?
Could it be Baptiste?
Like Lyle, Baptiste is by far the most important piece of his roster.
We included him a few times in our MVP power rankings.
But then, the Atlas almost won their game he didn’t play due to injury. In fact, they should have beaten the Redwoods.
And then we remembered, a face off man’s impact is dulled a bit by the shot clock. Look at the Chaos winning in the title in 2021. They’ve never had great or even good face off play.
The bigger reason we can’t vote for a faceoff man as league MVP is, he doesn’t play the entire game. You could make the argument that goalies only see half the game action and further a goalie like Bernlohr might see less time than others due to Nardella’s impact at the faceoff stripe.
However, goalies log a lot more minutes than a face off man.
Bernlohr’s Case Powered by Blaze Riorden’s 2021 MVP
Riorden led the Chaos to a 4-5 regular season record.
He had a 61% save percentage and made 149 saves. His single game percentage never dipped below 54%. He peaked at 67% making 20 saves that game.
Bernlohr’s Whipsnakes are 9-1 and earned the bye. Bernlohr is checking in at 58% with 124 saves. Although he recorded two games at 40%, he also has one game at 70% and two games at 72%.
The Whipsnakes are 4-1 in games decided by one goal. They are 3-0 in games decided by two goals.
If you gave Riorden the regular season MVP last year, how can you not turn around and give it to Bernlohr in 2022?
Perhaps by Riorden winning the MVP on a team with a losing record that might actually suggest the league would be willing to give the MVP to Lyle.
