The Roughnecks family is about to grow.
Tomorrow, six fresh faces will be added to the Riggers at the 2019 NLL Entry Draft in Philadelphia.
Well, six players in theory – pending any draft-day deals.
Who could forget the wild one the last time around?
To refresh your memory: the Roughnecks acquired forward Jesse King and the 23rd-overall pick at the 2018 NLL Draft from the Georgia Swarm in exchange for forward Holden Cattoni and their seventh-overall pick in a mid-draft transaction.
With two first-round picks at seven and eight this year, Roughnecks GM Mike Board is keeping an open mind when it comes to trades.
“We’re always listening and talking to people, you never know,” he said. “We’ll make trades if it’s going to make our team better.”
Of course, even without any mid-draft deals, the Riggers will be adding some elite young talent regardless.
“There are a lot of good players in the draft,” Board said. “We’ll look to get two players who can jump into our lineup right away during the first round.
“We’ll look on both sides of the ball, too, offence and defence. We’ll have to wait and see who the best available player is when we pick and make a decision there based on our needs.”
And there are definite needs for the Riggers following free agency and the 2019 NLL Expansion Draft.
“You always want to have picks available to fill in gaps that are inevitably going to happen,” Board said of his precious first-round selections. “You’re going to have players move on, you always want to fill in those gaps through the draft. Sometimes it takes time for those draft picks to develop but rather than having to replenish the whole cupboard you just put one cookie back up there at a time.”
The Roughnecks’ 2019 Draft Picks are as follows:
7
8
40
46
76
89
Coverage of the NLL Draft will begin at 4:30 p.m. MT Tuesday on Bleacher Report Live.
To view the free broadcast, click here.
