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Aaron Pascas didn't lead Toronto in scoring last year, but his role was critical and today, it's missed. (Photo: Toronto Star)

Lately, we have seen the ups and downs of some of our premier National Lacrosse League offensive teams. While some like Colorado seem to be firing on all cylinders, others like the Toronto Rock were recently finding it tough to get in a groove, even on the power play. The Rock have added Dan Carey and Josh Sanderson to their left side for 2012 while subtracting Aaron Pascas. Colin Doyle was posting his regular points-per-game until he went down early Friday night and Stephan LeBlanc managed a goal in each of two weekend games after suffering without a goal though his first two NLL contests. The Rock power play was a horrid in those same two games but returned with a vengeance to catapult the team to a victorious weekend. So while many may say that the Rock have figured out the offensive formula and are now on track I say hold on just a second.

Colin Doyle went down early on Friday night and didn’t return for the rest of the weekend. Sanderson immediately took charge of the PP and the offense and suddenly everything clicked. Sanderson went on to score six goals in two games and the power play was 7-for-11 tries with him in take-charge mode.

I can’t say that the Rock are better without Colin Doyle in the lineup. I can say that when the Boston Blazers folded and Josh Sanderson became available, it wasn’t a trade of necessity since the Rock had already acquired Dan Carey earlier in the summer. All of a sudden the Rock may have gotten too much of a good thing.

So what do I think is missing? Aaron Pascas. Because Aaron Pascas is there to make others successful and get dirty, over and over again. No one in the Toronto Rock dressing room picked up a game sheet last year and said “Pascas had no points tonight, that’s the reason we lost.” Aaron Pascas didn’t show up at the rink and think he needed to put up 5 points for the Rock to be successful or to maintain his position in the starting lineup. What Aaron Pascas brought to the Toronto Rock’s championship run of 2011 was the good work of a defined role player. The guy there to be unselfish and make others look good.

Head over to Denver and the addition to Sean Pollock to the Mammoth roster. I know from insider knowledge that Sean was asked to do less for himself the past few seasons in Minnesota, as a way for the team to do more. I asked Sean to go out and create space and protect Aaron Wilson and Callum Crawford. “Get the loosies in the corners, the rebounds and reset the clock and keep the offense out there longer with your concentrated effort” is what I said to Sean. Literally I had to state to the man “not to worry” about points or his numbers at the end of the season for contract time. Pollock went from an average of 4.33 PPG in 2009 to only 9 goals and 1.68 PPG in 2011 but the Swarm win total went up.

Much the same went on with Kevin Ross and Ryan Benesch. Ask some defenders around the league who they don’t like playing against and Kevin Ross’s name is gonna come up more often than not. I once had an ex player I managed come up to me after an NLL contest telling me that Ross was “gonna get it.” Seems Ross had set a pick that said player was none too happy about, which is why Kevin Ross is a valuable NLL commodity. While Ross was down six goals in 2011 from 2010 Ryan Benesch was up sixteen! Look no further than Benesch’s 5-on-5 success the past two seasons as reason that every team needs a role player like Kevin Ross.

So as Rhys Duch continues to struggle to find his groove without Craig Conn and now Jeff Zywicki, it may be a mystery to the casual fan. But behind closed doors in Washington, they know they have to get someone with the ability not available to them with Zywicki on the shelf. This also brings about a question I had to ask myself. If the two teams that faced off in last years championship don’t get things corrected soon will they reach out to the players that were on the floor last May at the ACC? I’m sure they haven’t lost Conn’s or Pascas’s phone numbers.

The tragedy or having an injury such as the one Craig Conn incurred a few years back is heartbreaking for these lacrosse guys who don’t have million dollar contracts and can only play now and be here in the moment. It was nice to see Craig reinvent himself and contribute to such a high end team in 2011 and even better to see him having fun accepting such a role.

I saw one other player who fit this same description last year: Kaleb Toth. He was not always the guy blasting away on the power play or the guy someone else was giving the ball late in the shot clock. Instead Toth was clearing traffic and getting time and space for others while being a firm contributor to one of the best seasons in Roughnecks history.

Again Toth dropped his PPG from 5.0 in 2009 to 3.31 in 2011. With the additions of rookie of the year Curtis Dickson and wheeler-dealer Cory Conway to the Calgary right side, Kaleb changed his priorities and all were the better for it.

So with these anecdotal stories come the coaching challenges of juggling lineups in the NLL. Who buys in and who will sacrifice for the better of the team. Sounds easy right?

Take a look at last years Boston Blazer offense. On paper, brilliant. In action, lost. Without going into detail, it was a simple case of too many cooks in the kitchen. They needed a few more prep guys and one or two less A-1 guys.

As I look forward to the current teams I look for players who know and accept their role. I wonder how Philadelphia will find balance on offense this year with what they have assembled. They are noticeably shy of players who do grunt work on offense. Will the kids in Minnesota be able to get Crawford the time and space he is so used to from working with Wilson and Pollock? So far goals don’t seem to be an issue. Can Washington replace the solid contributions of Tom Johnson and Craig Conn to their star studded offense especially now without Zywicki healthy?

And last, who will be the snowplow on Toronto’s left side this year? They have an abundance of talent but one of those guys will need to do more by doing less.

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