It’s been a busy offseason for the Vancouver Warriors who are working to build on the strides they made last season. The club has been re-signing players and acquiring new ones and are getting ready for the NLL Draft on Sunday.
The Warriors had a strong finish at the end of last season, winning six of their last eight games, and added pieces in the offseason that they hope will help them take the next step as a team.
The draft helps complete the picture heading into the next season and Warriors General Manager and Head Coach Curt Malawsky talks about the team philosophy of drafting the best player available when it comes time for them to make their pick.
“We wouldn’t take a sub-par player for position when there’s an elite player in a position we might have a little more depth in. Our draft philosophy, typically, is that we take the best player available and we make it work,” said Malawsky.
The coaching staff does their research ahead of the draft, contacting former coaches of players to get a sense of player fit for the team.
Having built championship teams at every level, the Warriors bench boss looks to draft top players who have strong character, are coachable and are great teammates.
Warriors 2024 NLL Draft picks are as follows as of 1 p.m. Friday, September 13th :
- Round 1 – pick 4
- Round 3 – pick 32
- Round 4 – pick 47
- Round 5 – pick 61
- Round 6 – pick 76
“We’re picking fourth overall so we’ll get a very good player at four, depending of course on what the first three teams do, but I think there’s going to be a really good player there for us who will complement what we already have in the draft class that we brought in last year along with the players we had to finish the season.”
The Warriors had seven picks in the 2023 NLL Draft, including four first-round picks which Malawsky said was “massive” for the franchise. He says it was tough to give up the second overall pick, but their selections in return included Payton Cormier (fourth overall), Warriors defenceman Brayden Laity (ninth overall) and Jackson Suboch, the latter two of whom were instrumental in building up the back end for Vancouver last season.
“Cormier, Haley, Laity and Suboch were big additions for us. We had to sit a year on two of the four guys, but Laity had a great season, and Jackson had a great season too. Now we get an opportunity to see Payton Cormier and Brock Haley, which we’ve been waiting on, so it’s nice to have those two first rounders from last year jumping in,” he said.
As part of the signing and re-signing frenzy in July, the Warriors signed 2023 third-round 40th overall pick faceoff specialist Alec Stathakis and sixth round 84th overall pick Drew Andre. Goaltender Connor O’Toole was a first round (18th overall) pick and re-signed in July.
Adding more talent to the already-talent-laden Warriors increases the compete level and helps everyone elevate their play.
Not only has Malawsky and his coaching staff been able to add a number of star players to the group, but seven players with Vancouver last year reached career milestones. All of those seven players are back for the upcoming season.
“I think that the more quality players, the higher the skill level, the higher the IQ that comes into a club it just pushes the compete level up and I wouldn’t say guys are worried about their jobs, but they’re making sure that they’re at their best and making sure they’re starting that opening day in the lineup and they want to keep their spots,” he said.
“I always say iron sharpens iron so the better the players you bring in, the better the players around them are going to get. I think it’s just a win-win for the whole organization.”
The Warriors will be busy on Sunday, looking to add more impact players to their team.
The 2024 NLL Draft presented by Castore kicks off at 4 p.m. PT and you can watch the first round live on NLL YouTube and Facebook channels.
