Glad to see this back after nearly a year! Interesting to see the Sawyers owner jailed amid the team’s struggles, wonder if this could mean a return to Phoenix or Denver for the league.

BOSTON-TORONTO TRADE HIGHLIGHTS NDL DRAFT ROUND ONE
by Kyle Greene, Sportsnet
October 6, 2034

The first round of the NDL Draft is in the books. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed:

The talk of the draft was, as it has been for months, Wichita State W/ZB Phil Jones, who was obviously taken by Atlanta at #1. Jones put together a stupefying sophomore season for the Shockers and rocketed up draft boards as a result. He is far and away the most complete player in the draft, with an ability to be an offensive threat both through the air and on the ground, along with excellent hands on the defensive side of the ball. He might (emphasis on might) be NDL ready right out of the gate, but in all likelihood, the Records will send him to Charlotte for a bit first.

The second pick was almost notable more for its atmosphere than the actual player it was used on, as it was Seattle’s. The Sawyers fans who had made the trip down to LA made quite the racket as Commissioner Justin Ross made his way to the podium, and Ross gave them a shoutout before reading the selection. The man they chose was B/ZB Robert Durkin, a defensive wizard who is coming off a national championship with Oklahoma State. Durkin is the best defensive prospect in the draft, but his offence is seen as a bit lacking. If he can spend a year or two in the minors working on it, he’ll have a bright future.

Once that pick was officially announced, Boston used two of their three first-round picks to trade up with Toronto to make sure they got one of the top two F/ZB prospects. After Philly took lanky B/C Elijah Alexander, the Commodores had both available to them, and went with the better offensive talent in Gilberto Cardona.

Incidentally, that trade left the two Canadian teams with three consecutive picks in the middle of the round. Toronto ended up with George Mason W/C Will Das and Arizona State W/ZB Dillon Derringer, two offence-focused selections who will contribute a lot of points but will probably both need some help on defence. Sandwiched in between them was B/ZB Andy Oliva, who will be heading from Northern Arizona up to Montréal. Oliva is most known for his wicked left-footed shot, and his ability to score with it from distance, though finding shooting lanes may be tougher against NDL defences than it was in the NCAA.

See below for a complete rundown of today’s picks:

1. ATL - W/ZB Phil Jones (Wichita State)
2. SEA - B/ZB Robert Durkin (Oklahoma State)
3. PHI - B/C Elijah Alexander (San Diego State)
4. BOS (from TOR) - F/ZB Gilberto Cardona (UNC-Greensboro)
5. NSH (from LA) - F/ZB Pedro Elizondo (UC-Riverside)
6. ORL - B/ZB Andrew Coreno (South Carolina)
7. CHI - B/C Cody Angelo (Sam Houston State)
8. TOR (from BOS) - W/C Will Das (George Mason)
9. MTL - B/ZB Andy Oliva (Northern Arizona)
10. TOR (from TEX via BOS) - W/ZB Dillon Derringer (Arizona State)
11. NY - F/ZB Alvin Taylor (Tennessee Tech)
12. ATL (from CAL) - W/ZB Dylan Robinson (Auburn)
13. BOS (from NSH) - B/ZB Lucas Hall (North Florida)
14. DC - B/K Ryan O’Harron (DePaul)
15. MIN - F/ZB Ismael Quiroz (Stetson)
16. MIA - W/ZB Skylar Crisman (Kansas City)

KRISTEN PAEZ TRADED TO MIAMI
by Byron Cavill, St. Paul Pioneer Press
October 8, 2034

The first major trade of the NDL offseason came in last night, and it involves the two teams who played in the NDLCS earlier this year. The Lights have traded W/ZB Kristen Paez to the Miami Palms in exchange for F/ZB Michel Macias, W/C Ally Rucker, and a second-round pick in next year’s draft. Paez has been one of the Lights’ better young players in the past few years, climbing up the ranks from Iowa and making his way into the starting lineup. You might ask, why trade him? It seems like strange timing, coming off of two consecutive Finals appearances, and especially since the team didn’t really get a marquee piece in return.

The answer stems from the Lights’ struggles to begin last season. With all the lineup changes they made in order to get themselves turned around and into the playoffs, Paez’s role was greatly reduced. With everything clicking so much down the stretch and into the playoffs, it seems the team thought he’d be more useful as a trade chip. Miami certainly needs wingers, so it’s a good fit.

So who are the players Minnesota is getting in return? Macias is seen as one of the best F/ZB prospects in the NDDL, with a balanced game highlighted by sure hands on both sides of the ball. Forward is a position where the Lights were lacking in young talent, so this is a good pickup. Rucker is a bit more of a gamble, coming off of a couple years wracked by injury. If the 32-year-old can recapture the talent he had, he should at the very least be a solid depth piece who can help take some load off of old man W/C James Pitts.

ROY LALANNE SIGNS WITH MAGMA
by Derek Brito, Orange County Register
October 12, 2034

Sabertooths superstar B/ZB Roy Lalanne has made a huge splash early in the NDL offseason, signing a 9-year, $142-million contract with the Montréal Magma. This comes as a huge loss to the Tooths, who relied on Lalanne for his impeccable passing on offense as well as his elite court vision on both sides of the ball. Losing him for nothing after falling right back out of the playoffs is a real gut punch. Now, we’ll just have to wait and see how the team tries to replace him.

It may be a bit unusual for a free agent athlete to leave LA, as it tends to be a pretty attractive market. The reality is, though, that the Tooths are not an ideal landing spot at the moment. Montréal has a fun, young team that just had a huge breakout year, finishing with the third-best record in the league; the Sabertooths have been hovering around the edge of the playoffs for four years now with only a quarterfinal win over Texas to show for it.

Of course, there's an additional cultural element at play. Montréal has never had a star player who could connect with the Francophone audience in Québec. Lalanne, who was born in Haiti, will be one of their only players who already knew French coming in (albeit not exactly the same kind of French). With that kind of opportunity, it's no wonder the Magma threw that contract at him - and it's even less wonder he took it.

SAWYERS OFFICIALLY SOLD TO SEAN ROBERSON
by Toni Rowen, Denver Post
October 16, 2034

The Seattle Sawyers are under new ownership - and pretty soon, they might be under a new name, too.

The sale of the team from now-banned former owner Wesley Kennedy to Sean Roberson was approved by the remaining owners on Monday. Roberson has controlled the minor-league portion of the franchise since the introduction of the NDDL in 2031, operating the Colorado Silver Kings since their inception. He has been vocal about a desire to bring pro dashball back to Denver, and was given control of the Silver Kings as part of the NDL’s initiative to grant minor league teams to prospective owners in test markets. Now, with majority control of a major league franchise, it’s seen as almost a sure bet that he will take this opportunity to move the Sawyers to his home city, though with such a short time until training camps kick off for 2035, such a move would only be able to happen next offseason.

There has been some criticism around the sale, particularly from the Sawyers fanbase and Seattleites in general, who believe that the league and/or Kennedy should have made more of an attempt to find a local buyer to keep the team in Washington State. It’s worth noting, however, that the deal includes a provision that would allow a future Seattle team to assume the Sawyers’ identity, history, and records should the league return there.

SIMMONS SIGNS RECORD CONTRACT
by Henry Rodriguez, Austin American-Statesman
October 21, 2034

The Kevin Simmons Sweepstakes has ended, and it did so with the star F/ZB returning to Minnesota.

Simmons and the Lights agreed to a 12-year contract worth over $212 million, an AAV of nearly $17.7 million. Both dollar amounts are new highs for an NDL player, and the total value is the first over $200 million in league history. Obviously, it was pretty important for the Lights to keep Simmons playing in the Twin Cities.

As many as seven teams were reported to be linked to Simmons when negotiations opened, but as time went on, they narrowed to two: the Lights and the Redbacks. Of course, a huge piece like Simmons would be a huge boost to the Redbacks’ hopes of quickly returning to relevance. Many fans of the team, however, were skeptical of the prospect of adding such a huge contract to a team already wanting for cap space. Ultimately, that seems to be the sentiment that won out in the Texas front office, as they ultimately signed F/ZB Jose Gutierrez to a contract worth $8.8 million per year; about half as much as what Minnesota signed Simmons for.

NDL COMPETITION COMMITTEE PUNTS ON RESPONSE TO FINALS INCIDENT
by Tom Aindu, Kansas City Star
October 30, 2034

After the controversy surrounding Game 1 of this year's NDLCS, all eyes were on the NDL Competition Committee’s annual meetings this year. In case you missed it or forgot, officials missed multiple infractions on Miami Palms B/K Angel Camacho, who illegally left the defensive zone to make a play on the ball, and his teammate, W/K Seth Dew, who covertly snuck into the defensive zone in a deliberate attempt to deceive the officiating crew. While the Palms went on to finish off a sweep, many, especially fans of the opposing Minnesota Lights, felt that the game had unfairly swung the momentum of the series from the get-go.

Reportedly, the Committee considered options including having players wear armbands or headbands, or even different colored socks, to identify which squad a player is on. Ultimately, though, none of those plans will come to fruition this year, although there are plans in place to study these options and their effects on players and officials. According to Tom Takamine, Chargers executive vice president and co-chair of the Competition Committee: “This is the first incident, at least as far as we’re aware, in which a player deliberately broke the rules to try to offset another player’s illegal action. While it’s very disappointing that this was missed by the officials, we, the Committee, believed we would be overreacting by altering the rule book in response to what we believe to be a completely unique incident.” Officials will reportedly be instructed to keep a closer eye on illegal possession calls such as this, though it’s unclear what effects that will actually have.

There was also quite a bit of discussion about the experimental playoff format known colloquially as the “Hollywood Plan.” 2034 was the first year of the new format’s trial in the NDDL, and it went about as poorly as it possibly could have, with only five teams making the playoffs, while four teams finished either at .500 or one game below it. Most committee members were in favor of scrapping the plan and returning to the original playoff format, while others wanted to modify the original plan to lock in four spots in each division, but still allow for additional winning teams to be added. Ultimately, the Committee members voted to simply restore the previous rule, but it’s rumored that the modified Hollywood Plan may still be under consideration for use in future seasons.

HAVE THE ORBITS ALREADY WON NDL FREE AGENCY?
by Mike Blair, The Athletic
November 3, 2034

The Orlando Orbits might be having one of the best offseasons we’ve seen in a while. Not only did they not have any major free agents going into the fall, they’ve already managed to poach three from other teams.

They kicked things off by signing B/K Andy Lewis away from New York. Lewis was the best keeper available in free agency - at least he was after W/K Alex Lampert re-signed with Texas less than 12 hours after free agency officially opened. Lewis has an imposing presence in goal, stopping 72.4% of shots in 2034, and has also excelled as an offensive playmaker with the Chargers. Then, on Monday, they signed Hogs W/ZB Christian Evens. The 23-year-old broke out for Toronto in 2033 before sitting out part of 2034 with a hamstring injury. Orlando is taking a bit of a risk by locking him up for 10 years, but it comes at a pretty team-friendly AAV of just over $6.5 million. And just when you thought they might slow down, the Orbs have now announced a deal with star Row B/C John Evans (no relation). This will technically be Evans’ second tenure in Orlando, but the Orbits will be hoping he stays longer than the two months he spent with the team in 2027 before heading back to Philly in free agency.

As for the question in the title? Obviously, it’s too early to say for sure - there are still several top players up for grabs. While signing all these big names is sure to make the fans excited, critics are concerned that the team’s depth - already an issue for the team in the past few years - may suffer as a result. The real answer will only come when the games get played. If the Orbits can finally make the trip back to the playoffs, I think we can agree it’s a solid yes.

HOGS, ROW PULL OFF BLOCKBUSTER TRADE
by Jenna Smith, CNN
November 20, 2034

The Toronto Hogs and Philadelphia Row proved that the NDL stove still has some heat to it, with a trade that will send W/ZB Horace Yazzie to Philly in return for F/K prospect Brock Davis and a first-round pick. It’s really a wonder this deal took so long to get done, because it makes a lot of sense for both sides.

The Row desperately needed a winger after losing W/ZB Mitch Beetle to Minnesota in free agency, and haven’t been able to find their own free agent to replace him. Yazzie was definitely the best wing available on the trade market, and will be a huge boon to a team that has been sliding as of late. The main concern there is obviously Yazzie’s age - he turns 37 in March, and he’ll be one of several starters in Philly over the age of 35. Meanwhile, Davis may have been one of their best prospects - if not their best, full stop - but they do have quite a few other young F/Ks near the cusp of the majors, including fellow 21-year-old Justin Orchard, so this shouldn’t be too big a loss for them.

Toronto, meanwhile, is clearly going the other direction. Most of their team is much younger, and they’re clearly committing to a rebuild, and starting with a position they definitely need, and soon. F/K Ray Thomas, who is twice Davis’ age at 42, is sticking around for one more year, but he’s been pretty clear that it’s his last. The Hogs would obviously love Davis to step into those shoes, but they certainly won’t be easy ones to fill. They also get the Row’s first round pick next year, which will be helpful, as they traded their own first-rounder to California last season.

I like the updates for Boston, especially the darker more mustardy yellow.

Section30 wrote:

I like the updates for Boston, especially the darker more mustardy yellow.

Dan O'Mac wrote:

The update to the yellow is nice. I really like the change to the shorts striping away from the rope to the four stripes. It make the look a lot cleaner, but from a "meta" standpoint it feels like you're getting away from some of the quirkiness the NDL has always had.

Thanks y'all! To your point, Dan, getting away from the quirkiness was the point, to an extent. A lot of teams are trying to get a little bit more serious and act like they belong, and Boston at this point is certainly one of those teams. I will say that not every team is heading in that direction, though, so keep your eyes peeled (maybe not too peeled, though, given the history of this thread).