Toronto – The Toronto Rock have acquired left-handed forward Dan Carey, a 2011 Third Round Draft Pick (28th Overall) and a First Round Draft Pick in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft from the Colorado Mammoth in exchange for forward Mat MacLeod, defender Creighton Reid and Toronto’s First Round Selection in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft (9th Overall) and their second of three picks in the second round (14th overall) also in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft.
The 2013 First Round Draft Pick acquired by the Rock from Colorado originally belonged to Rochester. The 2011 Third Round Draft Pick that was acquired originally belonged to the Washington Stealth.
The 2011 First Round Draft Pick (9th Overall) sent to Colorado is Toronto’s own pick while the 2011 Second Round Pick (14th Overall) originally belonged to Boston. That pick was acquired as a part of a compensation package from the Blazers when they hired former Rock Assistant Coach Matt Sawyer as their Head Coach prior to the 2011 season.
The centerpiece of the deal for the Rock is Carey. He gives the Rock three of the premiere left-handed offensive players in the league alongside Captain Colin Doyle and Stephan Leblanc.
“Playing with those two guys will give Dan an opportunity for a lot of open floor,” said Rock GM Terry Sanderson. “It will also take pressure off of Colin with another guy who can feed the ball.”
Sanderson is also excited about the possibilities it will give his club and the ability to offer up different looks on the powerplay. The Rock were in the bottom half of the league rankings with the man advantage during the 2011 NLL regular season finishing as the 6th best.
“We can roll out a very good strong left side powerplay,” explained Sanderson. “It also really improves our depth with Doyle, Leblanc and (Aaron) Pascas returning.”
In five NLL seasons with Colorado, the 29-year old Carey has played 60 regular season games and scored 89 goals, 147 assists for 236 points. His career best season was in 2007 when he amassed 76 points in 16 games with the Mammoth.
Carey has suffered from concussion issues that shortened both his 2008 and 2009 NLL seasons. In August 2009 while playing in the Ontario Lacrosse Association’s Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) with Peterborough, Carey suffered another concussion forcing him to miss the entire 2010 NLL season. He returned to the Mammoth in 2011 and scored 13 goals and 35 points in just 12 games.
“I’m not worried about it,” said Sanderson. “Anyone can take a bad shot and find themselves out of the lineup. Injuries happen, it’s not an issue.”
Carey played his Junior “A” lacrosse with his hometown Peterborough Lakers and moved on to play for the MSL Lakers in 2004. He has won three Mann Cup titles with the Lakers (2004, 2006 and 2007) and was named the Most Valuable Player in the Mann Cup Championship Series in 2006.
As far as NLL recognition goes, in 2008 Carey received the NLL Sportsmanship Award while recording no penalty minutes that season. He also played in the NLL All-Star Game in both 2007 and 2008.
Creighton Reid and Mat MacLeod each won the first Champion’s Cup of their NLL careers as the Rock won their 6th NLL title earlier this year in May. Reid has played 2 NLL seasons both with the Rock. MacLeod is a four-year NLL veteran and played just one season in Toronto after one year in Orlando and two seasons in Rochester.
“It was very difficult to move both guys,” explained the Rock GM acknowledging that you have to give up something to get something. “Creighton played almost every game during his 2 years with us after making the team as walk on. Colorado wasn’t interested in the deal unless those two names were in there. We thank them for their contributions and wish them best.”
The Rock roster will continue to take shape during the off-season as the NLL Draft approaches in September.
