July 24, 2007
from press releases
A blockbuster trade was made official Tuesday by the National Lacrosse League, involving three teams, six players, draft picks and future considerations.
The Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks and Philadelphia Wings completed the transaction, which involves Taylor Wray, Ian Llord, Steve Dietrich, Kyle Couling, Sean Greenhalgh and Jason Crosbie. The players involved in the deal have combined for one league MVP award, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, two Goaltender of the Year Awards, a championship game MVP Award, one Rookie of the Year Award, a Sportsmanship Award, two All-Rookie Team honors and five All-Pro honors.
The Calgary Roughnecks traded defenseman Taylor Wray to the Philadelphia Wings, as well as their first-round selection in the 2007 entry draft and their second-round selection in the 2008 entry draft to the Buffalo Bandits.
The Bandits, meanwhile, traded goaltender Steve Dietrich and defenseman Kyle Couling to the Roughnecks. They also traded forward Jason Crosbie and other conditional considerations to the Philadelphia Wings.
The Wings traded forwarded Sean Greenhalgh to the Bandits and defenseman Ian Llord to the Roughnecks.
Dietrich, who will join the Roughnecks, is the most decorated amongst the players involved in the deal. Dietrich, who played the last six seasons of his 15-year career with the Bandits, was the 2006 NLL MVP, a four-time All-Pro and a two-time Goaltender of the Year Award recipient. Dietrich won a championship in 1997 with the Rochester Knighthawks and was the Championship Game MVP that season. Dietrich, however, only played 431 minutes in 2007 and recorded a 5-2 record while recovering from a knee injury. He played over 800 minutes in his 2006 MVP season.
"Steve Dietrich is one year removed from an MVP season and will be extremely motivated to show that he is still a great goaltender," said Roughnecks general manager Kurt Silcott.
Wray heads to Philadelphia from Calgary. Wray was the 2004 NLL Rookie of the Year, a co-winner of the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year Award and earned First Team All-Pro honors that season. He has played 55 games in four seasons with the Roughnecks and won a championship in 2004. Wray had served as assistant captain for the Roughnecks.
"It was never my intention to trade Taylor Wray," Silcott said. "But Taylor came to me and told me he would not be available to play in Calgary next season as he was taking a job in Philadelphia as a college assistant coach. Therefore our hands were tied."
"Taylor (Wray) is a franchise-type player, which is evident from his actions and awards that he's won," said Wings General Manager Lindsay Sanderson. "We were very high on both Sean (Greenhalgh) and Ian (Llord), but feel that Taylor is just a better fit with our current needs."
Greenhalgh heads to Buffalo after leading Philadelphia in scoring in each of his first two NLL seasons. Greenhalgh was the reciepiant of the league's Sportsmanship Award in 2006 and was a member of 2006 NLL All-Rookie Team.
Crosbie heads to Philadelphia after playing five of his seven NLL seasons with the Buffalo Bandits. Crosbie has 113 goals in 96 career games.
Couling has played his entire career with the Buffalo Bandits, which includes eight seasons and 113 regular season games. The veteran heads to Calgary after collecting 77 loose balls last season. Couling has 515 career loose balls.
Ian Llord joins the Roughnecks after playing his rookie season in Philadelphia. Llord, a defenseman, was the fifth overall pick in the 2006 entry draft, taken by the Wings. Llord played 11 games for Philadelphia in 2007.
The Buffalo Bandits get:
- forward Sean Greenhalgh from Philadelphia
- Calgary's first-round selection in the 2007 entry draft
- Calgary's second-round selection in the 2008 entry draft.
The Buffalo Bandits give up:
- goalie Steve Dietrich to Calgary
- forward Jason Crosbie to Philadelphia
- defenseman Kyle Couling to Calgary.
The Calgary Roughnecks get:
- goalie Steve Dietrich from Buffalo
- defenseman Kyle Couling from Buffalo
- defenseman Ian Llord from Philadelphia.
The Calgary Roughnecks give up:
- defensemnan Taylor Wray to Philadelphia
- first-round selection (10th overall) in 2007 entry draft to Buffalo
- second-round selection in 2008 entry draft to Buffalo.
The Philadelphia Wings get:
- defenseman Taylor Wray from Calgary
- forward Jason Crosbie, from Buffalo
- conditional considerations from Buffalo.
The Philadelphia Wings give up:
- forward Sean Greenhalgh to Buffalo
- defenseman Ian Llord to Calgary
Rochester trades Mike Accursi to Edmonton
Edmonton Rush general manager and head coach Paul Day has traded the club's 2009 first-round draft pick to the Rochester Knighthawks for forward Mike Accursi. Accursi is the second forward acquired by the Rush over the past week, joining Ben Prepchuk, who was acquired from the Colorado Mammoth late last week. Accursi has played 10 years in the NLL and has 253 goals and 275 assists for 528 points in his career.
"Mike is exactly the type of guy we needed," said Day. "He's got speed and he can play all three spots up front (crease, top and shooter) and even take faceoffs. Plus Mike is a great leader and a real workhorse in practice and in games. He is going to fit in nicely with us and really lead this team."
Accursi helped lead the Knighthawks to the Champion's Cup in 2007, scoring a career-high 77 points (26 goals and 51 assists) during the regular season.
"I've always been a good producer offensively and I love playing in big games," said Accursi. "I'd like to bring a little extra veteran presence and I take pride in my game so hopefully both of those things will help us turn some of those tight games that we've lost in the past to the plus side."
