Stealth wheeling and dealing on draft day
Pre-draft deal brings in righty forward Malcolm, then team uses 12th overall pick for Fournier
The Vancouver Stealth’s moves on Monday make for some easy surmising.
Before the National Lacrosse League entry draft Monday afternoon, the Stealth dealt left-handed forward Jordan Durston to the Buffalo Bandits in exchange for righty forward Anthony Malcolm and the 12th overall selection.
The Stealth then used that choice on Ryan Fournier, a defender/transition type from Ottawa who played this summer in the Quebec Senior B league for the Kahnawake Mohawks, who were coached by Stealth bench boss Jamie Batley.
New Westminster native Josh Byrne, a left-handed sniper who played this summer for the Western Lacrosse Association’s Burnaby Lakers, was the first overall pick by the Bandits. He’s the seventh B.C. born player to go first overall since 1990.
The NLL regular season starts Dec. 8, with Vancouver hosting the Colorado Mammoth at Langley Events Centre. The Stealth finished 9-9 in the regular season last year, making the playoffs for the first time since moving to the LEC from Everett, Wash. for the 2014 campaign.
Teams generally play six players on offence, split between righties and lefties. Durston, 23, who’s from Wallaceburg, Ont., was Vancouver’s third lefthander, behind Corey Small and Logan Schuss, and scored 25 times.
The fact the Stealth didn’t go with an offensive southpaw with that No. 12 choice suggests they’re keen on Evan Messenger, 21, who got into four games last year with the Stealth, and free-agent pickup Casey Jackson, 27, who had 60 points, including 27 goals, in 15 regular-season games this summer with the Western Lacrosse Association’s Victoria Shamrocks.
Other Shamrocks on the Stealth include Small, Messenger and Rhys Duch.
Vancouver had a logjam among its righty attackers last season, trying to find time for Duch, Joel McCready, Cory Conway and James Rahe.
Duch and Conway suffered injuries down the stretch; Conway didn’t play this summer and Duch made it into just six regular-season games and four playoff ones with the Shamrocks. McCready, meanwhile suffered a knee injury during the Mann Cup Senior A national championship with the New Westminster Salmonbellies last week and finished the series playing with a large brace.
Malcolm and McCready were teammates with the Salmonbellies, along with Schuss and Stealth defenders Curtis Hodgson and Ian Hawksbee.
Malcolm, a New Westminster native who turns 24 in October, has good speed and likes to drive to the net. He’s similar to McCready in that regard, and it should work with a Stealth offence that relies heavily on the outside shooting of Small, Schuss and Duch.
The 6-1, 190-pound Malcolm had 12 goals and 31 points in nine games with Buffalo last winter. He had 18 goals and 43 points in 16 regular-season games with the Salmonbellies and then six goals and 29 points in 16 playoff and Mann Cup games.
“I heard some rumblings about this maybe happening and I’m thrilled to be back in my hometown,” Malcolm said Monday. “It’s going to be awesome. I had a great time in Buffalo, but playing in my hometown, in front of friends and family, is something that I’ve always wanted to do.
The Stealth’s first-round pick, No. 6 overall, went to the Rochester Knighthawks as part of the 2014 trade for Johnny Powless.