‘Franchise’ label for Thompson
The Saskatchewan Rush didn’t want to risk losing transition player and fan favourite Jeremy Thompson to free agency.
So, last week, they tagged him as their National Lacrosse League’s “franchise player” to keep the team’s top faceoff man on the squad.
“Well, he was potentially going on the market as an unrestricted free agent and we hadn’t anything done (to lock up Thompson contract-wise) prior to this, so we put the tag on him,” explained Rush head coach and general manager Derek Keenan.
“We control that. Obviously, we want him back. He’s a big part of the team and hopefully that happens. We’ll see where this takes us.”
Thompson — who calls the Onondaga Iroquois Nation home — will earn the league’s maximum salary next season as a so-called “franchise player.” Each NLL team has one “franchise player” designation. The last Rush player to be given that status was goalie Aaron Bold during the 2016-17 season.
Thompson, a Syracuse University product, is in the prime of his career at age 31.
Nicknamed Gun, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Thompson has played seven seasons in the NLL, six of them with the Rush franchise. Thompson had six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 18 games played last season. He has scooped up 1,066 loose balls in his NLL career and he’s won 1,448 of 2,768 career faceoffs in the NLL.
The Rush had left their unrestricted free agents unprotected prior to the recent NLL expansion draft held for the San Diego Seals and Philadelphia Wings.
One of them, defender Brett Mydske, was chosen by San Diego and destined for “franchise” designation but later re-acquired by the Rush for four NLL Entry Draft picks, including the 10th and 11th picks in the 2018 Entry Draft.
Mydske, who had previously stated he wanted to stay in Saskatchewan, signed a new one-year contract on Aug. 1.
Prior to the Seals trade, the Rush found themselves with the luxury of three first-round picks in the 2018 Entry Draft — No. 5, No. 10 and No. 11 overall — and three firstround picks in the 2019 Draft.
The Rush also lost Adrian Sorichetti, a transition player, to San Diego in the NLL Expansion Draft.
Forwards Marty Dinsdale, Jeff Shattler and Dan Dawson, transition Jeff Cornwall, defenders Nik Bilic and Matt Macgrotty, as well as goaltender Tyler Carlson, were made available in the NLL Expansion Draft along with Mydske and Sorichetti but were unclaimed.
The Rush, as well as other holdover NLL teams, could only lose a maximum of two players each.
Restricted free agent Dinsdale and NLL playoff MVP Shattler are both expected back with the Rush next season. Shattler has one year left on his contract.