The NLL is announcing the winners of their 2025 NLL Awards throughout the week, in the lead-up to the NLL Finals. In case you missed the descriptions of the nominees, check those out here.
The league also announced the schedule for the Finals, which will kick off Friday night in Buffalo. Game two will be Sunday in Saskatoon, with a possible third game set for the following Saturday in Buffalo.
This article will be updated throughout the week as more winners get announced, so make sure to stay tuned to LCD all week long!
And if you are looking for insights regarding the finals, check out a great piece from Evan Schemenauer here, or check out our outstanding podcasts like Lacrosse Classified and Off The Crosse Bar.
The winners of the 2025 NLL Awards are listed below are in reverse order of when the winners were announced, so the most recent awards are first.
MVP
Nominees: Dhane Smith, Wes Berg
Winner: Connor Fields
Fields becomes just the second American NLL MVP after Casey Powell accomplished the feat in 2010. He finished third in league scoring this year with 46 goals and 77 assists, while also finishing in the top ten in the league in loose balls with 148. He is the first Rochester Knighthawk to win the award since the franchise returned to Rochester, and joins Cody Jamieson (2014) and John Grant Jr. (2007) as the only players to win the award in Rochester.
Rookie of the Year
Nominees: Adam Poitras, Brennan O’Neill
Winner: Dyson Williams
Williams finished the year as the leading scorer amongst rookies with 26 goals and 38 assists. He becomes the second straight Albany Firewolf to win the award, after Alex Simmons won it last year. Jeff Teat and Tyson Gibson won the award back-to-back, but that was separated by the pandemic. Prior to that, no teammates had won the rookie of the year in back-to-back years in the NLL era.
First Team All-League
Forwards: Dhane Smith, Connor Fields
Transition: Owen Grant
Defence: Matt Hossack, Ryan Dilks
Goaltender: Frank Scigliano
Compromised of the MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Transition Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Goaltender of the Year and… Ryan Dilks. There are no surprises on this team.
Second Team All-League
Forwards: Josh Byrne, Jeff Teat
Transition: Ryan Terefenko
Defence: Graeme Hossack, Mitch De Snoo
Goaltender: Matt Vinc
Teat led the league in goals while Byrne was tied for the lead in points, while all the others were nominees for their position awards.
All Rookie Team
Forwards: Dyson Williams, Brennan O’Neill, Adam Poitras, Mike Robinson
Transition: Will Johansen, Trent DiCiccio
Check out the full stats for all these players here.
Offensive Player of the Year
Nominees: Jeff Teat, Connor Fields
Winner: Dhane Smith
Smith broke his own assist record for the fourth consecutive year, finishing with 102 assists this year. If he had not scored a single goal, he still would have finished 11th in league scoring this year. He ended the year tied for the league lead with teammate Josh Byrne.
Defensive Player of the Year
Nominees: Graeme Hossack, Ryan Dilks
Winner: Matt Hossack
The younger Hossack brother wins the award this year, taking it over his older brother among others. The former PCLC captain made an immediate impact, finishing with a career high 21 points. That was in addition to 32 CTOs, 129 loose balls and 26 blocked shots.
Transition Player of the Year
Nominees: Ryan Terefenko, Zach Currier
Winner: Owen Grant
Grant had a breakout year, finishing with 15 goals, 9 assists, 103 loose balls, 28 CTO’s and 27 blocked shots. He was a part of the league-best Warriors defence that propelled them to the league semi-finals and will be a fixture in the black and gold for years to come.
Goaltender of the Year
Nominees: Nick Rose, Matt Vinc
Winner: Frank Scigliano
Scigliano wins his first GOTY this year, becoming just the second British Columbia native after Christian Del Bianco to win the award. He led the Rush resurgence this year, finishing with the league’s best GAA and third best Sv%.
Les Bartley Award: Coach of the Year
Nominees: Mike Hasen, Curt Malawsky
Winner: Jimmy Quinlan
Quinlan presided over a massive year over year improvement for the Rush that led them into this week’s NLL Finals. With a five-game improvement, the Rush improved their scoring margin to +34 and reduced their goals against by a whopping 31 goals.
GM of the Year
Nominees: Mike Board, Curt Malawsky
Winner: Derek Keenan
Keenan made several off-season moves which paid dividends for the Rush, most notably signing Austin Shanks and drafting Matt Hossack in the dispersal draft. Shanks had a career high in goals and Hossack is a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Teammate of the Year
Winner: Keegan Bell
This award, given out by the NLLPA, was awarded to Rush defender Keegan Bell. Bell notably filled in as the backup goaltender for the Rush when Frank Scigliano was attending to the birth of his child. Read more about that night here.
Sportsmanship Award
Nominees: Keegan Bal, Lyle Thomson
Winner: Kyle Buchanan
Buchanan had a career year, scoring a career-high 34 goals for the Bandits, all while committing just 4 PIMs. Buchanan previously won the award in 2015 and ends the streak of six straight Sportsmanship awards for Thompson.
Tom Borrelli Award
Nominees: Maki Jenner, Teddy Jenner
Winner: John Gurtler
According to the league website, Gurtler has called more than 400 Bandits games since taking over in 2004. The award’s namesake, Tom Borelli, covered the Bandits for The Buffalo News, and worked alongside Gurtler in that market. Gurtler is one of the most recognizable play-by-play voices in NLL history.
Executive of the Year Award
Nominees: John Catalano, Scott Loffler
Winner: Jason Thorne
As the VP of Business Operations for the Warriors, Thorne helped spearhead the Warriors improved attendance and status in the Vancouver lacrosse landscape. The Warriors averaged just under 9,700 fans, a 9% increase from last year.
Stay tuned throughout the rest of the week for the rest of the 2025 NLL Awards!