2025 NLL Player Rankings: Most Valuable Player
While The Lax Mag’s National Lacrosse League Player Rankings typically orders the league’s Top 30 players from #1 to #30 since soon after the league’s opening weekend and right up to the end of the regular season, now that we’re in playoff mode, we’re shifting focus to our NLL year-end awards.
Specifically, who our rankings system (more on that here) says should win all of the NLL’s most important end-of-season honours (our award-winning history here).
Fellow former MVPs John Tavares & Dhane Smith, 2016 NLL Awards Ceremony (Photo: Graig Abel)
Dhane Smith was The Lax Mag’s #1 ranked player in our preseason NLL TOP 100 and has been positioned at the very top of our weekly NLL TOP 30 all season long. Since relaunching The Lax Mag prior to the start of the 2022 season, no one player has dominated our weekly review to the degree Dhane has this year. But…
Is Smith still #1 in our season-ending edition of our NLL Player Rankings?
Below are this year’s Top 5 ranked players, why they’re positioned higher than the 360 other players that competed during this year’s regular season, plus of course our pick for 2025’s NLL MVP.
Note: The Lax Mag’s NLL Player Rankings formula takes into account a player’s overall statistical rank in all NLL stats (plus some more advanced ones TLM tracks) plus our star-rating system. Click here for more on how we rank players.
Jeff Teat, Ottawa Black Bears (Photo: Jonathan Tenca)
5. Jeff Teat
Age: 28
Team: Ottawa Black Bears
Seasons: 4
From: Brampton, ON
We were criticized early on that Jeff Teat wasn’t ranked high enough in our opening edition (first list comes out in Week 8 annually) of the NLL Top 30 this year. On rep, sure we shoulda had him higher, but on point production and overall value, at that time, Teat was nowhere near his usual Top 5 status. From late-November to the end of January, Teat was producing well below what we were used to seeing from him, including back-to-back games he was held scoreless. For the first time since entering the league, Teat fell right out of our Top 30 too.
Nov. 29 – Jan. 31
Goals: 1.63
Assists: 3.25
Points: 4.88
Feb. 15 – Apr. 19
Goals: 4.30 (+2.68)
Assists: 3.00 (-0.25)
Points: 7.40 (+2.53)
Then he went on to have one of the most ridiculous second halves in NLL history, significantly bumping his goal scoring per game by almost a full hat-trick, later leading the league in goals for a third straight season (something that seemed impossible in January). While the team has collectively claimed the rest of the roster is not relying on Teat as much as in the past, stats would suggest otherwise. The most relied on offensive player in the league, Teat likely loses MVP votes due to Ottawa (and previously New York) not making the playoffs. We’ve polled our readers regularly on whether a regular season MVP needs to qualify for the postseason to garner most valuable votes (even asking about Teat specifically), and always 70-ish % of that vote says it shouldn’t matter. Now, that’s not why Teat, who has finished third, third and fourth here over the previous three seasons, didn’t rank higher. Our Player Ranking formula takes the entire season into account, versus a quick scan of a player’s season-ending stats. Teat’s Nov., Dec. and Jan. are why he finished fifth and not first. As impressive as that 7.4 average above is, that’s also the season-long number both Dhane Smith & Josh Byrne had after all 18 of their games, both players at one point pouring in over nine nightly.
Zach Currier, San Diego Seals (Photo: Kalea Vizmanos)
4. Zach Currier
Age: 30
Team: San Diego Seals
Seasons: 7
From: Peterborough, ON
From The Lax Mag’s Transition Player for the Year analysis…
When it came to old school transition players in today’s modern game, few did it like Zach Currier, who played solid D, hustled like hell in transition, and produced plenty of points on the press too. He was the league’s TPOTY of the year in both 2022 and 2023, and looked likely to be a favourite for the honour in each ensuing season. Swerve… His goal scoring dropped drastically under new bench bosses in Calgary last year (went from 15 goals to just a career-low one) and his league-leading defensive data degraded significantly from what we were used to seeing from Currier in those two previously mentioned award-winning campaigns. Currier did not make our transitional Top 5 last year and never even cracked over Top 30 over 21 weeks. Traded to San Diego over the offseason, Currier was repositioned to playing a ton of offense for the Seals this year, a surprising switch that often took him out of the traditional transitional role we were so used to seeing him in. Prior to this year, Currier averaged about a shot per game over his six seasons in Calgary. This year? He was getting nearly five full looks per game at the opposition’s goal. When other versatile two-way players have made similar opposite-floor moves in the past, while they’ve seen significant offensive statistical increases like Currier experienced this year (18G, 29A), their defensive line always took a decent dent. That did not happen to Currier this year. In fact, Currier saw improved loose ball and caused turnover totals, all while still finishing with double digit blocks. Logically and historically, none of this comes close to adding up, but Currier somehow pulled it off. An always uber-athletic defensive asset, especially when the Seals were shorthanded, Currier played as unique a two-way role this year as we’ve seen from any player ever before (try to find someone else, but spoiler alert, his stat line is unmatched in the modern era). And as we mentioned in Ryan Terefenko’s breakdown, Currier was one of only two players in the NLL to have per-game stats strong enough to rank in each of these Top 100 categories this year: goals, assists, loose balls, caused turnovers and blocks. Put him in whatever position or role you want, Zach Currier will find a way to, well, do it all.
Also of note, Currier was not even an MVP option on the league’s year-end ballot, which had somewhere in the ballpark of 30 other names on it.
Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits (Photo: Caroline Sherman)
3. Josh Byrne
Age: 31
Team: Buffalo Bandits
Seasons: 7
From: New Westminster, BC
Josh Byrne co-led the NLL in points with one of the highest totals in history (134), and his 7.4 points per game was only bettered by the likes of John Tavares, John Grant, and the Gait twins. It was one of the most stacked offensive resumes ever recorded in the NLL, but alas, was oddly not enough to garner him a finalist spot for MVP or even an Offensive Player of the Year contender – a newer NLL award that already doesn’t really make much sense. While Byrne didn’t dominate our weekly NLL TOP 30 quite to the level his teammate Dhane Smith did (outlined in our opening above), he ranked as high as #2 and never dropped below #4. He just missed 30/60/90 Club status (more on that here) and saw a decline in his cutch scoring this year – Byrne was both our MVP and Clutch King pick in 2024. While some league award voters may argue that Byrne is not deserving of MVP consideration because he balls with Smith (who was both an official MVP and OPOTY Finalist this year), subtract his 44 goals from Buffalo’s lineup this year and let us know how that works out for them. Buffalo already had three (almost four) 30-goal scorers this year, players like Ian MacKay and Kyle Buchanan even putting up career goal-scoring highs. It isn’t that easy folks. Byrne dominated this year’s NLL Player Rankings both by his strong statistical positioning and overall value to Buffalo’s league-leading offense. While some players may have had storyline endings to their seasons that impressed voters, none were as consistent as Byrne (consistency can be kinda boring if you’re looking for a click-worthy headline), who never had fewer than five points in a game this year (official NLL MVP Finalist Wes Berg, who was our 2025 Clutch King, had under five points in nearly half his games this year), excelling equally against the league’s top and most terrible teams.
Connor Fields, Rochester Knighthawks (Photo: Jonathan Tenca)
2. Connor Fields
Age: 29
Team: Rochester Knighthawks
Seasons: 6
From: East Amherst, NY
While everyone else finally seems to be catching up to how impactful, important and irreplaceable Connor Fields is in Rochester, The Lax Mag’s Player Rankings formula has had Fields finish in the Top 4 over the previous three seasons, ending in second for a second straight regular season. Finally an official NLL MVP Finalist this year, Fields is only the third American-born player to garner a final three mention in NLL history. If he were to win, he’d join Casey Powell (Joe Resetarits was the other US finalist) as the league’s only American MVPs. Unlike Smith and Byrne, Fields took a bit longer to consistently rank in Top 5 territory this year, but also like those two, was easily one of 2025’s most consistent point producers (our formula values consistency more than moments). As has often been the case since arriving in Rochester, Fields again landed on our year-end Clutch Kings leaderboard and had a 30/60/90 slash (G/A/LB) for a third straight year. It’s those two areas that allowed him to maintain his slight lead over Byrne, but finishing just behind Smith for a second consecutive year. In fact, statistically his last two seasons were extremely similar (practically identical in some categories), so not entirely sure what made him an MVP finalist this year and not last (which also included that dramatic final weekend of the regular season where Fields dragged the Knighthawks into a postseason they looked unlikely to make).
Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits (Photo: Caroline Sherman)
1. Dhane Smith
Age: 32
Team: Buffalo Bandits
Seasons: 12
From: Kitchener, ON
Imagine telling Wayne Gretzky during virtually any time during the 80s that he wasn’t the best and most valuable NHLer because his linemates were too good and his teams were too dominant. There may be no athlete in any sport that was more celebrated and cherished than Gretzky (won the Hart Memorial every year in the 80s except for a single season), now a co-owner of an NLL franchise in Nevada, was during the 80s and into the 90s. Right now, Dhane Smith is kinda duplicating the data Gretzky dropped both at an individual and team level in pro lacrosse. Instead of putting Smith on the sport’s proverbial shoulders and championing his almost unheard-of accomplishments, our little box lacrosse bubble often looks for random and ridiculous reasons to do the opposite because we’re too small minded, thin skinned and arrogant to recognize those that deserve it. As mentioned in Byrne’s year-end bio above, Smith had one of the greatest point-producing seasons ever, whether you’re analyzing it just on his season-ending stat line or breaking it down weekly and grading his per-game averages like we do. Only a small handful of current NLL HOFers produced at a rate anywhere close to what Smith spit out this year (look up who JT, Gary, Paul or Junior played with those years, those teams were usually stacked, son). For a fourth consecutive season (not even Gretzky did that), Smith set a new single-season assists record (94…96…101…102) while helping Buffalo lead the league in overall offensive production. Was his stat line heavy on helpers? Yeah, but so what? If it was that fucking easy, every front-loaded team in NLL history (there have been many, and many others who failed to live up to on-paper and preseason expectations) would have an assist leader loading up on easy apples, yet no one has come close to the force-feeding rate at which Smith collects As lately. Even still today, Gretzky owns eleven of the top twelve single-season assist highs in the NHL; names like Messier, Kurri, Coffey, Robaitaille, Granato, Anderson and other all-timers garnering goals because of his phenomenal facilitating. In the NLL, few if any forwards have the vision, anticipation and audacity Smith does with the ball in his stick, creating an obscene number of offensive opportunities (like the Great One did) that led to his league-leading 102 assists. Without the ball, Smith sucks in doubles, creates considerable goal-scoring real estate for his teammates, and garners more defensive attention than anyone else (well, Teat is up there too) in the league. Smith is also one of the rare forwards that continuously pops up in our Transition Player analysis, the skilled big man a constant presence in his team’s own end too, making the Bandits one of if not the hardest team to run an effective transition game on. For a record sixth time, Smith hit 30/60/90 status (G/A/LB) this year, something only four players accomplished in 2025 (Fields, Clarke Petterson and Mitch Jones were the others). He had one of his most impressive Clutch Kings counts this year too (only Toronto’s Chris Boushy had more go-ahead goals than Smith), 40% of his goals this year either tying the score, putting Buffalo ahead or winning the Bandits the game. Smith ranked #1 The Lax Mag’s NLL TOP 30 from our opening edition and still sits here today, making him our pick as 2025’s National Lacrosse League Most Valuable Player.
NLL TOP 30: FINAL
TW. (LW) Player, Team (Position)
1. (1) Dhane Smith, Buffalo (F)
2. (2) Connor Fields, Rochester (F)
3. (3) Josh Byrne, Buffalo (F)
4. (4) Zach Currier, San Diego (T)
5. (7) Jeff Teat, Ottawa (F)
6. (9) Curtis Dickson, Calgary (F)
7. (5) Joe Resetarits, Philadelphia (F)
8. (10) Matt Vinc, Buffalo (G)
9. (8) Ryan Lanchbury, Rochester (F)
10. (6) Zach Higgins, Ottawa (G)
11. (11) Keegan Bal, Vancouver (F)
12. (12) Randy Staats, Halifax (F)
13. (14) Matt Hossack, Saskatchewan (D)
14. (16) Lyle Thompson, Georgia (F)
15. (13) Mitch Jones, Philadelphia (F)
16. (20) Mitch de Snoo, Philadelphia (D)
17. (17) Jesse King, Calgary (F)
18. (19) Ryan Terefenko, Halifax (T)
19. (15) Owen Grant, Vancouver (T)
20. (18) Dillon Ward, Colorado (G)
21. (24) Jake Boudreau, Saskatchewan (T)
22. (23) Clarke Petterson, Halifax (F)
23. (21) Alex Simmons, Albany (F)
24. (NR) Wes Berg, San Diego (F)
25. (22) Jake Withers, Halifax (T)
26. (28) Ryan Lee, Colorado (F)
27. (NR) Ryan Dilks, Vancouver (D)
28. (25) Nick Weiss, Buffalo (T)
29. (29) Ryan Smith, Rochester (F)
30. (NR) Nick Rose, Calgary (G)