Clutch Kings: Jeff Teat is Taking Over
Jeff Teat (Photo: Dave Fryer for Warrior Lacrosse)
The Lax Mag’s Clutch Kings tracks an individual player’s game-tying, go-ahead and game-winning goals, then weighs them based on when they’re scored (first, second, third or fourth quarter, plus OT), but also in what on-floor situation they’re finished (even-strength, power-play or short-handed goals). The Clutch Kings countdown calculates the league’s most money goal scorer all season long, crowning the king at the conclusion of the current NLL campaign. Click here for a more detailed breakdown of Clutch Kings scoring.
Jeff Teat, Ottawa Black Bears (Photo: Jonathan Tenca)
For the first time ever, Jeff Teat leads our Clutch Kings leaderboard.
During Week 12, we saw long-time CK leader Zach Manns and this week’s #1 registering really big goals that significantly helped their team secures wins.
First, Manns in this past weekend’s and arguably the season’s biggest battle so far.
With the Saskatchewan Rush trailing the Vancouver Warriors, who held the lead in this one for 32:20 total (the Rush led just 6:54), Manns first scored an important late third-quarter goal to give Sask their first lead since they were up 1-0.
The Rush would allow the Warriors to regain the lead in the fourth, but then mighty Manns showed up, again, as he has all season long.
Although Clutch Kings is a goals-only analysis, Manns would also impressively garner an assist on Robert Church’s OT winner, just the fourth extra-frame finish anywhere in the NLL this year. Last year after Week 12, nine games had already gone to OT.
Clearly a very clutch Week 12 performance by Manns. So, how did Teat top him?
Going into the fourth quarter this past Saturday night, Teat’s Ottawa Black Bears had been trailing since early in the first period away to the Rochester Knighthawks. Teat had a total of zero goals at that point too.
After a sneaky Sam Firth finish to tie the game at six thirty seconds into that final frame, Teat would score Ottawa’s seventh, giving the Bears their first lead of the game.
A few minutes later, Teat would score what would stand up as the game winner, which was his second even-strength GWing goal of the season… “It is Jeff Teat time right now.”
While the evidence doesn’t come screaming off the stats pages when examining Teat’s straight goal scoring over his NLL career, it’s this type over quality-over-quantity production that he has quietly elevated over the past two seasons in Ottawa.
Straight Goals
’22 New York 37
’23 New York 56
’24 New York 58
’25 Ottawa 56
’26 Ottawa 30…
Projected
’26 Ottawa 49
Clutch Goals
CK Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
’22 New York 10.50 (1/3/2)
’23 New York 16.50 (3/4/3)
’24 New York 21.50 (7/6/2)
’25 Ottawa 27.00 (10/6/2)
’26 Ottawa 25.75 (4/6/2)…
Projected
’26 Ottawa 44.00 (7/11/3)
So, while Teat is presently projected to finish with his lowest goal output since his rookie season (yes, a lot can still happen), his clutch-scoring, largely through critical goals netted in the fourth quarter, is at an all-time high.
Teat has already matched his single-season high for go-ahead goals this year, and could easily set a new personal best for game winners too, especially considering how productive he continues to be late. While not all register in our clutch calculations (again, click here to see how we weigh each goal), wrap your head around this…
Goals by Quarter
First: 4 (13%)
Second: 7 (23%)
Third: 2 (7%)
Fourth: 17 (57%)
Neatly 60% of Teat’s goals this year have happened in the fourth quarter, and almost half of them have tied a game, put Ottawa ahead, or like we saw this past weekend, sealed the deal for the Bears.
Unlike past seasons, virtually all of Teat’s clutch goals have been scored in even-strength situations, versus on the power play, which is also why he holds a slight lead over Manns right now.
Rob Hellyer, Ottawa Black Bears (Photo: David Pickering)
Some of Teat’s supercharged clutch scoring can obviously also be credited to his chemistry with off-season acquisition Rob Hellyer. How can we be so confident in that conclusion? Well, while Hellyer only ranks as the fourth highest Black Bear in our Clutch Kings count (Teat, Larson Sundown, and CK regular Connor Kearnan are ahead of him right now), get this…
Primary Assists Leader on Teat’s Goals
‘22 Callum Crawford (New York) 9
’23 Connor Kearnan (New York) 13
’24 Connor Kearnan (New York) 16
’25 Connor Kearnan (Ottawa) 15
’26 Rob Hellyer (Ottawa) 12…
Projected
‘26 Rob Hellyer (Ottawa) 20
Not surprisingly, the Teat/Hellyer tandem has been the franchise’s most productive, ever. It’s also helped free up space for Teat in the fourth, since doubling him up like teams have in the past, leaves Hellyer open. The addition of Hellyer has made Ottawa’s offense much less obvious and easy to anticipate, and while his straight goal scoring may be down a bit, Teat’s clutch touch and Ottawa’s slightly better position in the standings supports that statement.
Right?
After their first eleven games last year, the Black Bears were 5-6. This year? 6-5.
It was actually at almost this exact same time last year that Ottawa’s season went from hopeful to hellish, going from playoff probablies to yet again missing the postseason due to a February-into-March meltdown.
So far through February this season, Ottawa is 2-0 with two-goal wins over Calgary and Rochester, Teat scoring one each of these in the fourth: a go-ahead, game-tying and game-winning goal.
While still scoring a high percentage of Ottawa’s total goals (24% presently versus 31% last season), Teat is no longer carrying the entire offensive load, and is now able to net more score-changing goals than he has during any previous season on Long Island or in Canada’s capital.
Clutch Kings: Week 13
CKs Rank. Player (NLL G Rank) Team, CK Points (GTG/GAG/GWG)
1. Jeff Teat (1) Ottawa, 25.75 (4/6/2)
2. Zach Manns (T4) Saskatchewan, 23.75 (5/3/4)
3. Owen Hiltz (T26) Toronto, 19.75 (2/4/2)
4. Curtis Dickson (T7) Vancouver, 16.25 (3/2/3)
5. Dhane Smith (T11) Buffalo, 16.00 (2/2/2)
6. Shayne Jackson (T11) Georgia, 15.00 (1/4/3)
7. Tanner Cook (T4) Calgary, 14.00 (3/3/1)
8. Connor Fields (2) Rochester, 12.00 (2/2/2)
9. Robert Church (T14) Saskatchewan, 11.50 (0/1/2)
10. Will Malcom (T14) Colorado, 11.25 (3/3/2)
T11. Nolan Byrne (T40) Georgia, 11.00 (3/2/1)
T11. Tre Leclaire (T14) San Diego, 11.00 (3/0/2)
13. Jesse King (T20) Vancouver, 10.75 (1/5/0)
14. Austin Shanks (T20) Saskatchewan, 10.50 (3/0/3)
15. Chris Boushy (T31) Toronto, 10.50 (2/1/2)
16. Ethan Walker (T54) Oshawa, 9.50 (2/1/2)
17. Ian MacKay (T31) Buffalo, 9.25 (3/3/1)
Scoring System
First 3 Quarters (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Power-Play Goal: 0.50/0.75/1.00
Short-Handed Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Fourth Quarter (GTG/GAG/GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 2.00/3.00/4.00
Power-Play Goal: 1.00/1.50/2.00
Short-Handed Goal: 4.00/6.00/8.00
Overtime (GWG)
Even-Strength Goal: 6.00
Power-Play Goal: 3.00
Short-Handed Goal: 12.00