One piece to the puzzle is in, but the final solution to the Burnaby Lakers’ goaltending dilemma could take a few more months to firm up.
The Western Lacrosse Association club picked up veteran netminder Zak Boychuk last week in preparation for next week’s Junior Draft, with a swap with the Nanaimo Timbermen. Burnaby gained Boychuk in exchange for a third and fourth round pick in the 2018 WLA draft.
“(Boychuk) was drafted and had a good junior career in Nanaimo,” remarked Lakers general manager Paul Rowbotham. “It’s been sort of up-and-down for him due to the situation in Nanaimo and we think a change of scenery will allow him to enjoy some success.”
Boychuk, who turned 27 earlier this week, played in 14 games with the last place T-men last season and posted a career-best .799 save percentage and a 9.78 goals against average. It was the first time he secured a lower-than-10 goals-against mark while toiling for a club that finished dead-last the past three years, and second-to-last in 2012.
Burnaby’s netminding situation has been under construction ever since veteran Tyler Richards retired weeks before the start of the 2015 WLA season due to multiple concussions. Richards had anchored the crease in both the WLA and National Lacrosse League for the past seven seasons.
Last year’s solution may not be available this time around. Burnaby acquired Tye Belanger from the Ontario Major League’s Brampton Excelsiors prior to the start of the 2015 season, on a one-year agreement between the two clubs.
Rowbotham said that while there is a chance Belanger could return, it depends upon a number of factors, most outside the Lakers’ hands.
“We’ve talked to (Belanger) a couple of times but he’s right in the middle of the NLL lacrosse in New England,” he noted. “The other matter is, he could be quite willing to come back but we don’t know what (Brampton) has in their plans.”
Belanger, named to the circuit’s second all-star team, was among the top netminders in most categories, including wins, with eight, a 7.85 goals-against average and .804 save percentage.
The 5-foot-9, 200-pound Boychuk posted fairly consistent numbers over the past four years in Nanaimo.
In 2014, he made 17 starts with a save percentage of .778 while leading the league in minutes played at 1,037. In 2013 he appeared in all 18 games with a save percentage of .786.
Boychuk stood down .785 of the shots during the 2012 season, his sophomore season, while sharing the goalkeeping duties with Matt King. As a rookie in 2011, he played in 10 games and finished with a .712 save percentage.
“Goaltenders can be hot as a firecracker one year, then cold the next,” said Rowbotham. “We’re still talking, we have to, because you can never have too many goalies.”
Rowbotham said as training camps ramp up, other teams will have an indication whether they want to move any of their players.
In the meantime, draft preparations continue for the Lakers, who earlier secured the first-overall pick from Nanaimo for the Feb. 10 WLA draft in Vancouver.
Picking lefthander Josh Byrne may be counter-intuitive, suggested the Burnaby GM, after the club also added portside sniper Eli McLaughlin in the same deal.
“To be perfectly honest, whether you are New West, Burnaby or Maple Ridge you are looking at filling a particular hole,” said Rowbotham. “Last year we lost (righthanded Tyler) Digby when he moved to Pittsburgh… In our situation we’re not weak for personnel, but suffering from a lack of strength on one side.”
He conceded the inter-office discussion will continue this week, and said the club has contacted those they’ve designated as the top players available.
Rowbotham feels the draft is seven deep, going beyond the rumoured top-four of Byrne, righthanded James Rahe and Coquitlam transition runners Mike Messenger and Challen Rogers.
Both Byrne and Rahe are considered offensive gamebreakers, while Messenger and Rogers are transition players with upside on both sides of the ball.
New Westminster also moved up and hold the second overall pick after a swap with Coquitlam. Last week the ‘Bellies added a second first-round selection, sending Luke Gillespie and their 2017 first round pick to Maple Ridge, for the fourth pick overall next week.
“With the third pick overall, we were going to get a very good player,” he admitted. “But it wasn’t going to be our choice. (The December trade) gives us the choice.”
