truebluefan

The National Lacrosse League held a dispersal draft on Monday night for the players from the Arizona and Boston franchises. Portland used the first selection to pick Arizona forward Dan Dawson. Dawson tallied 107 points last season on 47 goals and 60 assists, the second-highest point total among players in the league last season. The first Boston player selected was defenseman Patrick Merrill, who was chosen by New York with the second overall selection.

The complete draft order and trade recap is as follows:

First Round
1. Portland - Dan Dawson (F)
2. New York - Patrick Merrill (D)
3. Philadelphia - Rob Blasdell (G)
4. Chicago - Scott Self (D)
5. Minnesota (from Edmonton)** - Andy Secore (F)
6. Chicago (from Toronto)* - Lindsay Plunkett (F)
7. San Jose - Peter Veltman (F)
8. Minnesota - Ryan Avery (G)
9. Calgary - Pat Campbell (G)
10. Buffalo - Craig Conn (F)
11. Colorado - Bruce Murray (D)
12. Rochester - Jack Reid (D)

Second Round
13. Rochester - Matt Lyons (F)
14. Colorado - Matt Brown (F)
15. Buffalo - Brian Croswell (F)
16. Calgary - Bruce Codd (D)
17. Minnesota - Mike Grimes (D)
18. San Jose - Sean Morris (F)
19. Toronto - Curtis Ptolemy (F)
20. Edmonton - Chris Seller (F)
21. Chicago - Brock Boyle (F)
22. Philadelphia - Jamie Rooney (F)
23. New York - Matt Alrich (D)
24. Portland - Derek Malawsky (F)

Third Round
25. Portland - Brad MacDonald (D)
26. New York - Greg Downing (D)
27. Philadelphia - Brenden Thenhaus (F)
28. Chicago - Andrew Lazore (F)
29. Edmonton - Chris McKay (D)
30. Toronto - Jon Harasym (F)
31. San Jose - Keegan Davidson (D)
32. Minnesota - Mark Tinning (F)
33. Calgary - Greg Hinman (D)
34. Buffalo - Joe Smith (D)
35. Colorado - Jed Prossner (F)
36. Rochester - Alex Smith (FO) (faceoffs)

*Toronto traded the sixth overall selection, Kevin Fines, and a fifth round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft to Chicago in exchange for defenseman Cam Woods.

**Edmonton traded the fifth overall selection to Minnesota in exchange for goaltender Matt Disher.

On October 16th, the league cancelled its 2008 season when a deadline to reach a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with its player's association was not met. When a new seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached with the player's association on October 24th, efforts began to create a new schedule for the 2008 season. The original schedule had been lost with the October 16th cancellation.

Due to the unique business issues arising out of the cancellation of the original 2008 season schedule, Arizona and Boston were provided the option of electing inactive status for the 2008 season. The clubs were provided the option to re-enter in 2009 season by participating in the expansion draft or to receive back their rostered players from 2008. Arizona has chosen to re-claim their dispersed players for the 2009 season, while Boston has chosen not to re-claim their players following this season, and will build their 2009 roster as an expansion team.

All of the players on both clubs were available in the draft with the exception of those who had already qualified as Unrestricted Free Agents. Arizona has three such players in defensemen Brian Beisel and Peter Lough, as well as forward Curt Malawsky. All three had qualified for unrestricted free agency prior to Arizona's opting for inactive status for the 2008 season. Boston did not currently have any Unrestricted Free Agents on its roster.

The league announced a new schedule for the 2008 season on November 2nd. The 2008 season will open on December 29th, 2007, when Colorado hosts Calgary.