2014 Minnesota Swarm Training Camp - Defense

November 30, 2014

The defensive corps for the Minnesota Swarm will be looking to tighten the ship after giving up just over 12 goals per game last season. A couple new names and the opportunity for younger players to ascend to more responsibility will be seen during training camp starting on December 5th in Oakville, Ontario.

Fans will immediately notice that Jeff Gilbert will not be back after signing as an unrestricted free agent with Toronto. An assistant captain for the last two years, Gilbert was the leader on D with valuable veteran experience. However, the Swarm quickly recovered and did a pretty good job on replacing Gilbert with Mike Grimes, who they acquired in a trade from Vancouver for Tyler Hass and Dane Stevens. Grimes has eight years of NLL experience with a Champions Cup with Washington in 2010. Grimes can do it all on defense like taking on top offensive players, forcing turnovers, starting transition and if he continues on from what he did with the Stealth, he will quickly become a team leader.

Three players will be returning from last year's team: Greg Downing, Alex Crepinsek and Jordan Houtby. Downing is back for his fourth season and has gotten better each year after coming back from a season ending injury in 2012. Crepinsek will be entering his third year with the Swarm and will be looking to improve on a slight sophomore slump in 2014. Houtby was a rookie last year with the Swarm playing in just a handful of games but this year will be looking to be more of a full-time player for the team.

Mitch Belisle will be coming back after taking last year off due to work, marriage and Team USA duties. Belisle's energy and his veteran experience were missed last year on defense. I don't see missing last Swarm season an issue for Belisle and that the coaches feel that he will return seamlessly. They definitely don't have to worry about him coming to camp out of shape.

The Swarm will have Dominique Alexander coming back after spending the 2014 season on the practice roster. Can Alexander breakthrough in 2015 after a strong summer season in Ohio? We shall see. The Swarm drafted Patrick Miles with the 38th pick in the 2014 draft, signed American free agents Andrew Casimir and Pat Laconi and signed Callum Crawford's brother, Ian, for another chance at camp after he tried to make the 2013 team.

My hunch is that barring injury, the Swarm will have at least five defenders make the final roster in Grimes, Downing, Crepinsek, Houtby and Belisle and that is how the team sees it going into camp also. It will take quite an impression from someone else to break into that group especially based on the experience factor alone. They may keep a sixth but with their depth on transition, it may not be necessary. In conclusion, this group may be the easiest for the staff to decide on during camp.