Rock feeds Leblanc to Wolves
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Trying to find a spark after a poor start to the National Lacrosse League season, the Toronto Rock parted ways with one of its longest-serving players on Wednesday.
Forward Stephan Leblanc was traded along with a 2018 third-round draft pick to the New England Black Wolves for defender/transition player Sheldon Burns and a second-rounder in the draft.
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“The season has not started the way we wanted and we’re not putting that on Steph by any means,” Rock owner Jamie Dawick said. “I feel we need to improve our back end and transition game.”
Leblanc, 31, a native of Dundas, Ont., was drafted by the Rock in the first round of the 2009 draft and was the 2010 rookie of the year in the National Lacrosse League. He scored the winning goal in the Rock’s 2011 championship victory over the Washington Stealth.
His 82-point rookie season was among his best. He amassed career highs in goals (45) and points (88) in 2014 and followed that up with an 86-point season in 2015. He is fourth in team career scoring with 601 points, trailing only Colin Doyle, Blaine Manning, and Josh Sanderson. But his production went down considerably last season as he scored a career-low 20 goals.
“It’s the toughest deal I’ve had to make in my tenure with the team,” Dawick said. “Steph has been here since day one with me and he’s a warrior and a loyal guy to the franchise.”
The Rock has been struggling offensively despite having a lineup with the likes of Rob Hellyer, Brett Hickey, Tom Schreiber, and Adam Jones.
Defensively, the team has struggled, giving up 30 goals in its two games this season. The transition has been lacking both offensively and defensively.
Burns, 26, is a native of Whitby and was a Minto Cup champion with the junior Whitby Warriors. A 2014 draft pick of the Black Wolves, Burns scored nine goals in each of his past two seasons and collected 90 loose balls last year.
“He is an excellent transition player who can score goals from the back end and that is something we’re struggling with right now.”
The Rock’s next game is on Dec. 30, when it hosts the Buffalo Bandits at the Air Canada Centre.
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