The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the longest running and most successful professional lacrosse league in the world, recently announced the following key dates for 2020 off-season lacrosse operations. The process was approved by the NLL Board of Governors during last week’s meetings and agreed upon with the Professional Lacrosse Players’ Association.
PRACTICE PLAYER TIMELINE
Starting Monday, June 29 at 12 p.m. ET, the roster transactions freeze will partially end and, for 72 hours, clubs will be permitted to add practice players to the active roster for the purpose of retaining their services, release players, and agree with a practice player to a protected practice player contract. Players who agree with their club to a protected practice player contract will be scheduled to become a restricted free agent on Aug. 1.
This 72-hour limited transactions window will end on Thursday, July 2 at 12 p.m. ET. At this time, all typical off-season transactions will be allowed including the clubs’ ability to re-sign their own players and make trades in preparation for the free agency period. Other key dates remain the same as previous seasons.
FRANCHISE PLAYER DEADLINE
The franchise player designation deadline is July 31. Designated players will not become an unrestricted free agent. Players who are 34-years old or older may reject the franchise player designation.
FREE AGENCY PERIOD
The 2020 free agency period begins on Aug. 1. Players who qualify for restricted free agency and unrestricted free agency may be contacted by and sign with other clubs.
ENTRY DRAFT ELIGIBILITY
Effective for the 2020 entry draft, clubs will be permitted to draft NCAA players who have completed four seasons of eligibility, regardless of whether the player is returning to school to play a fifth NCAA season. If a player is drafted and returns to school to play a fifth NCAA season, the club that drafted the player will retain its rights to the player.
ENTRY DRAFT ORDER
The selection order was determined by reverse order of regular season winning percentage, using overall tiebreakers under the NLL regulations when necessary.
Using this season’s final regular season standings, the 2020 Entry Draft order is as follows:
1. New York
2. Rochester
3. Vancouver
4. San Diego
5. Calgary
6. Colorado
7. Philadelphia
8. Georgia
9. Buffalo
10. Toronto
11. Halifax
12. Saskatchewan
13. New England
Georgia owns New England’s pick in the first round.
Dates for the 2020-21 NLL Draft and other key information regarding the start of the 35th NLL season will be announced in the coming weeks.
For more information, visit NLL.com and find the NLL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
