Whipsnakes a Cut Above in PLL Power Rankings

All eight Premier Lacrosse League teams just enjoyed a leaguewide bye week ahead of week five on Long Island. Through four weeks, the hierarchy of the league is starting to take shape.

1. Maryland Whipsnakes

Record: 3-1 | Score Differential: +14

The Whipsnakes have looked like the best team so far. They dominated both New York and Boston and showed they can still pull off wins even when the offense isn’t reaching double digits. After opening with the longest odds at 15-1, they’re currently the favorite to win the 2026 title at most sportsbooks with odds no longer than 4-1.

The defense missed Matt Dunn and some of its notable defensive draft picks in their opening 16-14 loss to Philly, but since then has allowed an average of just seven goals in a three-game winning streak. Emmet Carroll has held opponents to 10 or fewer goals in three straight games and boasts the third-best save percentage among starters at 61 percent.

The offense is incredibly balanced with versatile players at both attack and midfield. It only got stronger with the addition of third-overall pick Joey Spallina. Spallina has played in just two games but is averaging 3.5 points per game, best among rookies and tied for fifth-best in the entire league.

He’s currently the rookie of the year favorite, just barely edging Chad Palumbo, at +150 on most sportsbooks. It’s worth betting Spallina to win rookie of the year at those odds ahead of week five, especially with Palumbo and Chaos on a bye until week six. Those odds are already short, but Spallina has the best chance at winning the award based on his skill set and supporting cast in Maryland. There’s a chance he becomes the odds-on favorite after week five.

2. Denver Outlaws

Record: 2-2 | Score Differential: +4

Despite sitting at 2-2, Denver is still the best team in the West. The defense has been solid, allowing an average of just 10 goals per game and never giving up more than 12. That says a lot about its defenders considering Logan McNaney is only saving a modest 55 percent of shots he’s faced. But his save percentage doesn’t tell the entire story.

Most shots that the Denver defense gives up are easy saves for McNaney and is part of why he leads the league in clean save percentage at 57 percent. No other starter is above 48 percent, and the Outlaws have been converting these clean saves into transition goals the other way.

The Outlaws haven’t been consistent on offense, but they have yet to have their four former Tewaaraton Award winners all play at the same time. Pat Kavanagh missed the first three games recovering from the NLL season, and Jared Bernhardt missed the most recent game with a hamstring injury. Fortunately, head coach Tim Soudan confirmed that Bernhardt’s injury was more precautionary and said he expects Bernhardt back when the team plays the Whipsnakes on June 27. Brennan O’Neill has also been in a shooting slump to start the season, going 3-for-32.

3. California Redwoods

Record: 2-1 | Score Differential: +4

Coming in at a close third is the Redwoods. While we only have a three-game sample size of the Redwoods in 2026, there are plenty of reasons to believe this team is a title contender. Dillon Ward has been excellent, ranking second in save percentage at 62 percent. He’s boosted a defense that is allowing just 8.7 goals per game despite dealing with an injury to Cole Kastner after the first game and Chris Fake in the second half of their last game. With Kastner out with a hamstring strain, Cullen Brown made his debut at close defense and fit in seamlessly. This unit has potential to be one of the better ones in the league if it can get and stay healthy.

The offense has been quiet to start but looked better with Chris Kavanagh back in the lineup and should continue to improve. The personnel decisions on offense are what have been most encouraging.

Michael Boehm is the best complement to Kavanagh and Dylan Molloy on attack, and running Ryder Garnsey out of the box also benefits the veteran Redwood. Midfielders Aidan Danenza, Andrew McAdorey, Josh Balcarcel and Michael Leo — while not necessarily all dressing at the same time — are a nice combination of size and speed. Then you also have two-way players like Brian Tevlin and Sam English that can give you production on offense while also helping on the defensive end.

If this California offense can continue to build chemistry and become more efficient, it can hang with any team in the league.

4. Carolina Chaos

Record: 3-2 | Score Differential: -5

You could make the case that Carolina deserves to be higher than both Denver and California. The Chaos have an unselfish offense that can attack you from all areas of the field, a seasoned defense backstopped by the goalie many still consider the best in the league, and a first-year head coach who has more coaching experience than many of his peers.

Yet we’ve seen mixed results from this team in five games. You can chalk up the team’s 16-12 loss to New York to open the season to not being at full strength, but that loss looks worse now, considering how much the Atlas have struggled. Then allowing 15 goals to a Utah team that was averaging just 6.6 goals per game before then and only scoring seven was another bad loss. The Chaos deserve a ton of credit for their win over the Outlaws, but Denver had some chances to win that game and was missing arguably its most impactful player in Bernhardt.

This team has a high ceiling and the right leadership in that locker room to carry it on a deep postseason run. It’s just searching for more consistency.

5. Philadelphia Waterdogs

Record: 2-2 | Score Differential: -7

The Waterdogs have arguably the highest potential of any team but have been too inconsistent to rank above the other four teams. Still, they can quickly move up the rankings if we see more of what we saw in their 17-10 win over the Cannons. In that blowout win, we finally saw production from what appeared to be the deepest roster on paper entering the season.

Philadelphia’s midfielders really struggled in the first three games but finally came alive in its most recent win with versatile rookies Josh Yago and Kyle Lewis standing out. The Waterdogs will get even more rookie reinforcements in Canadians Silas Richmond and Matt Collison once their visas are approved.

Philly’s attack is its biggest strength, with a pair of MVP candidates in Michael Sowers and CJ Kirst bookending a line with veteran Kieran McArdle. Sowers leads the league in assists with eight and has 31 assist opportunities — the next closest is Connor Shellenberger with 23.

Kirst has arguably been the player who has fully unlocked the offense. He’s scored nine goals in two games, with six of them unassisted. He also has the best goal rate at 11.84 percent and the fourth-lowest turnover rate among players with at least 75 touches at 1.32 percent.

His ability to create his own shot, while also feed others, makes him the most dangerous player in the league. Sowers and Kirst are the top two favorites to win MVP, and while both could have a case for the award at the end of the year, right now the edge should go to Kirst based on his production and efficiency. You can bet him to win MVP at +750 on BetMGM.

The defense is what is still holding Philadelphia back. Matt DeLuca played well in the Waterdogs’ most recent game, making a franchise-record 20 saves, but the Waterdogs are still allowing a league-high 13.3 goals per game. The defense also lost short-stick defensive midfielder Dylan Hess for the season, and Inside Lacrosse’s Kevin Brown reported that reigning defensive player of the year Gavin Adler has a torn quad. Adler is expected to return for Philly’s next game, but a banged-up Adler along with an already underperforming defense is not a great recipe for success, especially if DeLuca starts to struggle again.

6. Utah Archers

Record: 2-2 | Score Differential: +4

The Utah Archers find themselves at six despite boasting a defense that is not only the best in 2026 but on pace to be one of the best defenses in PLL history. The Archers have allowed just 7.8 scores per game through four weeks, and Brett Dobson ranks at the top in save percentage, stopping 64 percent of shots he’s faced.

The Utah offense has been its Achilles’ heel, averaging just 6.7 scores per game in the first three games before dropping 15 on Carolina. Should we expect more struggles or the production we saw in Charlotte? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. The spacing and shooting we saw from the Archers was encouraging, but defenses with better short-stick units could give them a hard time this season.

Still, if the defense keeps playing the way its playing, it may only take 10 goals from the Utah offense to secure wins.

7. New York Atlas

Record: 1-3 | Score Differential: -10

The defending champions find themselves near the bottom of the rankings for a very simple reason: they’re missing many key contributors from their 2025 championship. Without Jeff Teat, the offense has become one dimensional with Shellenberger doing a lot of the heavy lifting and struggling to match his 2025 efficiency.

Levi Anderson, Matt Rambo and Reid Bowering are all serviceable lefties, but none will match the skills and production of Teat. Combine the loss of arguably the best player in the PLL with the loss of long-time offensive coordinator Steven Brooks, and you’re seeing an offense that is struggling to find consistent scoring.

On the defensive end, New York has missed Adler’s presence, and long-stick midfielder Michael Grace’s absence has also been an underrated loss. Liam Entenmann played well in New York’s first three games, but the high volume of shots he’s facing is unsustainable — and we saw him crack in New York’s loss to California.

New York is not completely left for dead and should be able to get better as the new pieces on offense and defense start to build more chemistry. But time is quickly running out with a doubleheader in week five, and the Atlas could enter the All-Star break with five losses if they don’t right the ship soon.

8. Boston Cannons

Record: 1-3 | Score Differential: -4

The Cannons are last in the power rankings at this point in the season because neither the offense nor defense has played exceptionally well outside of a lopsided win over a Philly team that was missing key players at the time.

The offense has been mostly lackluster, managing to score just 10 goals in three games while a 19-goal output against Philly is looking more and more like an outlier. The defense has been similar, allowing more than 14 goals in three losses while holding the Waterdogs to five goals in their first meeting.

Goalie Colin Kirst has had the biggest highs and lows, failing to stop as low as 35 percent of the shots he’s faced in one game and then saving a season-high 80 percent in another. Andrew McMeekin appeared serviceable in his PLL debut, but how will the rookie fare against tougher competition?

If you remove the team’s only win, Boston currently ranks dead last in scores against average at 16 and tied for second-to-last in scores per game. While Boston boasts a league-high seven two-point goals, their reliance on scoring beyond the arc suggests that its offensive output might be even worse than it appears. They’re not far off from New York or Utah, but this team has been the most underwhelming so far.