The boys out west certainly had one of the more interesting off seasons. Mark Matthews is among the list of players no longer in the Mile High City. Those losses might make it more difficult to make it back to the championship game. 

What's Changed?: The loss of youth. This is sort of the anti-New York Lizards. The loss of Matthews is the loss of a local product who could've been the face of the franchise. Denver's style has been not to make moves based on the heart, though. The Outlaws saw an opportunity to improve other areas and took it. 

Biggest Area of Concern: The veteran attack when it counts. Guys like Brendan Mundorf had a fantastic season. Still, in the playoffs, Mundorf was no where to be found. He tallied just one point during the weekend. In fact, younger players like Matthews and Chris Bocklet were the ones having the biggest impact. The Outlaws have to get more production out of their leaders when it counts

Biggest Strength: Jesse Schwartzman and Lee Zink. Schwartzman was a beast in 2012. He was second in the MLL in GAA at 11.03 and only gave up 13 or more four times. Meanwhile, Zink was the Defensive Player of the Year. It's not going to be easy to score on the Outlaws.

Projected Record: 7-7. There's going to be one team on the outside looking in at the end of the season and for my money, it's looking lke it might be Denver this year. 

New York looked like it was on it's way to the MLL Championship last season and then Denver had a comeback for the ages in the semifinals. Can the Lizards take the next step?

What's Changed?: Mark Matthews, that's what. In that game championship weekend, Matthews tallied five points, unfortunatley for New York, it was for Denver. Now the former DU star is donning green and that mean's a big boost for the Lizards. When you combine Matthews with Tommy Palasek, 2012 Rookie of the Year Matt Gibson, veteren Grant Catalino and Rob Pannell, who's joining the team later on this summer, you create one of the most lethal attacks in the league.

Biggest Area of Concern: Inexperience. This showed up big time in the semifinal game against Denver last year. The team just couldn't hold it together enough when the Outlaws started to push back. The biggest thing holding the the Lizards back is themselves.

Biggest Strength: It has to be the attack. Catalino, Matthews, Palasek and Gibson combined for 110 points last season (Matthews with Denver, of course). Plus, Rob Pannell will be with the team. The Cornell is among the nation's leaders in PPG.

Projected Record: 10-4. The Lizards have all the pieces in place to make a run championship weekend. 

Rochester squandered away a chance at the playoffs down the stretch last season. No major changes to the roster going into 2013, either. Will that hurt the Rattlers chances at getting to championship weekend?

What's Changed?: Like I said, not much. Many of the same pieces (Striebal, Boyle, etc.) are still in tact, but the team didn't gain much outside of that. Rochester lost didn't have a first or second round draft pick this season. One big loss, however, was a youngster-Roy Lang. The Cornell product had an impressive rookie campaign, with 14 goals in 13 games. Lang's loss might be under the radar a bit, but with no first or second round draft picks last season, the loss of a young player to cultivate could be damaging.

Biggest Area of Concern: It has to be at the faceoff X. Rochester was second to last in the league last season at 44.4%. Tim Fallon and Craig Bunker took a majority of FO in 2012. The Rattlers do have young, Hobart product Bobby Datillo. If he can show promise at the postition, it'll be a big boost for his team.

Biggest Strength: It has to be their balanced scoring load. In 2012, Rochester had five players with at least 22 points and no one had more than 32. As long as the Rattlers continue to get production, having multiple options to put the ball in the net can't be a bad thing at all.

Projected Record: 5-9. Rochester's taking another step back this year. I'm just not sure about the faceoff situation and if you can't control the ball, I don't see how you can control the game.

No longer noobs to the MLL scene. Here's the season outlook for the Charlotte Hounds.

What's Changed : A huge addition for Charlotte this offseason was adding Peet Poillon. The middie was picked up in a trade with Denver in Septemeber. Last season with the Outlaws, he tallied 40 points and 24 goals, including three 2-pointers. The point total is more than any Hounds middie had last year.

Biggest Area of Concern: It has to be in net. Charlotte struggled last season to keep the ball out of the cage. Adam Ghitelman saw a majority of the time in net and was third to last in the league in GAA with nearly 14 per-game. 

The team did acquire Sean Aaron in the 2013 supplemental draft, but until he's seen in MLL action it's tough to know what you're going to get. Otherwise, it could be another year of Charlotte allowing way too many goals for the attack to keep up.

Biggest Strength: This has to be Matt Danowski. The guy was a huge bright spot for Charlotte last season. He was sixth in the league in points with 48 and helped the team get it's feet wet in its first MLL season. His balanced game (19 G and 19 A in '12) shows he can get his teammates involved easily. With new weapons like Poillon, those numbers look set to improve. If Charlotte has any hope of getting into the playoffs, Danowski has to be the leader. 

Projected Record: 5-9. There's still too many questions with this team. Will they be better at the faceoff X? Who's going to be the guy in net? Charlotte's midfield and attack, with guys like Danowski, Jovan Miller, and Billy Bitter,  might be close to where they want it to be, but the rest of the team still needs work. 

New year, new look for the only MLL team north of the border. 

What's Changed: The coaching staff. Regy Thorpe and Gary Gait are gone. Re-enter Dave Huntley, the former coach of the Toronto Nationals, now back with the organization as this year's new headman. He's worked with plenty of Canadian teams in his coaching time, including the Canadian national field team. 

Biggest Area of Concern: It's the same old song and dance for the Nationals. They have a talented team, but every player is roughly the same. The offense is filled with a plethora of scorers from a box background, textbook for a Canadian team. This prevents them from having a varied offense. Instead, all the goals should come from somebody finishing inside, typically on a Joe Walters feed to Cody Jamieson, Garrett Billings, or Stephen Keogh.

Their 2012 numbers were a testament to their predictability on offense. They have too many inside scorers instead of outside finishers. As a result, Hamilton only had five two-point goals on the season. Five! The next worse team, Boston, doubled that total with ten.

The other problem this presents -- for another year -- is the delay of the players joining the team as they join following the NLL season ending. Hamilton has the advantage of getting a first-week bye, but still should have trouble with a limited roster against Boston and Long Island in the first two games.

Biggest Strength: Defensive rookies. Hamilton needs top-notch play from its rookies as they shuffle in following the NCAA season. The Nationals drafted very well, picking up All-American defenseman Jason Noble, Virginia middie Chris LaPierre, who is a talented SSDM that can score in transition, and Loyola SSDM Josh Hawkins. All of those guys bring in exceptional talent to force turnovers and generate some offense in transition. As you can deduce from reading the "area of concern" section, that transition offense will be key to offering some variety to produce more scoring.

Perhaps the biggest addition could be Johns Hopkins FOGO Mike Poppleton. He's winning an insanely high amount of faceoffs this year -- 67%. That could be a boost to Hamilton's already talented faceoff unit that ranked third in the MLL last season. Overall, this rookie class can help keep the ball away from the defense, but still has the talent to force turnovers and get the ball to the attack.

Projected Record: 4-10. New year, same problems plague Hamilton. It'll be a slow start before the Nationals work a split with Rochester, beat Charlotte at least once, and pull off late season home upsets of Boston and Denver. 

By ROBERT BACAJ (Editor-in-Chief) - After a two-win inaugural season, Ohio was one of the most active teams in the offseason, making moves for a better 2013. With the first game just about two weeks away, let's break down how the team looks entering its second season.

Biggest Area of Concern: Goaltending. Ohio has a big competition in the cage. The Machine recently traded for Scott Rodgers, hoping to fix the issue. He had a rough 2012 with Hamilton, putting up the worst numbers of his career. Rodgers was splitting time with Brett Queener with the Nationals and hasn't been the regular guy in a few years. Ohio's banking on a change of scenery and the chance to be the full-time goalie bringing Rodgers to his full potential everybody noticed when he led Notre Dame within a goal of a college national championship in 2010.

If he's not the answer, the likely remaining options are Stefan Schroeder and Rob Fortunato. Last season, Schroeder was amongst the worst goalies in the league statistically, but is still probably going to be an option this season because of his local presence. He's probably the final choice for this team if Rodgers and Fortunato aren't the answer. 

Fortunato was part of a team that won a national championship at Virginia, but hasn't really had a chance to prove himself in Major League Lacrosse. He has the tools to be successful in the pros. His save percentage in college (57%) and clearing percentage (91%) speak to his quick hands, good positioning, and smart play in transition. 

Largely the concern is that these guys are unproven in the pros. Ohio's taking a chance with them, but could reap a big reward.

Biggest Strength: Offense, offense, offense. There's no doubting a team with Steele Stanwick, Kyle Hartzell, Chazz Woodson, Jim Connolly, Kiel Matisz, and Connor Martin can put up tons of goals. Add in draft picks like Peter Baum from Colgate, who won the Tewaaraton Trophy last season, and Ohio has few weeknesses on offense. It can shoot from distance to get two-point goals or dodge from X to feed inside scorers.

There are a lot of options for Coach Ted Garber. With a team this talented offensively, he can get creative with a cutting offense with tons of movement, or just rely on good shooting. 

Projected Record: 6-8. Another year, another step towards the playoffs. With the talent offensively, I expect a sweep of Hamilton, a split with Charlotte and Rochester, and at least one or two upsets of Denver, Boston, Chesapeake, or Long Island. The X-Factor is goaltending, but adding Chad Wiedmaier on D helps with ground balls and close defense. The tools are in place to surpise some teams, but a front-heavy schedule -- opening with Denver, Chesapeake, and Long Island -- could give the Machine a rough start before the team has a chance to gel and get going.

By ROBERT BACAJ (Editor-in-Chief) - It's hard to believe, but we're only a month away from conference tournament weekend in college lacrosse. Now that we're past the halfway point -- not to mention MLL play starts this month -- it's time to take a look at the top college players that weren't drafted last January. 

Andrew Scalley (A, Mt. St. Mary's) - He's tearing up his senior season for the Mountaineers. Scalley's quietly been one of the best feeding/scoring dual threats from X during his first three years at the Mount, but now he's putting up top-notch numbers. He ranks fourth in the nation in points per game (5.40), steadily reaching 26 goals and 28 dishes through ten games.

The real kicker with Scalley is he's kept up this production through ten games. The guys ahead of him -- particularly Rob Pannell -- still have tough games ahead which could diminish their numbers. Scalley's been setting up his teammates and dodging well from behind the cage all season. 

Luke Cometti (M, Syracuse) - Syracuse's senior midfielder had to play behind guys like the Ohio Machine's Bobby Eilers last season, so he never got to play on the first line midfield. Now, he's show he is one of the best cutting middies and off-ball players in the nation. That's translated to goals since he plays with strong feeders like Lizards' draft pick Jojo Marasco. 

Cometti was leading the Orange with 11 goals through seven games. His strong play -- especially against Johns Hopkins -- sparked Jays' coach Dave Pietramala to call him the best off-ball player in the country. That's high praise from a veteran coach and it seems justified. 

Jeff Froccaro (A/M, Princeton) - He brings something to the table that a lot of teams could use: a scoring touch from both the attack and midfield positions. Froccaro, who's listed as a middie for Princeton, sees starts at attack and finishes well. He's putting up big numbers for the Tigers, despite competing with five or six other strong scorers on offense.

Froccaro has 20 goals through eight games. The only thing he needs to tweak for success at the next level is his shooting percentage. Froccaro only scores on roughly a third of his shots, decently average. If he could rise that number up to around 40 or 50 percent like his fellow attackman Mike MacDonald, Frocarro would be a must-have for a lot of MLL teams looking for offense.

Penn State was right on the cusp of an NCAA tournament appearance last season. The Nittany Lions had some impressive wins on their resume including Notre Dame and Villanova. Now, they lose their leading scorer Matthew Mackrides and top a top midfielder in Ryan Link, but bring back goalie Austin Kaut and  D-middie Jack Donnelly. Here are three things PSU can do to make that next step to the NCAA tournament in 2013.

1) Ride the Defense - Once again, the Nittany Lions will be led by their D. Kaut was fantastic in goal in his sophomore season. He allowed less than eight goals-per-game, which was better than guys like Rob Fortunato at Virginia and Dan Wigrizer at Duke. Donnelly was also a pain for opposing offenses in 2012. He had 13 caused turnovers and looks to be one of the leaders of the unit in his sophomore season.

2) Play Better at Home - Penn State was undefeated on the road in 2012 (5-0), but at home it wasn't so good. The Nittany Lions went just 4-5 and this season have less games in University Park, so they need to make them count. Out of their six home games, four should be wins. That means if PSU can pull of the W against either Notre Dame or Lehigh, it should be in good position to reach the NCAA Tournament.

3) Better Shot % - This team could not put the ball in the back of the net in 2012. It coverted just 25.8% of it's shots and averaged only 8.73 GPG. With how well the defense played, the Nittany Lions still won 9 games. However, this offensive unit has some veterns like Jack Forster and Shane Sturgis returning and with those veteren's can turn the offensive woes around. 

The Washington Stealth have announced three captains for the upcoming season. Kyle Sorensen has been given the 'C,' while Rhys Duch and Mike Grimes have been named assistant captains. Sorensen enters his seventh year with the Stealth having already been an assistant captain. 

"It's pretty special to have the opportunity to wear the 'C' for the Stealth," said Sorensen in a team press release. 

The defenseman has 390 loose balls to go along with 54 points in his career. He's replacing previous captain Jason Bloom, who retired and joined Washington's coaching staff earlier this week.