Buffalo Ran the NLL. Again. And Nobody Could Stop Them.
The 2024-25 NLL season is in the books, and if you were hoping for a changing of the guard, a new dynasty emerging, or even a credible challenger to knock the Buffalo Bandits off their throne — you didn’t get it. What you got instead was another Buffalo championship, a wild Western Conference that actually delivered some drama, and a league that’s still trying to figure out what it is in a post-expansion world. Let’s get into it.
Regular Season: Two Giants Up Top, Then a Cliff
Buffalo and Saskatchewan both finished 13-5, which sounds like parity until you actually watch the games and realize these two teams occupy a different tier than everyone else in the league. The Bandits were dominant in the East. The Rush were dominant in the West. Everything below them was a jumble.
Halifax (11-7) and Vancouver (11-7) were solid second-tier teams, good enough to make some noise in the playoffs but never quite convincing enough to make you believe they could actually win the whole thing. Then the drop-off hits hard: Rochester, Calgary, Georgia, and San Diego all clustered between 9-11 wins, fighting over playoff spots with nothing to separate them.
The real story of the regular season — the one that doesn’t get talked about enough — is Connor Fields on a 10-8 Rochester team. Fields won MVP. On a team that went 10-8. That’s not a knock on Fields; that’s a testament to just how absurd his season was. Rochester wasn’t a contender. They were a fringe playoff team. And their best player was still the best player in the entire league. That’s a number one seed situation on a lottery ticket roster. Someone in Rochester’s front office needs to look hard in the mirror about why a guy playing that well is playing for a .556 team.
On the other end of the spectrum: Las Vegas. Four wins. Four. The Seals went 9-9 and made the playoffs. The Las Vegas Desert Dogs went 4-14 and made everyone question why expansion franchises get to absorb top talent without actually developing it. Vegas was a disaster — there’s no other word for it — and the league needs to figure out its expansion model before it keeps flooding markets that aren’t ready.
Playoffs: Buffalo Barely Survived the First Round, Then Went Ice Cold on Everyone Else
The quarterfinals gave us exactly one legitimate thriller and three blowouts. Buffalo needed five games to get past San Diego — a 5-4 nail-biter that had no business being as close as it was for a team that finished four games better than their opponent. The Seals nearly pulled off the upset, and if they had, the entire conversation about this season changes. They didn’t, but credit where it’s due: San Diego played with edge in that series.
Saskatchewan handled Georgia 13-9. Halifax dismantled Calgary 16-12. And Vancouver knocked out Rochester 15-10, which meant Fields and the Knighthawks went home in the first round. The rest of the quarterfinals were basically formalities.
The semifinals were worse — in terms of competitiveness. Buffalo swept Vancouver in two. Saskatchewan swept Halifax in two. Neither series was close. Both top seeds did exactly what top seeds are supposed to do, which set up the final everyone wanted from the moment the regular season ended.
The NLL Cup Final: One Blowout, One Classic, One Statement
Buffalo and Saskatchewan. Game 1 goes to Buffalo 12-10. Competitive, physical, the kind of game that makes you think this series is going the distance. Game 2 goes to Saskatchewan in overtime, 11-10. Now you’ve got a real series. Now you’ve got drama. The whole NLL world is tuned in for Game 3.
And then Buffalo dropped the hammer. 15-6. It wasn’t a game. It was a closing argument. The Bandits didn’t just beat Saskatchewan in the final — they embarrassed them on the biggest stage, after Saskatchewan had just forced OT to tie the series. That kind of response is what separates good teams from dynasty teams.
Ian MacKay took home Finals MVP. Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne both finished the season at 134 points, tied for the league scoring lead. Buffalo had the best player in the finals, the best scoring depth in the league, and the most experience in big moments. They were never going to lose this series.
Seven Titles. Second Three-Peat. What Does It Mean?
The Buffalo Bandits have now won seven NLL championships. They’ve completed the second three-peat in league history. They are, without argument, the greatest franchise in the history of the sport at this level. That’s not debatable. And depending on your perspective, it’s either the greatest story in indoor lacrosse or the league’s biggest competitive balance problem — and both of those things can be true at the same time.
Here’s the take: Buffalo’s dominance is a feature, not a bug — right up until the point it becomes a reason casual fans don’t bother tuning in. We’re approaching that cliff. Saskatchewan made it competitive in the final, which is good. The league’s mid-tier — Georgia, San Diego, Halifax — is developing real identities. But if 2025-26 starts with Buffalo as a 15-point favorite to win a fourth straight title, the NLL has a product problem on its hands, not just a roster problem for 13 other teams.
The league is growing. The game is faster and better than it’s ever been. Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne are must-watch players. Connor Fields winning MVP on a barely-.500 team tells you the talent is deep and real. But the NLL needs someone — Saskatchewan, Halifax, a resurgent Vancouver, a development-committed Vegas — to actually close the gap. Not moral victories in Game 2. An actual championship.
Until then, the Bandits are your league. Act accordingly.