MATT VOLZ
Editor in Chief
At last year’s trade deadline, the Buffalo Bandits had some glaring needs.
Their defense was struggling in front of goalie Matt Vinc, and after the retirement of transition player Max Adler in 2023, they were getting beaten badly in the faceoff circle.
General Manager Steve Dietrich responded with two moves: signing Connor Farrell for faceoffs and trading for veteran defenseman Paul Dawson.
Both players provided a much-needed jolt to a team sitting in the middle of the standings, and they helped to fuel Buffalo’s eventual run to a repeat championship.
This year’s deadline looks a bit different. The Bandits entered deadline day at 9-2, good for first place overall.
However, Dietrich still sought to upgrade his team.
As part of a four-team trade, the Bandits acquired two players who will immediately slot into the lineup.
First, Buffalo traded forward Sam La Roue and a 2026 second-round pick to the Ottawa Black Bears in exchange for transition player Ron John and a 2025 third-round pick.
John, a 26-year-old from nearby Angola, N.Y., is in his fourth season in the NLL.
Drafted in the second round by the Colorado Mammoth in 2020, John made his debut with the team in December 2021, notching an assist in his first game.
He was traded to the New York Riptide in March 2022, remaining with the organization through their move to Ottawa until being traded to Buffalo this week.
This season, John has two goals and four assists in ten games.
One of his biggest strengths is collecting loose balls, and he has 41 of them to this point in the season.
He has also stayed out of the penalty box, with only four penalty minutes all season.
That’s something the Bandits could use, especially after a game in which their captain racked up 16 penalty minutes.
Buffalo also brought in another player in the four-team deal, adding veteran transition player Kiel Matisz.
Matisz was actually traded twice in this deal. He was originally sent from Ottawa to the Vancouver Warriors, only for the Warriors to flip him to Buffalo.
In the second deal for the veteran, the Bandits also added a 2028 fourth-round pick while giving up a second-round pick in the same draft.
Matisz, a 35-year-old from Stoney Creek, Ontario, has been in the league for more than a decade after being drafted third overall by the then-Minnesota Swarm in 2012.
Throughout his career, he’s averaged just over a goal per game, although his goal scoring has slowed a bit with five goals in 10 games so far in 2025.
He’s a transition player who can also slot in on offense, another weapon who can provide a secondary scoring option for the Bandits.
The best offensive season of his career came in 2019 as a member of the Philadelphia Wings.
That year, he recorded a team-high 55 assists and was tied for first on the team with 82 points, a season in which the Wings limped to a 4-14 record.
While those offensive numbers may be behind him, even a modest statline would be yet another threat in a group including the likes of Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Chase Fraser, Chris Cloutier, Kyle Buchanan and Tehoka Nanticoke.
The additions of John and Matisz also bring an added sense of familiarity to the team.
Bandits sideline reporter Dave Buchanan pointed out on social media that John was a college teammate of Nanticoke at the University of Albany, and Matisz played with Buchanan at Robert Morris University.
Both players are expected to make their Bandits debuts in Calgary Saturday night, as the Bandits take on the Roughnecks for the second straight week.
Calgary also had a busy deadline day, making the move of the day by finally ending a months-long standoff with goalie Christian Del Bianco.
Del Bianco announced over the summer that he wouldn’t play for the Roughnecks anymore, and he continued to hold out into the start of the season.
After the team acquired goalie Nick Rose from the Toronto Rock in a high-profile deal, a trade of Del Bianco was a move waiting to happen.
Calgary pulled the trigger on Monday, sending the frustrated netminder to the Vancouver Warriors for a package including multiple first-round picks.
The Roughnecks are looking to keep themselves in a playoff spot, as several teams are separated by just a couple of games in the standings.
The sprint to the finish line is on, as the regular season ends in just over a month on Saturday, April 19.
The Bandits have seven games remaining, with no more bye weeks and a home-and-away doubleheader next weekend.
Their opponents in the doubleheader are the Las Vegas Desert Dogs and the Albany FireWolves, the league’s two worst teams.
Outside of those matchups, Buffalo is set to play four of the next five teams behind them in the standings.
If the Bandits can make it through the gauntlet and keep their hold on the league’s top spot, teams would have to go through Banditland in order to unseat the twice-defending champions.
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