Calgary’s NLL club move rights to transition star Zach Currier in major deal made with Seals
’Superman’ is back to save the day.
Or at least to help give the Calgary Roughnecks more offence.
Curtis Dickson, the franchise leader in goals, rejoins the National Lacrosse League club in a major trade made Thursday that sees the contract rights of all-star transition talent Zach Currier shipped to the San Diego Seals.
“Everyone in Calgary knows what a dynamic offensive player Curtis Dickson is,” said Roughnecks GM Mike Board. “He is a pure goal-scorer — one-on-one, five-on-five, on the man-up and when shorthanded.
“I don’t have a vote for the hall-of-fame but would suggest Curtis will be in it when he finishes his career.”
Board and the Roughnecks are banking on it finishing in Calgary.
After all, the 14-year NLL veteran is 35 years old and likely in the closing years of his spectacular career.
But the Riggers are banking on them being as productive as ever.
He followed his club-high 458-goal tenure of 12 years with the Roughnecks by scoring 44 goals in his first season with the Seals in 2022-23 and then added 27 more — in just 13 games — during the past campaign.
Meanwhile, his former team — from which he bolted during free agency two off-seasons back — has struggled to score.
“It certainly bolsters our offence acquiring a perennial 40-goal scorer,” Board said. “And Curtis is not only an impact player with proven scoring touch. He’s a leader on the floor. Adding him to our line-up provides a scoring threat five-on-five and with the man-advantage.”
Trouble is they lose the two-time NLL transition player of the year in Currier, who copped the award in both 2022 and ’23.
Currier was also the club leader in all-time loose-ball recoveries — with a whopping 1,156 — and considered an élite defender — if not the league’s best.
He was truly the spine of the squad beyond the crease with his tenacity, two-way play and leadership.
But he’s also a pending free agent, who was likely to leave the Roughnecks — after six successful seasons with the team — come August 1.
”There was a chance that we could lose Currier in free agency,” confirmed Board, who sends the rights to 30-year-old Currier, the 14th pick in the 2024 NLL Draft and the Roughnecks’ second-round pick in 2026 to the Seals for Dickson and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NLL Draft.
“We want to thank Zach Currier for his time, effort and commitment to the Roughnecks,” continued Board. “And we wish him well as he continues his NLL career.”
The GM could have slapped its one and only franchise tag on Currier to keep him with the Riggers for at least one more season.
But that tag is going on on all-world goaltender Christian Del Bianco, who was named the league MVP in 2023 and is the team’s most important player. The 26-year-old backstop is also set to become a free agent on Aug. 1 and was likely to join former Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky with the Vancouver Warriors.
Dickson, meanwhile, still has a year left on his two-year pact he signed last summer with the Seals.
Since departing from the Riggers in the summer of 2022, the native of Port Coquitlam, B.C., became the 16th player in NLL history to reach 1,000 career points and the eighth player in NLL history to reach 500 goals scored.
“We are excited to have Curtis Dickson back in the Roughnecks fold,” added Board.