When looking for a faceoff man that can match wits, hands, and clamps with the best in the world, Adler has to be in the discussion. Famously, or perhaps infamously, Adler balled out so hard in his first game in last year’s MLL bubble that he had to be given fluids after the game.

However, Adler has had quite a journey from DII Bentley University to the center stage of professional lacrosse. Every time Adler has been tasked to move up a level he has not only met that challenge but exceeded it. His success is excessive.

There are faceoff men that just win draws and jog off the field and then there are faceoff guys like Max Adler. Built from the same Olympian clay as top-class draw men like Trevor Baptiste and Joe Nardella, Adler is a fully formed option for a team looking for just one champion at the X. Historically, he’s done pretty well against the best in the business as well. Adler’s lifetime faceoff win percentage in the pros is 58.4% and he won 65% of his draws in four MLL games last summer.

Not always a threat to score after he wins the draw, he’s still very Nardella-like in his ball control after a groundball. His ability to penetrate defenses that refuse to slide to him in broken situations has improved greatly just in the last two seasons, but the goals haven’t poured in yet. With a shorter field in the PLL, Adler may get a chance to show off his goalscoring acumen.

After all, Adler has improved his game in each successive season; he struggled to get regular reps in his first pro season with the Outlaws, but by 2018 he was a fixture in the lineup. By 2019 he had ascended to his current level of expertise and became one of the most prolific faceoff men in the MLL. The next step in the PLL and whichever team takes him will get one of the best in the game.