Lamberti’s Power Rankings: Can Chaos climb higher?

Owen Hiltz is giving the Chaos offense a spark. The Redwoods are showing flashes of promise, but their defense still leaves questions. And the Archers — last year’s champs — are struggling to find their rhythm, plagued by scoreless droughts and inconsistency from key players.

Five weeks into the PLL season, will the contenders separate themselves soon?

Here are my power rankings halfway through the regular season:

1. New York Atlas

Matt Traynor boosts the Atlas to the top of the power rankings.

He was the best offensive player on the field this past weekend against the Archers, scoring the game-winning goal as well as dishing the assist to ice the game.

New York was already considered one of the favorites to win it all heading into the season because of their prolific attack unit, but now they have a rising superstar at the midfield to boot.

The first-round draft pick was obviously an outstanding college player, and he’s exceeded expectations so far in the PLL as a dodger.

Traynor was a capable dodger as an attackman at Penn State, however his true calling card was his ability to shoot with his feet set and his off-ball movement. As a midfielder in the PLL that is drawing a short-stick, Traynor is showcasing his dodging abilities.

Not only can he get to the cage for himself, but he’s setting up his teammates as well off the dodge.

Traynor is showing moves I’ve never seen him use during his collegiate career.

The attack unit led by Jeff Teat will continue to score goals and rack up points, but it bodes well for New York that they have a ball carrying midfield that can take over games as well.

There’s an argument to be made to move Traynor to attack, where he played the past two years, but with his ability to invert on SSDMs? I’d keep him at the midfield.

Next game: Friday, July 11 vs. Boston Cannons (7:00 p.m. ET; ESPN2)

2. Denver Outlaws

Put simply, the Outlaws are scary.

Yeah, we make a big fuss that they have four Tewaaraton winners, but it actually is a big deal because either of those four could go off at any time offensively.

It was the Jared Bernhardt show against Utah (4G, 1A) and then the Pat Kavanagh show against California (5G, 3A).

I talked about how much of a spark Bernhardt provided offensively and rookie goalie Logan McNaney provided saving the ball and starting transition last week, but Kavanagh’s emergence can’t go understated.

He leads the league in touches by 30+ touches on a team with three other Tewaaraton winners, which is how it should be with his ability to dodge or feed with equal ability.

After playing out of position for the Cannons in 2024 and being traded in the off-season because Boston already had Asher Nolting dominating the touches, Kavanagh is getting more comfortable each week in his natural spot for Denver.

ESPN broadcaster Ryan Boyle keeps talking about how important role definition is for this team offensively, and it’s looking like it’s pretty much figured out.

Kavanagh runs the offense like a point guard, Bernhardt and Brennan O’Neill pose as dangerous wing threats with speed and strength while  Logan Wisnauskas is settling into a big man/center type role with his size and finishing ability.

It’s been the winning formula so far for the Outlaws, and it looks like an awfully tough formula to stop.

Next game: Saturday, July 12 vs. Maryland Whipsnakes (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2)

3. Boston Cannons

Boston is still very much a championship contender, but they need more from star attackman Nolting.

This offense is built on Nolting being able to beat his man and score unassisted goals. All 11 of his goals in 2024 were unassisted, but he has zero this season.

That’s not to say the offense isn’t still working; Nolting is still second in the league in assists with 12, but he doesn’t look like the same dodger he was in 2024.

The bright side? Boston still has plenty of weapons like midfielder Matt Campbell and rookie attackman Coulter Mackesy that can carry the ball and score to take the pressure off Nolting.

So maybe Nolting doesn’t need to be the ball carrier as much as he was last season, and perhaps I’m being a little critical, but when you are regarded as a top attacker in the league, you have to win your matchup. You just have to. When your team is in desperate need of a goal (they went scoreless in the last quarter against Carolina), Nolting is the one that needs to provide.

Next game: Friday, July 11 vs. New York Atlas (7:00 p.m. ET; ESPN2)

4. Philadelphia Waterdogs

Life sure is sweet when you have the MVP frontrunner.

Michael Sowers is operating on a different level in 2025. The key difference? His passing.

Sowers is leading the league in assists (18), averaging 3.6 per game.

He’s always been a good feeder, but there’s been two schematic changes that have allowed Sowers’ assist totals to skyrocket in 2025.

First, the Waterdogs are sending a lot of “big-little” screens for Sowers to get him matched up on an SSDM.

Not only does the switch put the defense on high alert, which leads to quick slides and open players, but it also allows Sowers to feed without a long pole in his hands.

The second area of focus is the Waterdogs moving it quickly to Sowers at X after the dodge.

This was prominent in their first game of 2025 where Sowers had seven assists.

“I wasn’t really even dodging, and that’s a credit to our midfield,” Sowers said following the win over the Whipsnakes. “They’re drawing slides and kicking the ball forward and making our job easy.”

By moving it quickly to X, Sowers is able to scan the defense and find the open man on a rotating defense.

We haven’t seen as much of Sowers picking apart defenses from X in recent weeks, and that’s because teams aren’t sliding as quickly to Waterdog midfielders or they are pressing out to Sowers at X.

There’s just one problem with that.

Philadelphia still has the horses at the midfield to score unassisted goals when teams don’t slide, in particular All-Star Jack Hannah.

Sowers is the heartbeat of this team and continues to rack up the assists, and the scary thing is that he can do it in different ways.

Next game: Friday, July 11 vs. Utah Archers (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2)

5. California Redwoods

Offensively, California is fine, and their rookies are as advertised.

Chris Kavanagh has been an awesome shooter on the righty wing. Andrew McAdorey’s speed is a matchup problem, and he’s already demanding the LSM. Sam English is showcasing his two-way ability and is a one man clear with his athleticism. Carter Rice and Josh Balcarcel are playing significant minutes at the SSDM and offensive midfield positions respectively.

For how well the young guns are playing, I’d like to see a little more production and consistency from Ryder Garnsey at the lefty attack spot and Charlie Bertrand from the midfield.

These are their top two returning point leaders from last season, and they haven’t had quite the seasons they had in 2024.

Now, that could definitely be because there’s more talent around them, but these are two veterans that I expect just a little bit more out of, and if they do start producing a tad more, this offense could find another gear.

The concern is and has always been defense for California.

Their starting defenders and SSDMs are good, not great. They are averaging 12.8 goals per game, second worst in the league behind the Chaos.

And Chayse Ierlan is a good goalie, but not great. He’s the only current starting goalie saving below 50%. The lowest save percentage of a championship winning goalie in the PLL is 53.46% (Dillon Ward – 2022).

So I like what they’re doing offensively, and they possess some great speed in between the lines, but settled defense and goalie? It’s a question mark I’m not sure general manager Joe Spallina will (or can) address with the available talent, and this area feels like the reason California is yet to be stamped as a true contender in 2025.

Next game: Saturday, July 12 vs. Carolina Chaos (7:00 p.m. ET; ESPN2)

6. Maryland Whipsnakes

No game for the Whipsnakes this past weekend, but a lot of their success moving forward will be on their two Carroll rookies: Aidan and Emmet.

Offensively, Carroll looks to be a locked-in starter at attack after a last-minute decision thrust him into that role while goalie Carroll had 17 saves for a save percentage of 74% against the Chaos.

Maryland needs both of these players to keep playing like this to have a shot at the title.

Next game: Saturday, July 12 vs. Denver Outlaws (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2)

7. Utah Archers

No, I’m still not that concerned about them, but I just don’t see how I can put the Archers any higher than No. 7 in the power rankings.

Offensively, they have the least amount of scores and shots in the league, but perhaps more concerning is the long, scoreless droughts they’ve had in every single game.

You could use the excuse that they are still fighting injuries to attackman Matt Moore and midfielder Tre Leclaire.

I don’t care. They should still be scoring more than 9.2 points per game.

And that starts with Mac O’Keefe. He only has four goals in 2025 after having 21 scores last season.

There’s no doubt O’Keefe is still one of the best shooters in the league and he can heat up in the blink of an eye, but he needs to dodge more to take some pressure off Connor Fields.

What made this offense so dangerous in 2024 was the evolution of O’Keefe as a dodger. His 13 unassisted goals last season were more than guys like Sowers, Nolting and Rob Pannell.

But now, in 2025, he seems a little hesitant to be a ball-carrier for whatever reason. Perhaps the idea is to get Fields and midfielder Tom Schreiber as many touches as possible, but O’Keefe has proven he can beat his matchup, especially when it’s the second or third defender guarding him.

They need him to harness some of the dodging prowess he showed in 2024 for this offense to get back on track.

Next game: Friday, July 11 vs. Philadelphia Waterdogs (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2)

8. Carolina Chaos

I said anyone could beat anyone in the league in the last power rankings, and that’s what happened this week as Carolina upset Boston 14-12.

The reason they are still last in the power rankings? Inconsistency on the offense end.

Despite the outburst on Saturday, they are still only averaging 10 goals a game, next to last in the league.

That being said, we saw glimpses of what life could look like when top draft pick Hiltz is operating the offense.

The rookie lefty had four goals and looks to have the skill and IQ to be a superstar in this league.

Sergio Perkovic had a massive game with 4 points (3G, 1T), and while he’s not going to have that production every game, other midfielders like Shane Knobloch and Ross Scott are capable of having big games as well.

But make no mistake; the Chaos might still be last in the power rankings, but that doesn’t really mean much.

When goalie Blaze Riorden is making 20+ saves a game and you have a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Jack Rowlett, all this offense needs to do is get to double digit goals and they have a chance in every single game.

Next game: Saturday, July 12 vs. California Redwoods (7:00 p.m. ET; ESPN2)