The New England Black Wolves have announced the team has signed newly-acquired forwards Shawn Evans and Kevin Crowley to multiple-year deals.
Evans, a two-time National Lacrosse League MVP acquired in a trade with the Calgary Roughnecks back on October 26th, signed a four-year deal. Crowley, who was re-acquired in a trade with Toronto on October 10th, signed a two-year agreement.
No terms were released. The contracts are subject to league approval.
“Signing Kevin and Shawn to long term deals is a big step forward for this organization,” Black Wolves coach Glenn Clark said. “Not only do we secure the playing rights of these outstanding players, we now have the opportunity to start building a competitive team around them.”
The MVP of the NLL in 2013 and 2015, Evans has played 10 seasons in the NLL with Rochester and Calgary. The 29-year-old forward is coming off his most productive season, finishing with career highs of 47 goals, 83 assists and 130 points. The points and assists were league highs.
This past September, Evans followed up a career year in the NLL by earning MVP accolades at the FIL World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, where he collected 10 goals and 25 assists while helping Team Canada win the Gold Medal. Evans was also a member of Team Canada’s Gold Medal team in 2011.
The player to be drafted first in both professional lacrosse leagues, Crowley returned to the Black Wolves after being traded last March for forward Garrett Billings. He finished the 2015 regular season with 64 points (24 goals, 39 assists), 52 of which came on 19 goals and 33 assists in 10 games for New England prior to the trade.
Selected No. 1 overall in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Wings, Crowley recorded 270 points in his career for the franchise, including a single-season best 75 on 33 goals and 42 assists in 2014. A member of the 2012 NLL All-Rookie Team, the forward was also selected to play in the 2012 All-Star Game.
The Black Wolves open the 2016 NLL season January 9th in Vancouver before returning to Connecticut for its home opener against the Calgary Roughnecks on Friday, January 15th at 7 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena.
