March 3, 2025
By Ian Toner

“Inside the UFA” readers might recall previous reporting indicating 2024 UFA Rookie of the Year Tobe Decraene would return to the Royal for the second and final season of his contract in 2025. But in the last few weeks, I’d heard rumblings that the Belgian star might not be returning to Montreal. I can now confirm that Decraene has signed with Montreal’s division rival, the Glory, and will compete with Boston in 2025.

According to Montreal General Manager JP Riopel, the Canadian government denied the Royal’s request for an open work permit for Decraene in December.

“While Tobe had a closed work permit for his role with the Royal, the financial constraints made it unsustainable for him to stay for another season,” Riopel said in a March 1 email. “After many discussions, Tobe made the difficult decision to terminate his contract with us. We fully understand and respect his choice, even though we are disappointed–especially given that he is joining a team in our own division.”

Glory General Manager Lucas Johnson said his organization found out Decreane, who played in the 2024 USA Ultimate club series with the Boston men’s team DiG, could be available earlier in the winter and reached out to him.

“We honestly just wanted to see if it was at all possible [for Decraene] to come back to North America and understand what he would need,” Johnson recalled. “From there, we started doing the groundwork to see what we could achieve,” Johnson added, mentioning that the Glory had already been talking to another international prospect and had started figuring out what it would take to sign an international player. (Johnson declined to name that prospect and mentioned pursuit of that player did not work out.)

“I already played with a lot of the guys in the club season with DiG and I really loved the vibe,” Decraene said. He also said he loved being coached by Sam Lehman and Jake Smart, and Johnson confirmed both will be returning to Boston’s coaching staff for 2025.

“I had some interest from several other clubs, but for me, it was always gonna be Boston or Montreal,” Decraene added. “Personally I want to do everything I can to contribute as much as possible to get a championship. I’d love to put up 50-plus scores and 20-plus assists with fewer than 20 turnovers [...] I’ve been training extremely hard this offseason getting everything set up to be the best player I can be. Anything less than a championship will be a defeat.”

As Riopel’s comments indicate, Decraene’s departure is a massive gut punch to the Royal, whose Canadian rivals in Toronto have had more success recruiting international talent this offseason while American rivals in Boston and New York have been amassing more top-level talent.

It will be challenging for Montreal to replace Decraene’s 52 assists, 17 goals and 18 blocks, but Riopel is hopeful that UK and Australian star Ben Powlay can contribute meaningfully to the Royal attack in 2025.

“We are deeply disappointed by Tobe Decraene’s departure,” Riopel said. “Tobe is an exceptional player and amazing human who integrated well into our community during the 2024 season.”

Of course, the Decraene signing is a massive get for a Boston program looking to build off the momentum from its first playoff victory in franchise history. Adding a player of Decraene’s stature, skill and endurance to battle alongside returning talents like two-time reigning MVP Jeff Babbitt, Peter Boerth, Orion Cable, Simon Carapella, and Tannor Johnson-Go (as confirmed by Johnson) could position Boston as the 2025 East Division title favorite.

While the stars appear to be aligning for Boston to challenge for a first division title and Championship Weekend appearance in franchise history on paper, the question that has followed Boston for its entire existence, though, will persist into 2025: will its awe-inspiring talent be able to gel and stay committed throughout the duration of the season?

New York Continues Roster Reload, Adds All-Star Sheppard, Brown

Elsewhere in the East, while DC is still working to finalize and reveal pieces of its 2025 roster, New York is continuing its offseason signing spree by adding another handful of new faces, including 2019 All-Star Game MVP Max Sheppard and Los Angeles Aviators veteran Calvin Brown.

“My conversations started with the Empire [...] when a former Empire player advised me to reach out to their management about potentially being on the team this year, given I was looking into other opportunities,” said Sheppard, who signed a one-year contract and has started the process of moving to the New York area. “The deciding factors to play for New York were about commitment and playing opportunity. After lots of back and forth, terms were fulfilled at the beginning of February.”

“Max didn't need to try out to show his talent, and in ways, Max was trying us out too,” said Empire General Manager Matt Stevens, recounting Sheppard’s appearance at New York’s second tryout. “Not just the Empire as an organization, but the players he'd be alongside. So, although the process took a few months, it was intentional on both sides. That tryout went really well with a mutual feeling of excitement and from there things progressed pretty quickly from Max being a travel player to Max moving to NY for the season.”

Sheppard, who led the Thunderbirds in one or more scoring categories in every season between 2018 and 2023, departs a Pittsburgh franchise that hasn’t reached the playoffs or finished above .500 since 2019.

“I am very open to what my role could potentially be for the Empire, given my career in the UFA started as a D line hustler and grew into an all round O line player,” Sheppard said. “Currently, the idea is to play O line to start the season and see what my role develops into. Personally, my goal is to have fun and to enjoy my time with a new team. I have only one expectation: win.”

“When surrounded by the best players in the league, he shines,” Stevens said. “That is the position we want to put Max in for 2025 and when he committed to moving here for the season it made slotting him into the O Line an easy choice.”

The Brown signing materialized after Marques Brownlee, who was a part of the Team USA beach delegation with Brown in 2023 and will be again in 2025, connected Stevens and Brown in December; Brown had moved to the New York area in August 2024.

“Calvin exemplifies what the next generation of stars will look like in the league,” Stevens said. “Calvin's reputation as a thrower precedes him and in the last generation of the UFA, that would have been enough. He's excellent at finding space in various layers of the field and can be both the main cog and a component of an offense. What separates Calvin from the last generation is he's also a top line defender. This is the type of versatility that will continue to permeate through the sport over the next decade.”

Brown last competed with the Aviators in 2023, and since then, he’s won gold medals with Team USA on beach and grass, and he led the Cal Poly-SLO squad to the men’s title game at USA Ultimate’s college championships last May.

“I’m not coming into the season with any expectations about usage or role, just looking to contribute in  whatever way necessary to make the team more successful,” Brown said in a February 27 email.

Stevens confirmed New York has also signed:

• Jacob Cowan, a Team USA U24 alumnus who Stevens said has “all-rookie first team potential and then some”

• Gavin May, a former Oakland Spider who’s returning from injury and will come back at his own pace whenever he’s ready