The draft rules have been posted, nothing too surprising: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/10/19/mls-releases-details-montreal-expansion-draft Pick your 11 guys you would protect on the RSL roster in the poll above. *Assuming Gil can't be picked. I wanted to add more options, but 16 is the max. Make a note if someone not on the list is who you would protect (ps, you are crazy)
Wow, that's a pretty high degree of conformity. We have all those threads about guy #11 but when it comes down to it, the top 11 stand out.
Might try asking in the Montreal forum what type of players they need.(Yes, I know fans opinions have nothing to do with the teams decisions.)
I think it is apparent that we will be losing one of our studs on the D... frankly, we are getting old. If this is the case, I say wingert gets the axe, FWIW. (meaning unprotected...)
I would trade Johnson in a Canadian bacon minute before giving up Wingert but I'm probably alone in that thinking.
Yeah, I definitely don't agree. Does Will make some jaw dropping (in a bad way) passes? Yes. But I'm such a proponent of guys that bust their butts, and are better than what they should be based on their God given talent alone, because they hustle. Will is definitely a JK kind of a guy. I don't think we will lose any of our "stud" defenders. I think Russell (who isn't part of the poll) will be left unprotected, but I don't consider him a "stud" defender by any means. I think the rest of our defenders will be protected.
I can't imagine that if this poll was done at the beginning of the season that A. Alvarez would have zero votes. Looking at how this has turned out so far is a pretty good indicator of how his RSL career has been going.
You can see who voted for what by clicking on the poll numbers. So it looks like HeBeGB wants him protected.
The reason I don't think we need to protect either the Jean Machine or Cuban Alvarez is that we can only lose 1 player in the draft. While YAlvarez has been a nice addition, it is not like he is miles better than Alexandre at the holding mid position. And, lets not forget, they are just playing for second fiddle to KB. Thus, no real reason to protect either in my book. Schuler v PJ: Someone show me a clip after PJ's multiple injuries where he shows anything better than Arnoux/Agorsor. I dare you. Will Johnson gives our midfield bite. The problem we have - that really needs to be addressed in the offseason - is that we don't have a 4th solid midfielder to go on the other side of the diamond. No offense to Grabs, Andy, and Luis but they simply don't get it done at right mid. Johnson is a hell of a player. One that, as stated before, is the exact kind of player Kreis loves. No way in hell he is not getting protected. Someone needs to send a video of AA's play back when he showed something good - just change the color of his shirt. maybe we can get Montreal to buy into him
Will is a 2-way player who, while not great at either, can play solid in an attacking role or back in a defensive roll. He works well in our current midfield set up and his hustle is bar none. He can play on either side of the wing or even at outside back when we are in a jam. WAY to valuable. 15 is right in that we need another winger. We all were hoping Lefturo would be that guy but yeah, that hasn't exactly panned out. Having Grabs and Andy has given our team a crutch to fall back on but Andy has one more solid year in him and Grabs should be our 12th man on the bench. Gil has shown that he's better in the center of the pitch but he needs more time. We didn't sign Lefturo for more than a year right? Our top priority in the off season should be finding a new winger.
After this year has played out, Schuler over PJ every time. While Schuler isn't the best outside back, he was definitely servicable there. I think our key spots to look for in the offseason is a solid backup for lb/rb, and some speed in the midfield.
Looks like the only player on whom we all agree is Olave. Interesting, as I figured there would be a core 5-6 players with universal support.
Someone voted just for Olave early on. It looks as though not everyone is picking 11 guys when they do it. Regardless, its pretty obvious who this board (and others that roam) think should be the 11.
I would like Y Alvarez on the team next year. I see the potential. I don't see reason to protect him, though. Just because I didn't protect someone, doesn't mean I don't want the player around anymore. I do feel we need to make some bigger changes this offseason, but that doesn't mean clean the rest of the guys out that don't make the protected 11
I concur. I would love to keep Yalvarez. I think he has amazing potential. And I hope to keep some of the other guys too that we don't protect.
I think the next question (since there seems really strong consensus around who RSL protects) will be who will be available out there from other teams? We have a lot of decent players unprotected - but it will only matter if there are not BETTER players unprotected by other teams. At worst we lost 1 player and I'm not sure it would really affect us after the top 11 are protected. Sure, a couple I'd miss, but not that big of a deal.
I don't even see a need to protect Yalvarez, even if you don't want to lose him (which I don't, I like him). But has he done enough on the pitch this season to catch Montreal's eye? I don't think so, unless they want to set an expansion team record for most yellow cards.
