Quite frankly I expect next off season to be just as chaotic especially if there is more expansion. I don't see how you can avoid it.
True, but they'll already have precedent that they'll have learned from. So even if we're forced to see more player shuffling, I would expect the league to provide more information about it, and sooner - essentially establish the rules beforehand better.
The way the league handled the expansion draft and allocations this year is a joke. Hopefully there is room for improvement in the future. It seems this draft is set up for KC and Seattle to loose a player. Since KC was allocated Santigo, does that leave Barnhart and Cox to Houston as well?
For all intents and purposes, no one saw the Cox allocation coming so let's just say she was allocated so that Seattle can lose a player. Given the caliber of NT players that Seattle has, one can assume this is fair. As for Barny, it is really interesting. Prior to Cici being allocated, I was 65% sure FCKC will lose Arod but now it looks like they might be losing Barny. I would have seriously thought Cici would have gone to Houston as all the Mexican players where completely reshuffled so that would have be the assumption. If I was FCKC, I can live with the loss of Barny as they still have Henninger and Santiago who are both capabale enough. Now for my conspiracy theory that is still alive and kicking, I think Houston picks Arod if the intent to sign Angerer or better yet, Chicago intends to sign Angerer and expose McLeod in the expansion draft to Houston.
The only way this league gains credibility with me again is if the rules are as follows each team can protect 3 US players, 2 Canadian players, and one Mexican player. Therefore no team is slightled that doesn't have enough allocations and KC, Seattle, and Chicago get to control their own fate. But I agree where Angerer goes leaves me uneasy. Houston could end up with Engen, Barnhart, Cox, Noyola, and Leon/Quon. Looks solid defensively at least.
Also if Houston takes Arod there's no way KC turns their cheek on Ohai. I honestly believe Houston would choose Ohai over Arod.
Houston won't get a Canadian player from Chicago; only US allocations are (apparently) in the expansion draft among the allocated players. Besides, Chicago was shorted a Mexican players, so they have the three allocated internationals already, why should they be forced to risk losing one?
I didn't realize it was only US players in the draft. And I overlooked the fact Chicago didn't get a Mexican player. You are right they shouldn't be involved in this mess. My bad.
This is strange. The one franchise that is closest to Toronto, is the one that got the weakest Canadian allocations (WNY). You would think that a few Canadians would prefer WNY (as their #1 choice) over other NWSL teams. I can see Chicago getting strong Canadian allocations. I assumed WNY would be one of the best as well with that (before the 2013 allocations took place). However, WNY has had the worst of it (re: Canadian allocations) in both years. WNY definitely deserves to acquire Buchanan when she's eventually a Canadian allocation. http://www.wvusports.com/profile.cfm?id=102849&sport=wsoccer
I have the impression that the teams knew somewhat in advance what the allocations were going to be. Is that possible? And, if so, is it possible there have been some big trades set up ahead of time, perhaps worked out as part of the allocation process? And another thought: For us fans, we want our favorite teams to come out really well in the roster-setting process. But perhaps the owners have a different perspective -- they want the league as a whole to come out well financially. An owner wanting the league to come out well financially and his/her team to come out really well (as distinguished from pretty well) in the roster-setting process may be somewhat inconsistent objectives.
Also, it's potentially starting to leak out that Houston and Chicago may have made a deal with one another. Houston wanted Ohai that bad, and wanted to guarantee wrapping her up. Supposedly, Houston was originally going to get Press (which Chicago wanted bad), while Engen was supposed to go to Chicago, and the two teams came up with a deal to pitch to the league. Houston would get the #2 overall pick, sliding Chicago down a spot in the draft for each of their top two draft picks, and then Chicago would get Press (instead of Engen), while Houston would get Engen instead of Press. This is interesting if this is how it all played out. Hence why all of a sudden Houston is drafting with the #2 overall pick instead of the #5 overall pick. So yes, something happened. And we'll probably never get that sort of confirmation from the league, that this is how it played out.
Oh I know that but just wanted to clarify because I too I'm speculating that the trade would be between Chicago and Houston but not for the players he listed.
If what has leaked is true, it's not a trade. It's an agreement, between Chicago, Houston, & the league front office. The big pending trade announcement coming up is completely different.
If you are refering to Houston moving up, I don't think its an agreement between Chicago and Houston, more like the league making the decision to compensate Houston for not getting Press.
Exactly, because Houston was supposed to get Press, from what was initially communicated to them, while Houston is actually more interested in Ohai. The Cushing thing is a BIG DEAL to Houston. They want the whole Cushing/Ohai/Entourage deal, more so than Press even. And Houston is okay with getting Engen instead of Press, to have a defender to build off of, so they had a discussion with Chicago and the league officials about it. Of course Chicago is okay with getting Press instead of Engen, as they were pushing for Press already. So it was a mutual agreement between all parties (Houston, Chicago, the league). That magical transition of the #5 to #2 pick (for Houston) happened as a result of that discussion & agreement.
Not my speculation on that. I was informed that this is how it went down, from someone I know that received it from their source. So it is second hand information they received, but that is exactly what was described to me.
So I'm going to take a stab and say the expansion draft will go as follows: Each team can protect only 10 players which should include 10 US allocated player and all allocated Mexican and Canadian allocations. Houston will most likely be limited to only drafting one player from a team. This seems fair because with their 3 allocated players + 8 drafted players, they have a team that is capable of starting as each of the other 8 teams will be losing a starter. - With that in mind and giving recent developments, it is possible that FCKC get to keep their four US allocated players if Houston picks Henderson who is a young striker instead of Arod or Barny. - We can expect Seattle to lose Rapinoe or Cox. - ... annnnd that's as far as I can go.
Compared to what the other teams might lose, by FCKC getting to keep (and protect) Tymrak and Robinson (by default) as they're not allocated (at least not yet, until 2015 at least), is a win-win for FCKC. It sounds like they were already given at least their 1/9 piece of favorable treatment of the total league "favor" pie, and didn't have a say on the Ohai matter.
I don't think WNY was a particularly popular destination when the original allocations were made. I'd be very surprised if anyone other than Abby and Lloyd had them as one of their top choices.
Yes, partial lists of the American allocations have been out for a while. That's how Lindsey and Winters knew they werent going to be allocated. Dont think there was much of a heads up on the other two feds. I also believe the league worked with teams more this time. Last time they asked for preference list. This time it looks like they spoke with teams about which players would help them. The smoking gun for this r things like Cox. Why allocate Cox if it didnt help u get three subsidized players on each team?