Well if rumors are true, that expansion is going ahead for a Buffalo team then there is going to be an expansion draft before the college draft (I believe). It also means that we will get the 2nd and 3rd picks, correct? I think, assuming the rules are the same as last time, it would be productive to think of the 10 (?) protected players that will probably be protected and maybe go from there. Personally I'd assume that it'd be pretty much the starting lineup, minus probably Spilger, or Loyden if they are looking to replace her (which I kind of doubt), or possibly even Markgraf if she decides to retire (I think she'll give it one more year.). I'm assuming the 10 protected would be: Boquete Nogueira Carney Rapinoe Chapman Formiga Dalmy Engen Markgraf Loyden That leaves: Masar Spilger Sitch McDonald Washington Whitworth Weber Vandenberg Reiser Davis I believe the rule is the expansion team must have access to 6 non-free agent status players, you can protect 2 players after your first one has been selected, and one after your second, only 3 of your players can be taken. (Correct me if I'm wrong on any of these rules.) I'm assuming that Cristiane will be a free agent, but I couldn't assume on the rest of them. It's hard to know what an expansion team's gonna want, but I could easily see us loosing one of our forwards: Masar, McDonald or Washington. Also if there is a really good speedy LB in the University ranks right now (I don't know the college game well) I think that would be a really good grab with the 3rd pick, Emma having her hand forced on selecting Engen high was one of the best things to happen to this team.
No way in hell they don't protect Masar after the season she had, not too mention her roots there. She would be protected in a heartbeat.
I hear what you're saying, but Masar is not a skilled player, and frankly her success this year may have been a fluke. I could see her being protected, but I'm 50/50 on it. The real question is: Who do you think would not be protected inorder to save her?
Loyden. Less chance she'd be taken. Oh and only 10 protected? I mean.. there is only one expansion team.. and this team already technically has some players it wants to bring over, so I would at least hope we would be able to protect more than 10.
I think Loyden would be a good guess, if they had a plan to replace her with someone of equal experience, college draft goalies can't really be expected to step up right away. The thing about Loyden is they never put Whitworth in during the end of the season to give her experience making me guess that Namazi favors her even less, and teams almost always protect their number 1 for safety reasons. Not having a 1 by January is a dangerous situation to be in, as we learned last year. I realize it's only 1 team, but I think protecting 10 has more to do with giving the expansion team a shot at getting some actual starting quality players, for fairness sake. This could be amended for only 1 team, but I could also see why they would still keep the rule. I'm not for keeping Masar off the list, I'm just not thinking of a way around it, unless maybe their is someone spectacular to replace one of the other players with in the college draft.
There is a possibility that being protected could have a end result of being traded.Namazi will make this his team next year.Next season will be a huge free agent season for a lot of the girls in the league. I think there will be a lot of unexpected moves. I'm not 100% sure all the starters you saw on the field will be back. I think there will be a great deal of movement on all of the teams. We will have to wait and see what Namazi and Charlie are planning.
Well if they are also confident they will get Ikidi then they could place a defender on that unprotected list as well. Look I agree I think Masar had one of those dream runs but when a player does this, it is very hard to leave them unprotected because there is always that what if. Especially with how inconsistent the scoring did, putting her on the chopping block when she scored the most goals would be completely insane.
There are some current players who will not be coming back no matter what and my bet is that the CRS staff knows exactly who they are. Heck, they're probably already gone, just not announced. But hey, this is a fun exercise so let's assume that we make no roster moves before the college draft, I would not at all be surprised to see these players protected: Boquete Nogueira Carney Rapinoe Masar Spilger Dalmy Engen Whitworth McDonald Sitch SHOULD be on there (assuming she fully recovers) but I'm not sure who I'd take out in her place.
IMO, here are the people that will be back next season: Boquete Nogueira Carney ? Rapinoe Formiga Dalmy Engen Loyden Masar Spilger Sitch Is Markgraf retiring? Masar's website: http://ellamasar.com/
Have you heard/read something about Chapman that you don't think she'll be back? I can't imagine her not being protected. Also, will be an interesting 2011 season with the WWC taking place (we'll see how many games Carney/Chapman/Formiga/Rapinoe, etc. will miss as a result of the WWC tourney games and warm ups/camps, assuming their WNTs will qualify?)!
As much as people have been criticizing her, I think it would be a big loss if she does retire. Maybe this is why they are trying to sign Faith Ikidi?
Bring Brittany Bock back to her hometown of Chicago. She can rest and heal up over the off-season and be ready for spring. Bock would fit in well with this team.
She can fill in the defensive midfielder spot very well. I've seen her play at Notre Dame all her 4 years and IMO, she was the star of that team, not Hanks.
Well I think as long as Formiga stays there would be no point in even trying to bring her over here. But in the future, maybe?
Now that Chapman's departure has been announced, as I said Brittany Bock can play the d-mid role. Formiga in front of her.