MLS Expansion Draft: Players worth a look

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Dec 13, 2016

Atlanta United has already signed 14 players for its 2017 launch, while expansion partner Minnesota United has just three players, all defenders, under contract, so they go into Tuesday's Expansion Draft with different needs. Each team gets to pick five players. There are not a lot of quality forwards left unprotected but lots of other players whom Atlanta United and Minnesota United will take a hard look at.

GOALKEEPERS. Atlanta United is expected to pursue Middlesbrough's Brad Guzan as its starting goalkeeper, but Chris Seitz (FC Dallas) and Clint Irwin (Toronto FC) are available for Minnesota United. Seitz helped FCD win the Supporters' Shield and Open Cup while Irwin led TFC to the Eastern Conference title.

DEFENDERS. Lots of quality MLS defenders were made available, including Steven Beitashour, who started for runner-up Toronto FC, Marc Burch and Jared Watts from the Colorado Rapids and Zach Loyd from FC Dallas. New York Red Bulls defenders Chris Duvall and Damien Perrinelle have battled injuries. Other defenders worth looking at in the Eastern Conference are the Philadelphia Union's Maurice Edu and D.C. United's Kofi Opare.

MIDFIELDERS. Harry Shipp didn't get a lot of playing time after being traded from Chicago to Montreal, but he remains one of MLS's most promising young American attacking midfielders. Defensive midfielders include the LA Galaxy's Baggio Husidic and Houston's Collen Warner.

OVERVIEW. The basic rules are that the 20 current MLS clubs can protect 11 players from their 2016 roster in addition to Generation adidas players (who did not graduate at the end of the 2016 season) and Homegrown Players (from their off-budget roster), who are automatically protected.

But there are all kinds of Expansion Draft rules relating to players' contract status -- whether they are on the senior or off-budget roster rule, whether they are Designated Players with a no-trade clause or whether they are free agents or have had their options declined or contracts expire -- and classification (domestic or international status).
 
MLS Expansion Draft: Rules

Expansion Draft: Unprotected Players
CHICAGO FIRE
David Arshakyan
Razvan Cocis
Eric Gehrig
Michael Harrington
*Nick LaBrocca
Patrick McLain
Michael Stephens
Rodrigo Ramos
Khaly Thiam
Alex Morrell

COLORADO RAPIDS
Marc Burch
Bobby Burling
Conor Doyle
Jermaine Jones
*Sebastian Le Toux
*Marco Pappa
Juan Ramirez
Sean St. Ledger
Jared Watts
Mekeil Williams
John Berner
Dennis Castillo

COLUMBUS CREW
*Corey Ashe
Steven Clark
Waylon Francis
Cedrick Mabwati
Mohammed Saied
Gaston Sauro
*Tyson Wahl
Dilly Duka
Marshall Hollingsworth
Cristian Martinez
Matthew Pacifici
Rodrigo Saravia
Brad Stuver

D.C. UNITED
Bobby Boswell
Andrew Dykstra
*Sean Franklin
Charlie Horton
Jared Jeffrey
Chris Korb
Kofi Opare
Chris Rolfe
Alvaro Saborio
Alhaji Kamara
Luke Mishu
Travis Worra

FC DALLAS
Getterson
Aubrey David
Atiba Harris
Moises Hernandez
Zach Loyd
Juan Ortiz
Norberto Paparatto
Mauro Rosales
Carlos Ruiz
Chris Seitz
Colin Bonner
Ryan Herman
Carlos Lizarazo
Timo Pitter

HOUSTON DYNAMO
Yair Arboleda
DaMarcus Beasley
Keyner Brown
Agustin
*David Horst
Cristian Maidana
Abdoulie Mansally
Raul Rodriguez
Zach Steinberger
Collen Warner
Sheanon Williams
Calle Brown
Kevin Garcia
Rob Lovejoy

SPORTING KC
Nuno Coelho
Brad Davis
Connor Hallisey
*Justin Mapp
*Chance Myers
*Paulo Nagamura
Lawrence Olum
*Jacob Peterson
Cameron Porter
Seth Sinovic
Ever Alvarado
Emmanuel Appiah
Benji Joya
Alec Kann

LA GALAXY
Leonardo
Landon Donovan
Rafael Garcia
Steven Gerrard
*Alan Gordon
Baggio Husidic
Robbie Keane
Dan Kennedy
*Jeff Larentowicz
*Mike Magee
Miguel Aguilar
Ariel Lassiter
David Romney

MONTREAL IMPACT
Kyle Bekker
Patrice Bernier
Didier Drogba
*Eric Kronberg
Calum Mallace
*Dominic Oduro
Lucas Ontivero
Harry Shipp
Danny Toia
Amadou Dia
Kyle Fisher
Michael Salazar

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
*Darrius Barnes
Jose Goncalves
Brad Knighton
Diago Kobayashi
Steven Neumann
Robert Shuttleworth
JeVaughn Watson
Femi Hollinger-Janzen
Jordan McCrary
Donnie Smith
Matt Turner
London Woodberry

NEW YORK CITY
Federico Bravo
*Jason Hernandez
Frank Lampard
Diego Martinez
Jefferson Mena
Stiven Mendoza
Josh Saunders
Tony Taylor
Connor Brandt
Shannon Gomez
Eirik Johansen
Andre Rawls
Ethan White

NY RED BULLS
Anatole Abang
Gideon Baah
Omer Damari
Chris Duvall
Karl Ouimette
Damien Perrinelle
*Kyle Reynish
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Sal Zizzo
Ronald Zubar
Justin Bilyeu
Aaron Long

ORLANDO CITY
*Kevin Alston
Mikey Ambrose
Julio Baptista
Boden, Luke
Servando Carrasco
Sebastian Hines
David Mateos
Pedro Ribeiro
Tony Rocha
Bryan Rochez
Hadji Barry
Earl Edwards Jr.
Devron Garcia

PHILADELPHIA UNION
Tranquillo Barnetta
Brian Carroll
Anderson Conceicao
Charlies Davies
Maurice Edu
Leo Fernandes
Raymon Gaddis
Matt Jones
John McCarthy
Walter Restrepo
Cole Missimo
Ken Tribbett
Taylor Washington

PORTLAND TIMBERS
Dairon Asprilla
Jack Barmby
*Nat Borchers
Kennedy Igboananike
Chris Klute
Jack McInerney
Jermaine Taylor
Steven Taylor
Zarek Valentin
Ben Zemanski
Nick Besler
Neco Brett
Wade Hamilton
Chris Konopka
Amobi Okugo
Taylor Peay
Ben Polk
Andy Thoma

REAL SALT LAKE
Jeff Attinella
Pedro Baez
Olmes Garcia
*Javier Morales
Boyd Okwuonu
*Jamison Olave
Devon Sandoval
John Stertzer
*Chris Wingert
Emery Welshman

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Quincy Amarikwa
Leandro Barrera
*Chad Barrett
Innocent Emeghara
Shaun Francis
Henok Goitom
*Clarence Goodson
*Steven Lenhart
Marc Pelosi
Alberto Quintero
Jordan Stewart
*Marvell Wynne
Kip Colvey
Bryan Meredith
Mark Sherrod
Matheus Silva
Michael Farfan

SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Alvaro Fernandez
Oniel Fisher
Erik Friberg
*Herculez Gomez
Andreas Ivanschitz
Damion Lowe
Tyrone Mears
Jimmy Ockford
Ockford, Jimmy
Dylan Remick
*Nathan Sturgis
Nelson Valdez
Oalex Anderson
Charlie Lyon

TORONTO FC
Steven Beitashour
Mark Bloom
Benoit Cheyrou
Clint Irwin
*Will Johnson
Johnson, Will*
Tosaint Ricketts
Quillan  Roberts
Clement Simonin
Josh Williams
Molham Babouli
Daniel Lovitz

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
Giles Barnes
Marcel De Jong
David Edgar
Deybi Flores
Masato Kudo
Brett Levis
Pedro Morales
Blas Perez
Jordan Smith
Cristian Techera
Paolo Tornaghi
Fraser Aird
Cole Seiler
*Eligible for Free Agency.