2016 Canadian MLS clubs offseason thread

[shermanator]

Didn't see a dedicated thread to offseason moves and rumours for the Canadian MLS clubs. Let's start with the news that the Whitecaps have officially parted ways with Pedro Morales.

http://www.whitecapsfc.com/post/2016/12/07/whitecaps-fc-part-ways-captain-pedro-morales

[shermanator]

Teibert, McKendry, Bustos and Froese have had their options picked up for 2017

 

Carducci and Aird have not had their options for 2017 picked up:

Meanwhile the greatest striker in MLS has signed a 1+2 year contract extension

 

[kmouseyc]

Meanwhile the greatest striker in MLS has signed a 1+2 year contract extension . ahh! that is so nice to say Shermanator! He said it's all about the team. Lets hope his strike rate can improve and show us your statement is true.

[shermanator]

Choiniere and Jackson-Hamel have had their options picked up for the 2017 season. Bekker and Gagnon-Lapare did not get their option picked up for 2017. Lefevre and Bernier are in contract talks.

http://www.impactmontreal.com/en/post/2016/12/09/impact-exercises-options-seven-players

[Blackdude]

Sorry, Shermanator, I forgot that you started a thread. Still from what I've seen I'd be surprised that Bernier and Lefèvre don't re-sign.

[Ansem]

https://mobile.twitter.com/24thminute/status/806685437800710144

"The Impact aren't interested in running a reserve team, they want to be a reserve team," -- a well placed source in Canadian soccer.

......

Hard to disagree... All their DP are going to start coming from Bologna and killing FC Montreal...

It's not like you'd expect Bologna sending their best to Montreal out of the goodness of their hearts...

[Soccerpro]

My hopes for the young Canadians on Canadian MLS teams next year:

1. Vancouver Wjitecaps - let Marco Bustos play. And not the wing, AMC. He's good, I promise! Just try him out!  I'd also push Brett Levis, but he's out most of this coming season with a bad injury, so what's the point.

2. Toronto FC - Jay Chapman and Jordan Hamilton get more time next year and Raheem Edwards signs a first team deal and plays instead of subpar players like Lovitz and Endoh.

3. Montreal Impact - Ballou Tabla gets decent minutes with the first team and looks like a boss.

[TRM]

Shame about Carducci and Aird. I thought Aird played better as a RM than as RB but obviously they don't trust either him or Smith and will be looking for a RB again.

[shermanator]

The Impact have traded Romario Williams to Atlanta United for a conditional draft pick.

 

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, shermanator said:

The Impact have traded Romario Williams to Atlanta United for a conditional draft pick.

 

who?

[shermanator]

16 minutes ago, Obinna said:

who?

He was their 1st round pick in the 2015 draft. Played all of 7 minutes in 2 years.

[Obinna]

I was being facetious

 

[itsinmyhead]

1 minute ago, shermanator said:

He was their 1st round pick in the 2015 draft. Played all of 7 minutes in 2 years.

To be fair he was loaned out to the Charleston Battery this year where he played 27 games and wasn't terrible AFAIK

[Gian-Luca]

Just curious - why are these teams making these cuts ahead of the expansion  draft? Are they forced to do so? I would have thought it would make sense to keep these players until Wednesday as I understood there is a limit to how many players each team can possibly lose - wouldn't they rather lose a player they don't want anymore rather than one they intend to keep?

 

As for TFC there are only a couple of players I would like to see gone - hopefully they can lose Lovitz in the expansion draft again but not trade for him back with Raheem Edwards waiting in the wings this time

[shermanator]

TFC have not picked up the options of Mannella, Lovitz, Simonin and Cheyrou. No real surprises there, all 4 were expendable, and IIRC Mannella had lost his spot to Liam Fraser at TFC II.

Quillan Roberts, Ashtone Morgan and Will Johnson are all out of contract. I could see Morgan back as depth, but I imagine Roberts will leave and Johnson had said he will test free agency.

 

[Ruffian]

Toronto protected list:

Altidore, Jozy
Bradley, Michael
Cooper, Armando
Delgado, Marco
Endo, Tsubasa
Giovinco, Sebastian
Hagglund, Nick
Moor, Drew
Morrow, Justin
Osorio, Jonathan
Zavaleta, Eriq

[Ruffian]

Montreal Protected:

Bernardello, Hernan
Bitolo Oyongo, Ambroise
Bush, Evan
Cabrera, Victor
Camara, Hassoun
Ciman, Laurent
Donadel, Marco
Mancosu, Matteo
Piatti, Ignacio
Romero, Andres
Venegas, Johan

[Ruffian]

Vancouver:

Bolanos, Christian
Dean, Christian
Harvey, Jordan
Hurtado, Erik
Jacobson, Andrew
Laba, Matias
Manneh, Kekuta
Mezquida, Nicolas
Ousted, David
Parker, Tim
Waston, Kendall

[Gian-Luca]

3 hours ago, shermanator said:

TFC have not picked up the options of Mannella, Lovitz, Simonin and Cheyrou. No real surprises there, all 4 were expendable, and IIRC Mannella had lost his spot to Liam Fraser at TFC II.

Quillan Roberts, Ashtone Morgan and Will Johnson are all out of contract. I could see Morgan back as depth, but I imagine Roberts will leave and Johnson had said he will test free agency.

 

Given that Irwin is (surprisingly) not protected from the expansion draft and neither is Bono, I'm not so sure Roberts will leave. If Irwin gets picked - and that suddenly becomes a good bet - then Roberts becomes the #2 with a chance to steal #1 if Bono were to falter.

[Ruffian]

10 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Given that Irwin is (surprisingly) not protected from the expansion draft and neither is Bono, I'm not so sure Roberts will leave. If Irwin gets picked - and that suddenly becomes a good bet - then Roberts becomes the #2 with a chance to steal #1 if Bono were to falter.

I kind of hope this happens. As a TFC fan I think Irwin is great, but in the long run I am more interested in seeing Canadian keepers get a chance. Also Bono is solid.

[Gian-Luca]

1 hour ago, Ruffian said:

Toronto protected list:

Altidore, Jozy
Bradley, Michael
Cooper, Armando
Delgado, Marco
Endo, Tsubasa
Giovinco, Sebastian
Hagglund, Nick
Moor, Drew
Morrow, Justin
Osorio, Jonathan
Zavaleta, Eriq

I have to say that I'm finding the protecting of Endo over the likes of Irwin, Ricketts & Beitashour to be surprising. I understand the rest of the Canadians (other than Johnson) are protected including all the youngsters so that's fine - but I guess the bet with Ricketts is that the two American expansion teams won't use an international spot on Ricketts (so the fact that veteran Canadians are not counted as domestics on US teams actually does some good in this specific case) but making sure that Endo is kept over the other two bona fide starters makes little sense to me. I guess they are expecting a huge growing curve for him.

I'm assuming TFC must have something worked out to keep Cooper post-loan, as the loan was to have ended when the season finished and it doesn't make sense to protect a player that isn't yours to begin with.

On a separate note, sorry that Cheyrou is seemingly not coming back and also a bit surprised - although I suppose it is good news for Chapman. I would think that would make it more of a priority to retain Johnson since Bradley still misses a ton of regular season games each year through international duty/injuries stemming from international duties.

[Ruffian]

Just now, Gian-Luca said:

I have to say that I'm finding the protecting of Endo over the likes of Irwin, Ricketts & Beitashour to be surprising. I understand the rest of the Canadians (other than Johnson) are protected including all the youngsters so that's fine - but I guess the bet with Ricketts is that the two American expansion teams won't use an international spot on Ricketts (so the fact that veteran Canadians are not counted as domestics on US teams actually does some good in this specific case) but making sure that Endo is kept over the other two bona fide starters makes little sense to me. I guess they are expecting a huge growing curve for him.

I'm assuming TFC must have something worked out to keep Cooper post-loan, as the loan was to have ended when the season finished and it doesn't make sense to protect a player that isn't yours to begin with.

On a separate note, sorry that Cheyrou is seemingly not coming back and also a bit surprised - although I suppose it is good news for Chapman. I would think that would make it more of a priority to retain Johnson since Bradley still misses a ton of regular season games each year through international duty/injuries stemming from international duties.

It seems like TFC had to pick 3 internationals and Endo was one of them. Simonen and Cheyrou were the only other two options.

[shermanator]

2 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I have to say that I'm finding the protecting of Endo over the likes of Irwin, Ricketts & Beitashour to be surprising. I understand the rest of the Canadians (other than Johnson) are protected including all the youngsters so that's fine - but I guess the bet with Ricketts is that the two American expansion teams won't use an international spot on Ricketts (so the fact that veteran Canadians are not counted as domestics on US teams actually does some good in this specific case) but making sure that Endo is kept over the other two bona fide starters makes little sense to me. I guess they are expecting a huge growing curve for him.

I'm assuming TFC must have something worked out to keep Cooper post-loan, as the loan was to have ended when the season finished and it doesn't make sense to protect a player that isn't yours to begin with.

On a separate note, sorry that Cheyrou is seemingly not coming back and also a bit surprised - although I suppose it is good news for Chapman. I would think that would make it more of a priority to retain Johnson since Bradley still misses a ton of regular season games each year through international duty/injuries stemming from international duties.

TFC were required to protect three internationals, so Endoh made the cut.

Also to your earlier point, I agree that if Irwin were to be picked up, then it would make sense for Roberts to stay at TFC. If Irwin and Bono are both around next year, I'm not sure it does.

[Levi Oakey]

2 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

I have to say that I'm finding the protecting of Endo over the likes of Irwin, Ricketts & Beitashour to be surprising.

Beitashour makes a buttload of money for his position ($244k). I can't imagine anyone else really picking that up. Also, they will need to do something with guys like Hagglund who make 63k. 

[David C.]

Personally, I think Quillan would be better suited to look for work elsewhere, where he can pick-up regular playing time. If Irwin were to be selected, I suspect that TFC would go out and look for another keeper, before making Roberts their number two. I just don't know if they rate him that high at this point.