You read it here first: MLS Expansion Draft set for Nov. 25

Today I learned that this season of significant winter movement will begin on Nov. 25, when manager Peter Nowak and his Philadelphia Union will cherry-pick off 15 MLS rosters. You read that hear first. (Although, in all honesty, expansion drafts are typically held within a few days of the MLS Cup championship.)

The league will announce more details later, but you can expect teams to protect about 11 players each. Clubs will be required to submit their lists of protected players to the League on the Monday after MLS Cup, in all likelihood.

I write a little more about it all on my weekly MLS Five-A-Side column. The shorty version is this: four clubs already are neck-deep in the managerial hunt, and there’s no guarantee that more teams won’t soon be doing the same. Denis Hamlett is probably on a way-short lease at Chicago, and a loss this weekend might just seal the deal. And, my oh my, has any manager in the history of the world gone from "sure to return" to "uh, let’s don’t set anything in stone just yet," faster than Columbus’ Robert Warzycha?

There are several prominent players who are on the outs or may be. Cuauhtemoc Blanco will dust off all those bad Chicago vibes and head to Mexico at season’s end. Brian McBride may call it a day. Landon Donovan has a big decision to make.

There are others that we already know about who will move on, such as Yura Movsisyan and Chris Rolfe. And there are several formerly rising stars who are fading fast, and they are prime candidates to relocate this off-season. Justin Mapp, we’re lookin’ at you, man.

And those are the known unknowns. What about the unknown unknowns? There may be some real surprises when it comes to who survives the off-season, as the country’s top-tier league heads into a more competitive time, when as many teams won’t make the playoffs as teams that do. (Finally!) That’s going to create a pressure point – and it will all start shaking out on Nov. 25 at the expansion draft.