MLS Expansion Draft: Seven Designated Players Among Complete List Of Unprotected Players

On one hand, this is a side that was one of the worst in the history of MLS by a variety of metrics from total points to goals scored.

In terms of salaries, the Rapids cleared some room — perhaps clearing space to make some big additions in the offseason — as they came out with nearly $100,000 more in cap space than they had at the start of the day.

The Dynamo have one of the shortest unprotected players lists as a result of having just 23 players under contract, and having three more automatically off-limits due to Generation adidas or Homegrown Player status.

Most of the players on their unprotected list can be easily attributable to their contracts, as six of them made more $100,000 last year and one more is in the final year of his deal.

Take away those restrictions, and a very competitive team could be thrown together.

For the sake of a fun exercise, here’s my Best XI from the unprotected list:

There’s been speculation for several hours that the release of the MLS expansion protection list has been delayed by a Sounders trade.

There may be some truth to that.

Neither was particularly good with Reis posted a 1.76 goals against average and a .646 save percentage. Both were considerable drop-offs from 2009 when he had a career year with .96 and .814 averages, respectively. Shuttleworth was just as bad, registering .667 and 1.67 averages.

New England Revolution

How big of a trade this is is impossible to say since MLS does not release allocation budgets and the importance of international roster slots is hard to determine since players with green cards are counted as domestics.

In the meantime, one team has made their expansion protection list official.

The trade allows the Crew to recoup something for Carroll, who they had already decided not to protect.

The 29-year-old was a regular starter in the midfield for the Crew, and has been known for his defensive abilities than anything else. He has scored just four goals during his eight-year MLS career.

Hall has played mostly as a defender for the Red Bulls since they made him the No. 11 overall pick in the 2009 SuperDraft. Hall played mostly as a midfielder at Maryland.

Despite being considered one of the top talents in that year’s draft, Hall has never really developed. He has made 31 starts in two seasons, but just nine of those came this season.