Say this for the Vancouver Whitecaps: They are definitely intent on making the offseason interesting.
MLS Expansion Draft: Whitecaps Keep Dealing, Trade Nathan Sturgis To Toronto FC
Their latest move was trading central midfielder Nathan Sturgis to Toronto FC for the eighth overall pick in the upcoming SuperDraft.
That leaves the Whitecaps with just seven players currently under contract - only five of which were picked in the Expansion Draft and one who is unlikely to play in MLS next season (Cody Arnoux is signed, but it’s still unclear whether MLS will approve his contract).
The good news is the Whitecaps still have around $2 million of cap space to fill out their roster. The bad news is they still have about 20 senior roster spots to fill, as well as a significant number of starters.
It appears the Whitecaps are much more interested in building their roster through the MLS SuperDraft, signing their former Division 2 players and through whatever passes as the open market in MLS.
If past SuperDrafts are any indication, that No. 8 pick is not exactly guaranteed to produce immediately. Just one of the past five No. 8 picks has played significant minutes his rookie season (Sporting Kansas City Mat Besler in 2009).
Toronto FC, meanwhile, gets a player who is just 23 years old and finally started to develop some of the promise he has shown since playing for U.S. youth international teams.
“We are very happy to be able to bring Nathan to the club,” said Earl Cochrane, Toronto FC interim director of soccer. “He is a player who will be able to make an immediate impact in our team next season, but is also young enough to play a role here in the long term. We studied the options that would likely be available to us with our first round pick in the MLS SuperDraft and made the decision that the addition of Nathan is of greater benefit to our squad.”
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