Whitecaps Have 53 Choices In MLS Re-Entry Draft

Vancouver Whitecaps will have 53 players to select from in Monday’s 2011 MLS Re-Entry draft. Will they even use their first selection though?

By the time the 2pm deadline had come and gone, 13 players had come off the initial list of 69 available players, through a combination of retiring, renegotiating contracts, trades and taking themselves off the list.

Interestingly, from a Vancouver point of view, three of the Whitecaps players on the original list are no longer up for selection.

Greg Janicki, Jonathan Leathers and Peter Vagenas are all now technically ex-Whitecaps, although the Club can re-sign them if they are passed over by the other teams.

Mystery still surrounds Joe Cannon, Jay Nolly and John Thorrington.

All we do know is that the three of them have been taken out of Monday’s re-entry draft.

Internet speculation is suggesting that Cannon and Thorrington have re-signed for the Whitecaps, but on reduced salaries (Cannon was on a guarantee of $209,756.25 and Thorrington on a staggering $207,200 – well he does have a lot of medical expenses to cover).

Both veterans may have simply taken themselves out of the process, in the hope of negotiating their own deals.

Jay Nolly is the interesting one.

He’s been with Vancouver for the past four years, and many of the long term fans don’t want to see him leave, but speculation is rife that he is moving to Chicago Fire for allocation money.

Any such move would make sense for both teams and especially for Chicago.

Nolly is not on a huge salary ($65,000 in 2011), so doesn’t hit the salary cap much. He’s going to be the second string keeper in either city, so it’s a cheap option for a club like Chicago.

The Fire have declined options on two of their three current keepers – Jon Conway and Alec Dufty. This leaves them with just the highly rated 22 year old Sean Johnson, who is clearly the man they are continuing to trust to protect their goal in 2012.

Johnston is currently training with Everton and part of the US U23 set up, so there will be chances for Nolly to push for a starting spot if Johnson is away on international duty or is simply having a bad run.

The final list of players for the Re-Entry Draft doesn’t exactly fill us with a lot of excitement.

Vancouver have the chance to get the best of the bunch, as they hold the first pick, but just who is that player?

Houston’s Bobby Boswell was the man to get (on a much reduced salary), but unfortunately the Dynamo have re-signed him and he’s no longer available.

If you look at our two most pressing needs, a right back (depending on the Young-Pyo signing) and a central midfielder with bite, we don’t have a lot of great options in the list, looking at everything from performance to salary.

I would much rather that we use our own scouting to fill these two positions and just try and get the best we can in the draft, even if it means taking someone solely to trade away later on.

There are a few players who could be exciting on the pitch but poison off it, along with a few I’d love to have in Vancouver but not on their current salaries.

I include Jeff Cunningham in the latter. Sure, he’s ancient and didn’t exactly bang goals in last season, but he might be a good guy to have around for the right price. He could really help develop guys like Long Tan and Omar Salgado.

Many clubs will likely pass on their round one picks, as those picks need to offer the player his current salary, or close to it, unless they are out of contract and there’s only four of them in addition to Leathers.

Most of the movement is likely to be had in round two.

So if I had to make a round one pick, who would I take?

The only pick that would make a lot of sense to me would Real Salt Lake midfielder Andy Williams.

He’s out of contract, and was on $99,225, which is less than ten grand more than what Alex Morfaw was on.

Although a Jamaican international, he was born in Toronto. His 14 season MLS career has seen him turn out for six clubs, and at 30 goals in 343 games he could be worth a punt.

He’s 34 now, but it’s worth adding a bit of experience in the middle. We saw how well Gershon Koffie came on last season under the tutelage of Peter Vagenas.

I know he’s ‘Ol Man Moon River, but I’ve seen first hand what a guy like that can bring to people around him when Steve Archibald joined East Fife. Added a whole different dimension to the middle.

After all the toing and froing in the build up to Monday’s draft, we could find that, like last year, it’s all a bit of a damp squib.

If the Caps do make a selection, let’s just hope it’s one we’ll truly benefit from.

Whitecaps Player Purge Starting To Pick Up Pace – Will Alain Rochat Be Next To Go?

It’s been a busy day personnel wise for Vancouver Whitecaps and it’s only going to get busier in the days ahead.

Some moves we expected, but there’s been some surprises thrown into the mix.

There’s still an air of uncertainty hanging over the camp, as players and fans wait to see who is going to still be in the Caps squad come the end of 2011. Martin Rennie is clearly making his mark on the team.

The two part MLS Re-Entry draft is looming on the horizon for the next two Mondays. Vancouver have the first pick in both parts and we can only hope that they use them wisely and better than last year.

In preparation for the addition of new talent, the Whitecaps announced today that they were not renewing the current options on five players: Joe Cannon, Jay Nolly, Greg Janicki, John Thorrington and Peter Vagenas.

In addition, defender Jonathan Leathers is now out of contract.

Whilst there won’t be too many people up in arms at the thought of losing the four outfield players, it is surprising (to an extent) that both fan favourite goalies could be on their way out of Vancouver.

All six players could still be re-signed. The players and the Caps have until 2pm on December 2nd to renegotiate new deals, or else the players will go into the cyber Monday shopping basket, unless they choose not to be included.

Our first thought is that Cannon will get the chance to re-sign, but on a much lower contract. His 2011 base salary was $199,500, with a guaranteed compensation of $209,756.25 (that quarter could be the key!).

The contract makes Cannon the sixth highest paid goalkeeper in MLS, but way behind New York’s Frank Rost and his staggering $545,460 contract. Jay Nolly, on the other hand, is picking up $65,000.

I personally think that Cannon will get first refusal on a new deal, and if he says no, then we’ll see Jay back here next season, otherwise Nolly will sadly be on his way to pastures new.

The others are most likely to be on their way out, although Leathers may pick up the offer of a new contract if he wants to just be a squad player.

Midfielder Shea Salinas has definitely gone though, traded to San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for allocation money.

Not a big loss to the Caps as far as I’m concerned.

Salinas played 26 MLS games for Vancouver, starting 18, in a season curtailed by a pre-season injury. 1695 minutes clocked up, with only 1 goal and 3 assists to show for it. Not really what you’re wanting from a first team regular.

Perhaps that’s why he wasn’t one. He would get a run in the team, then drop back to the bench. Perform well one week, underperform the next. You just never knew what Shea Salinas you were going to get.

He certainly seemed to be more of an impact player for us when coming off the bench, having his best performances in a blue and white jersey when coming on late in the game and running at tired defences.

It’s a nice luxury to have, but not one Vancouver can afford right now, especially when the end results weren’t prolific enough.

And talking of Impact players, that brings us nicely to Brian Ching.

We’re going to write more about Montreal and the whole Ching thing in our Metro column on Friday.

For now though, we’ve been hatching a plan.

Ching is not going to play for Montreal. No way San Jose.

Will he retire or will Montreal try and cut a deal somwhere, somehow?

Rumours are that they want to play hardball with Houston and take Canadian defender Andrew Hainault from the Dynamo.

With Montreal still not having a Canadian in their squad, it may make sense to the Frenchies but is likely to be no dice with the Dynamo.

So just how important is Brian Ching to Houston?

He is their poster boy, long time servant and the dream for all the Orange men (and ladies) is for Ching to play one final season for the Dynamo, open their new downtown stadium and then bow out to a hero’s farewell.

It’s a nice happy ending, but is it one that Houston are prepared to lose a top player for? I think yes, but not Hainault. And that’s where Vancouver Whitecaps could come in.

Montreal best chance of a deal involving Ching could be with a three way trade and Vancouver may have just the player they are needing and wanting – Alain Rochat.

Although not officially confirmed, Vancouver should be adding South Korean defender Lee Young-pyo to the team by the end of the week.

An international who has appeared in the World Cup Finals, Young-pyo ticks the boxes as an experienced defender, if one who is getting on a bit, who will appeal to a certain demographic in the city, which always helps in getting some extra bums on seats.

He’s primarily a left back, and we already have two of them in Alain Rochat and Jordan Harvey, but he’s also been playing right back recently, in the latter stages of his career.

Harvey didn’t impress me much in that position after his move from Philadelphia, but he did once he pushed forward into a left midfield role late in the season.

He was great there and formed a productive overlapping partnership with Alain Rochat up that left flank.

When Young-pyo comes, it may be as another designated player, but if not, he’ll be commanding a fairly hefty salary at any rate and is unlikely to be a bench player.

So where does that leave Rochat?

Possibly on his way to Montreal.

Rochat moved to Switzerland at an early age but is from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Quebec. He commands a Canadian spot under MLS rules. Just what the Impact need. Plus he speaks French and they may need that even more!

Trading Rochat for Ching, would then allow the Whitecaps to re-trade Ching back to Houston for Adam Moffat.

Moffat is the midfielder we need and is only over in the US thanks to Martin Rennie bringing him here from Scotland, as our previous interview with him outlined.

Pipe dreams or a realistic transfer possibility?

The next few days could get interesting.