Expansion Draft List. Maxso Leaving?, and CCC Draw

Ok, we got a lot of news today.  First of all the team made the trade with Philly for their draft picks official.  They also released their protected list for the expansion draft and its a bit different than I predicted, largely because the roster designations on the league website weren't accurate.

The first miss was on me, I didn't notice that Mihailovic just turned 26 which made him ineligible for automatic protection.  But homegrowns Vines and Fernandez also didn't qualify for some (currently unknown) reason.  Neither did Calvin Harris who's still listed as a Generation Adidas player but apparently graduated from the program.  However Kimani Stewart-Baynes, who's not listed as a GA actually is so he was automatically protected and Travis who isn't listed as an HG actually is.

Along with that the trade yesterday meant we wanted to find room to protect Awaziem and Murphy.  So in the end the protected list looks like this (* - automatically protected)

GK: Steffen, Beaudry*

D: Chidozie Awaziem, Reggie Cannon, Ian Murphy, Keegan Rosenberry, Sam Vines, Seb Anderson*, Michael Edwards*, Jackson Travis*

M: Wayne Frederick, Djordje Mihailovic, Connor Ronan, Cole Bassett*, Oli Larraz*

F: Kévin Cabral, Calvin Harris, Rafael Navarro, Kimani Stewart-Baynes*, Darren Yapi*

That leaves Ethan Bandré , Lalas Abubakar, Daniel Chacón, Nate Jones, Andreas Maxsø , Omir Fernandez, Jasper Löffelsend, Rémi Cabral, and Jonathan Lewis unprotected.  Douda Amadou's contract doesn't become a full MLS contract until 2025 so he's ineligible to be selected.

The surprises on that list I think are Maxso and Fernandez, maybe Jones.  I wouldn't have expected Fredrick to be protected over Fernandez.  If we lose anyone I'd expect it to be him.

Maxso being unprotected is a combination of our new defenders and the other piece of news that dropped today.  Tom Bogert reported that the Rapids are in discussions with a Middle East team to transfer Maxso and apparently he wants the move.  So really all we're risking is losing on a possible transfer fee if San Diego takes him and I'm betting there's an understanding that won't happen.  

Maxso has been an above average MLS defender but he never stood out to the level of his big DP signing when he first arrived.  I was also told he was a Fraser choice more than a Smith/Taylor choice and with the new coaching staff its probably a good time for everyone to move on.  He was an ironman, playing every minute of all 43 competitive games last season, and I have nothing but positive things to say about him, but I also don't think he's irreplaceable.

With his likely departure that means we still need a CB, either somebody to play nest to Awaziem or if we're going to go with Murphy as a starter somebody to fill the Abubakar reliable backup position.  So instead of filling two spots with yesterday's trade we've really only filled one.

Lastly the CONCACAF Champions Cup draw was held tonight and out of the 11 teams we could have ended up drawn against we got...LAFC.  *yawn*  A team we see regularly.  Pretty boring and shades of the 2018 competition and getting drawn against TFC.  Even though we're the lower seeded team we'll play Leg 1 in LA and Leg 2 here in Colorado, which will get us an additional 2 weeks closer to Spring before we host.  The home game will be a Tuesday or Wednesday in the second half of February with the road match two weeks earlier.

Expansion Draft tomorrow but I'll probably only post something if somebody from the Rapids actually gets selected.  Then on Thursday its the opening of free agency and end-of year waivers, with Round 1 of the Re-Entry Draft on Friday.  

Welcome Andres Maxsø! Leg Godt!

Today Colorado announced the signing of Danish center back Andreas Maxsø from Danish side Brøndby.  Its a three-year contract with a team option for a fourth year, and he will be a Designated Player, the club's 9th in their history.  Terms of the deal were not announced but talk seems to put the transfer fee at under a million Euros.  The team is hoping he'll be able to join them in Florida for the second half of preseason, should all the paperwork get done quickly.

This is the biggest, and most exciting, signing of the offseason.  He fills an immediate need and gives Fraser the option to play with a 4 or 5 man back line.  The outpouring of well wishes from the Brøndby fans to his departure shows the kind of leader and fan favorite he's been in Denmark, and at 29 he should be at the top of his game through this contract.  Apparently he also takes penalty kicks, which is a nice additional option to have.

BTW, leg godt means 'play well' in Danish.  A contraction of the words created the name of arguably Denmark's most famous export, LEGO.

Also today the "finalized" move of GK Patrick Pentz to Colorado because an officially announced move of Patrick Pentz to Bayer Leverkusen.  Apparently that early talk of him being linked to Colorado as a way to drum up interest by his agent might have been somewhat accurate.  The talk in the last week is that he wanted to leave Reims to find playing time, but he was happy to sign a larger contract to take over as backup in Leverkusen, a role that will likely go away when their actual backup returns from injury next season.