There were no real surprises by either Vancouver or Toronto today as the list of protected players was released for the expansion draft that will fill out Montreal’s line-up.
The players left unprotected by the two Canadian team are:
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Toronto FC
Borman, Danleigh
Bouchiba, Elbekay
Cann, Adrian
Davies, Kyle
de Guzman, Julian
Gold, Matt
Griffit, Leandre
Marosevic, Peri
Martina, Javier
Omphroy, Demitrius
Soolsma, Nick
Sturgis, Nathan
Viator, Eddy
Williams, Dicoy
Yourasskowsky, Mikael
Zavarise, Gianluca
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Boxall, Michael
Brovsky, Jeb
Cannon, Joe
Duckett, Bilal
Janicki, Greg
Jarju, Mustapha
Leathers, Jonathan
Morfaw, Alexandre
Nolly, Jay
Thorrington, John
Vagenas, Pete
On the surface, de Guzman and Jarju, both DPs, might seem like odd choices to leave unprotected. However, both players have contracts that make it unlikely they will be selected by the Impact. Philly also left a DP, Freddy Adu, unprotected for similar reasons.
It’s worth noting that de Guzman was left unprotected last year as well. Although the Whitecaps made some noise about stealing the Toronto-native from TFC, in the end it was likely just Vancouver blowing smoke. The unspoken here are the side deals that take place – don’t take my guy now and I’ll help you out down the road type of things.
With the Impact only selecting 10 players there is actually a good chance both teams will escape having anyone selected. If Adrian Cann is healthy he might be the most likely to move, considering his past history in Montreal.
The draft goes Wednesday at 2 p.m. EST. You can follow @24thminute on Twitter for live results.