Any true analysis of today's MLS draft is years away. No matter how much we want to stare at the names we simply will not know whether the player is a future star of a bust until, well, we know.
Still there is a demand to declare winners and losers immediately after the draft. Doing so is one of those paint by number stories that seems to be a prerequisite of being a sports reporter.
We're not going to do one. Sorry. However, what we will do is point you to some wonderful work that breaks down where each player was picked in relation to where the "experts" (i.e. hacks like me) predicted they would go.
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Using data from 11 of the biggest mock drafts, Philly Union fan Chris Hapka compiled this chart.
If you surf over you'll see that the players are ordered by where they were selected today. In the first line the author has listed the average spot the mock drafts had the player going. The second line measures how much the mock drafts agreed on the player. The closer the number is to 0 the greater the consensus was that the player would go there (It should be noted that if the consensus number is exactly 0 that likely means that only one mock draft listed the player at all).
Pulling the Canadian team's picks out you'll see the following:
Vancouver -
1. Omar Salgado (average rank - 7, consensus 1.78)
8. Michael Nanchoff (12, 4.7)
19. Jeb Brovsky (35, 7.5)
37. Bilal Duckett (33, 13)
Toronto -
26. Demitrius Omphroy (34.5, 6.75)
43. Matt Gold (37.5, 8.5)
44. Junior Burgos (38.5, 8.5)
49. Joao Plata (13.5, 6)
Based on those numbers, Plata appears to be the wildcard. He had a strong combine, but dropped down the draft over concerns with his size (5'0") and international status. If the mock drafters were right, Toronto got a steal.
A lot has been said about Vancouver's decision to grab Salgado. At 17 he won't even be allowed to play for the Whitecaps until September (it's a FIFA rule about youth players not being allowed to be registered to foreign clubs. Vancouver has asked for a waiver, but don't hold your breath. Toronto fans may recall that Amadou Sanyang was prevented from playing in 2009 for the same reason). The Whitecaps continue to show that they don't do things in the conventional MLS way so it shouldn't be a surprise that they went outside the box today.