MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact unveiled Monday its list of 11 players protected for the Expansion Draft, set to take place on Wednesday at 2pm ET. Orlando City SC and New York City FC, making their debut in MLS in 2015, will have the opportunity to select 10 players from those left unprotected by all teams currently in the league.
The Impact protected goalkeeper Evan Bush, defender Hassoun Camara, midfielders Patrice Bernier, Dilly Duka, Felipe, Calum Mallace, Justin Mapp, Ignacio Piatti, Andrés Romero and Blake Smith, as well as striker Jack McInerney.
“We would like to protect all our players and the choices were not easy,” said head coach and director of player personnel Frank Klopas. “We hope that none of the players that we left unprotected will be selected.”
Generation Adidas players, who have not been graduated at the end of 2014, as well as Homegrown players, are automatically protected. That means Eric Miller (Generation Adidas), along with Academy products Karl W. Ouimette, Maxim Tissot, Wandrille Lefèvre, Maxime Crépeau, Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Louis Béland-Goyette will not take a spot on the 11-player protected list.
In addition, the club did not need to protect its new acquisition Marco Donadel, as he is not officially on the team’s roster since he has not received his International Transfer Certificate (ITC).
Please note that each team can lose a maximum of two players from its non-protected list. If a team has a player claimed in the Expansion Draft, that team may protect an additional player. MLS also recently announced that teams whose players are selected in the Expansion Draft will be compensated with allocation money.
Full rules for the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft: http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/2014-expansion-draft-rules
