Since 1997, MLS has held a special draft for all incoming teams into the league. The format has changed a bit over the last 20 years, however the idea is still the same. Current teams are allowed to protect a certain amount of players on their roster, while leaving the rest exposed for the expansion team or teams to draft. In previous years, once a player was selected from a team, said team could remove a player from their exposed list, but could still have other players selected. Now that the league has grown past that, once a player is selected from a team, that team cannot have another player selected.
With the Expansion Draft for Los Angeles FC coming up later today, the previous drafts could give a bit of insight as to how important the draft is or isn’t and what the newest team in MLS could get out of it.
The first ever draft saw a number of players selected that went on to have very successful careers in the league, including goalkeepers Kevin Hartman and Jeff Cassar, midfielders Manny Lagos and Diego Gutiérrez and defender Ramiro Corrales. Back then, there were 12 picks for each team, compared to only five for new teams now.
The next round of expansion didn’t happen until 2004, where the number of players selected was shaved down to 10 per team. Andy Williams was the best player of note to come out of the draft, the only player to last more than two seasons with the team that drafted him, Real Salt Lake. Williams went on to play over 100 matches for RSL, spanning a six year career in Colorado.
Two years later came Toronto FC in 2006, where Paulo Nagamura was the first pick for the Canadian side. He went on to have a very successful career, but in Kansas City, only playing four games for TFC. Current Orlando City Head Coach Jason Kreis was selected 7th overall, however Real Salt Lake immediately traded allocation money to bring him back.
The next three drafts were all held for just one team each year. San Jose, Seattle and Philadelphia rounded out the late 2000’s. Out of the 30 players taken over those three years, only Jason Hernandez for San Jose, Brad Evans, Nate Jaqua and Jeff Parke for Seattle and Sébastien Le Toux and Stefani Miglioranzi for Philadelphia, played in more than 40 games with the teams that drafted them.
Most recently, in the 2016 draft, Atlanta selected Donny Toia with their first overall pick, who was subsequently traded to Orlando. Toia played in 30 games for the Lions this past season, starting in 29 and notching three assists in the process.
Over the past six drafts, including Orlando City’s in 2014, the most consistent theme that came from the drafts was that most players taken in the draft only lasted at most two years with the teams that drafted them. The main point of the expansion draft is to help new teams get on their feet and ready to compete in their first season. Once that comes and goes, teams usually bring in other players, either domestic or abroad, to build around for the future.
So as LAFC prepare for their upcoming draft, will they try to draft players that they could potentially build around? Or will they draft one or two year rentals to just help them get started like in years past? Find out at 2:00 today what they decide to do.
