The New England Revolution will prepare for one of the busiest weeks of the MLS off-season
The off-season has been underway for the New England Revolution since mid-October, though preparations are officially in full swing throughout Major League Soccer since Sunday’s MLS Cup.
New England haven’t been too active making transfers, at least compared to other league teams.
That will change this week. Minnesota United and Atlanta United—MLS’ newest teams—are joining the league next season and need to continue populating their rosters. They’ll each have a chance to select up to five players during Tuesday’s Expansion Draft, which begins at 2 p.m. ET.
Note that every MLS team can lose a maximum of one player during the Expansion Draft.
New England Revolution protected list for 2016 MLS Expansion Draft:
Free agents will also be able to engage in negotiations with all MLS clubs at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the league will announce all players that are eligible for selection in December 15’s Waiver Draft.
Friday is also stage one of the Re-Entry draft, during which teams can pick up unwanted players at their current contracts.
During Re-Entry draft stage two, which is on December 22, teams will be free to negotiate new contracts with any players they select.
Some more New England Revolution notes for the Waiver and Re-Entry drafts:
- The biggest hole on the Revolution roster is in defense. The Revs had a porous back line last year and need depth at virtually every position. They need at least two new central defenders and back-ups for both Chris Tierney and Andrew Farrell on the flanks.
- The off-season drafts tend to be a good time for teams to find defensive depth.
- Revolution coach Jay Heaps has always been a big proponent of signing players from within MLS. The Revs are typically very active this week. Heaps has been able to acquire Lee Nguyen, Chad Barrett, and Clyde Simms, among others, between the Waiver and Re-Entry drafts.
- Revs General Manager Mike Burns has said that the club is in talks with some players whose contract options were not picked up to return in 2017. Among these are Steve Neumann, Jose Goncalves, Darrius Barnes, Daigo Kobayashi, and Gershon Koffie. News about whether any of these players are returning will likely come this week.
- If I had to guess, I’d say the Revs are most interested in retaining Neumann, Barnes, and Kobayashi.
- It seemed like Goncalves was ready for something new and wouldn’t comment on his future after the 2016 season finale. Koffie was a class act, but his health became a problem down the stretch. Then again, the Revs curiously protected him from being picked up in the Expansion Draft.
- Michael Parkhurst signed with Atlanta from Columbus. Sources tell me the Rhode Island-born defender wants to play in New England, but is not keen on the Gillette Stadium turf.
- Where’s Will Packwood?
- Seattle defended for dear life in their MLS Cup win against Toronto on penalties. Kudos to all Sounders fans. But there’s a debate about whether or not the Sounders deserved to win given that Toronto outplayed them in regulation. I say who cares? The Sounders won fair and square. Penalty kicks are a crapshoot, but they’re designed to crown a winner. That said, the Sounders very much resembled the 2009-2011 Steve Nicol-coached Revs.
- College soccer news: Brandeis University sent both its men’s and women’s soccer teams to the Final Four of the NCAA Division III soccer tournament. It was only the ninth time in history that a school’s men’s and women’s teams reached the Final Four in the same year. Brandeis men’s coach Mike Coven also announced his retirement last week—he was the sixth-most tenured coach in all of college soccer (44 years) and led the Judges to a national championship in 1976.
Follow Julian on Twitter @juliancardillo
