Just like fans of the 20 teams that will be playing on Sunday, Atlanta United and Minnesota United FC fans will be watching the day's proceedings intently. Only fans of those two teams might be more interested in the pregame events than the action on the field.
Prior to the start of Week 33 on Oct. 16, MLSsoccer.com will host MLS Matchday Live (2 pm ET; MLSsoccer.com, YouTube and Facebook), a live pregame show which will include the Expansion Priority Draft. In this draft, the two 2017 expansion teams will select which of the six player mechanisms they will get first crack at as they build towards their inaugural seasons:
- 2016 MLS Expansion Draft (Picks 1 and 2)
- 2017 MLS SuperDraft (Picks 1 and 2)
- Allocation Ranking Order (Ranks 1 and 2)
- 2016 Waiver Draft and Re-Entry Draft Ranking (Ranks 21 and 22)
- Discovery Player Ranking (Ranks 21 and 22)
- USL/NASL Player Priority Ranking (Ranks 1 and 2)
With that in mind, we wanted to know: if you were the general manager of an MLS expansion team, which of these mechanisms would you prioritize as you built your team? We polled MLSsoccer.com Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle, Senior Editor Ben Couch, and Contributors Sam Stejskal, Charles Boehm and Franco Panizo. Be sure to leave your own take in the comments below!
COUCH: Look for the immediate impact
When we’re talking immediate impact, your best bet with a fresh roster is to find the miscast (roster-buried Patrick Mullins) or misplaced (injured Tommy McNamara) elements of other squads with the expansion draft. With a clean sheet, you can create a better fit if you think he’s your man, or create the opportunity where none existed. Everyone’s got a slot they’ll succeed in – whether it’s with your squad or someone else’s – so take the best player available and shape the asset stockpile as you go.
DOYLE: Bet on the youth
Seeing as every year the draft is churning out guys like Andre Blake, Cyle Larin and Jack Harrison – not just good players, but franchise-altering cornerstones who give you production and cap flexibility – I think this is a pretty open-and-shut case. Especially since Jeremy Ebobisse is already inked.
After the SuperDraft comes the Allocation ranking for me. First because you might end up with a Sacha Kljestan-level player, but second because if you can't get that, it's an EXTREMELY tradeable asset (as the Fire and their giant pile of allocation money illustrate).
BOEHM: Help yourself, not the enemy
Expansion Draft rules – this is the cheat code and it's no accident why the existing clubs are murmuring about killing it off. Not only does plucking established MLS players require less advanced analysis & decision making, you are simultaneously weakening your opposition. Allocation Order helps with bigger-ticket items and Waiver/Re-Entry and SuperDraft are bargain-bin shopping, but don't give expansion clubs that multiplier effect. Almost everyone hates Discovery.
STEJSKAL: Go for the best asset
If I had first dibs in Sunday’s Expansion Priority Draft, I’m making sure I have the first spot in the Allocation Ranking Order. Every year, a high-profile player on the league’s Allocation Ranking List comes back to the league. The team with the top spot in the order gets first crack at that player, who is often a game-changer. If the fit isn’t right, they can still get value from the spot, either holding it for later use or – as we saw when Chicago sent the No. 1 spot to Philly in the Alejandro Bedoya move – trading it away for other assets. The immediate payoff may not be as noticeable as holding the top spot in the Expansion Draft or SuperDraft, but I still see the Allocation Ranking Order as the highest-value move.
PANIZO: Another vote for Allocation
Allocation Ranking Order as you can use the top spot to sign a talented player (potentially a US national team member) or stockpile assets if another team wants to desperately trade up for it.
The MLS SuperDraft and MLS Expansion Draft would be next for me. You can find a promising youngster capable of contributing over the course of the long MLS season in the former mechanism while the latter one can potentially provide a solid role player like Tommy McNamara.
