The Union had hoped that with 18 teams and 10 picks, the expansion Montreal Impact would leave them unscathed in Wednesdays 2011 MLS Expansion Draft.
However, that didnt happen. With their third selection, the Impact poached midfielder Justin Mapp off the Unions unprotected roster.
Its a big loss, said coach Peter Nowak. During his time with us he was good. But when we looked at the roster and at his contract, it wasnt an easy call but was something we had to do.
Known for his quiet demeanor, Mapp was left unprotected by the Union for two reasons. One, because of the plethora of young offensive-minded midfielders already on their roster. Amobi Okugo, Freddy Adu, Roger Torres, Michael Farfan, Keon Daniel, Brian Carroll, Zach Pfeffer and Kyle Nakazawa round out the teams busy midfield.
With the 11 players we protected and the Generation Adidas guys, like Jack McInerney and Amobi Okugo, we have 15 or 16 guys that we can play every day, Nowak said, who reiterated the need to protect the core of the team.
The second reason was financial. With Mapp making nearly 200,000 and entering the last year of his contract, the Union felt that they could benefit from the cash coming off their books.
There were a couple factors in play, Nowak said. His salary was significant and the fact that he was in the last year of his contract. It was a pretty significant budget number and opens some options for us. That is why we made this kind of decision.
With the freed up money, the coach didnt rule out trying to fill Mapps vacancy by shopping the free-agent transfer market.
We still have options, Nowak said. Were also going to look domestically and abroad, as well.
We have some financial room to work now.
Mapp, 27, was a former Chicago Fire teammate of new Impact coach Jesse Marsch and started 35 games for the Union over two seasons. The attacking mid scored four goals and five assists during that span. Mapp was traded from the Fire to the Union for allocation money in the summer of 2010.
Although Mapps history with Marsch made him a legitimate and highest probable target, the Impact were flirting with the idea of selecting Adu, whom many believe made too much money to be selected, near 600,000.
"We're analyzing how Freddy would fit," Marsch told the Montreal Gazette on Tuesday. "We're just trying to figure what that would be like and how it would fit.
Nowak admitted it was a gamble, but a calculated one.
We took some risk, said the coach. We speculated what the other team, coaches and technical staff were thinking and used that to protect as much from our core group. We knew that this was an expansion team selecting and they usually go the easy way with their selections and leave room to add bigger pieces during the season and offseason.
The Impact selected Houston Dynamos all-time leading scorer Brian Ching first overall. The 33-year-old was left unprotected by the Dynamo, and said that if he was taken in the expansion draft, that he would retire. The Impact picked Ching anyway, then selected backs Zarek Valentin (Chivas USA), Bobby Burling (San Jose), Josh Gardner (Columbus), Seth Sinovic (Sporting KC), Jeb Brovsky (Vancouver), followed by midfielder Sanna Nyassi from Colorado and Real Salt Lakes Collen Warner.
The Impact then selected back James Riley from Seattle and flipped him to Chivas USA for midfielder Gerson Mayen and striker Justin Braun.
Quick moves
Immediately following the loss of Mapp to the Impact on Wednesday in the MLS Expansion Draft, the Union snagged 23-year-old former Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Nizar Khalfan in the MLS Waiver Draft. He was the only player the Union selected.
In nine starts, Khalfan, an offensive mid, scored one goal and had four assists.
E-mail Ryan Bright at ryanbright13@gmail.com