The Rapids on Monday moved to shield its veteran core, after submitting a list of 11 protected players to the MLS for Wednesday’s league expansion draft, the team said.
The Rapids will protect goalkeeper Matt Pickens; strikers Conor Casey and Omar Cummings; midfielders Jeff Larentowicz, and Brian Mullan; defenders Pablo Mastroeni, Drew Moor, and Marvell Wynne; and internationals Danny Earls, Joseph Nane and Jamie Smith.
The expansion Montreal Impact will join the MLS as the league’s 19th team next season, after taking as many as one player from 10 teams in the draft.
Among the 17 players the Rapids left available for Montreal, include: defenders Kosuke Kimura, Tyrone Marshall and Anthony Wallace; midfielder Wells Thompson; and forwards Sanna Nyassi, Caleb Folan, Macoumba Kandji, Andre Akpan and Quincy Amarikwa.
“Unfortunately it is inevitable that we risk losing a valuable individual,” Rapids technical director Paul Bravo said in a release.
League rules require teams with at least four international players to protect at least three.
In last year’s MLS expansion draft, the Portland Timbers took Wallace from the Rapids, then traded him back to Colorado later in the day.
The 17 Rapids players available to Montreal:
Goalkeepers — Stew Ceus, Ian Joyce.
Defenders — Kosuke Kimura, Tyrone Marshall, Anthony Wallace, Scott Palguta, Mike Holody, Eddie Ababio, Miguel Comminges.
Midfielders — Wells Thompson, Ross LaBauex, Steven Emory
Forwards — Sanna Nyassi, Caleb Folan, Mac Kandji, Andre Akpan, Quincy Amarikwa.
