With J Hutcherson -- You might consider today's Major League Soccer Re-Entry Draft deadline the latest indication of clubs talking a good game and those actually risking moves to change in time for 2011. It's also the beginnings of MLS players having some control of their own futures within the League, able to say no to a new contract and have the option of being drafted by a different club.
Still, for some it's the next step after the unprotected list in teasing out who is crucial to 2011 plans and who can be allowed to leave. It's that last part that should be of most concern. Nobody wants to pull a Seattle or a Kansas City and see a good player producing for somebody else. Sebastien Le Toux was lost to last year's expansion draft and Kevin Hartman was simply considered surplus to requirements in KC who became the latest team to show why a re-entry draft was so badly needed. The point is the same for teams in practice. It's not just about a player producing for you. It's what they might do in another setup.
In that regard, the Re-Entry Draft not only becomes a way for veteran players to have a say in their future, it also becomes another opportunity for MLS teams to get it right and wrong. From this year forward, how a team handles the Re-Entry Draft could become just as important as what they do with the SuperDraft.
MLS has become a League that rewards teams who understand the value of established players. We've seen enough careers revitalized late where it's simply not a fluke. Unfortunately for the teams involved, it's also not predictable. That alone should increase the value of once and potentially future All-Stars, with some teams not as willing to release them into a draft situation.
As it stands, there should be enough proven players available to make things very interesting when the first stage of the draft is held on December 8th. It will also show how intent clubs are on keeping a core versus letting good players leave in the hopes of building something different.
We've heard a lot of talk before and after the expansion draft of existing teams focused on changing things for 2011. In practice, a few took the expansion draft as an opportunity to trade with Portland and Vancouver. That included Chivas USA trading to get a player they left unprotected back.
The Re-entry draft could present us with equally interesting scenarios. Some teams will be left with holes in their roster they'll need to fill through the SuperDraft and the transfer market. There's also the added impact of a revaluation of players courtesy of other teams willing to take them through the re-entry system.
Add to that teams moving existing players into the designated player category, and this off season could give us at least a glimpse of what MLS might look like with a decidedly more open market for players. That's the power of collective bargaining between a league and a players' union. It's also potentially bad news for the tight controls some teams have on their roster budgets, but it's good news for competition. That's especially true for teams that have convinced themselves the Real Salt Lake in '09 and Colorado in 2010 low-budget models will hold.
MLS is changing, and there could be a quick and sharp distinction between teams on either side of the money divide. In this League, it remains more of a willingness to spend than the inability.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
