THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Canadian goalkeepers Greg Sutton and Pat Onstad have both been left unprotected for Wednesday’s MLS expansion draft.
The 10-round draft is to help the Seattle Sounders, the league’s 15th team, take shape. The Sounders can only take one player from a team — 10 in all — which means that four clubs will escape losing a player in the draft.
Teams are allowed to protect 11 players from their senior and developmental roster. So-called designated players like David Beckham do not have to be protected — unless they have a no-trade clause.
Toronto FC left Sutton, English midfielder Rohan Ricketts and Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz among their 13 unprotected.
Ricketts saw action in 28 games in 2008, collecting four goals and four assists. The 29-year-old Ruiz, who has 137 career MLS goals, played in five games for Toronto after coming over in a trade from the Los Angeles Galaxy.
As they have done in the past, the Houston Dynamo made Onstad available, no doubt gambling that Seattle won’t be interested in a 40-year-old ‘keeper, albeit a good one.
Other name players available include Ante Razov, Claudio Suarez and Zach Thornton of Chivas USA, Wade Barrett of the Houston Dynamo, Ben Olsen of DC United, Chris Klein of the Los Angeles Galaxy, and Kevin Hartman of Kansas City.
The Sounders have already signed Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, U.S. goalie Kasey Keller, Ghana midfielder Sanna Nyassi and French forward Sebastien Le Toux.