THE CANADIAN PRESS
NEW YORK — The Montreal Impact’s opening day roster will begin to take shape next month.
Major League Soccer announced Wednesday it will hold the expansion draft to help stock its 19th franchise on Nov. 23.
The existing MLS teams can protect 11 players from their current roster in the 10-round draft.
Generation Adidas players, who will not graduate at the end of the 2011 season, and homegrown players on the team’s off-budget roster are automatically protected and don’t count against each team’s 11 protected roster spots.
Designated players also don’t have to be protected, unless they have a no-trade clause.
Clubs must submit their protected roster by Nov. 21.
Montreal, which played in the North American Soccer League in 2011 will join Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS next season, has already started its roster overhaul.
The Impact re-signed French midfielder and 2011 MVP Hassoun Camara on Oct. 11, making him the first player from last season’s squad to join the club’s MLS roster.
Camara was the second player to sign with the Impact for its inaugural season in MLS, joining Colombian defender Nelson Rivas.
The club also announced last week that defenders Philippe Billy, Cameron Knowles, midfielders David Testo and Luke Kreamalmeyer and strikers Ali Gerba, Pierre-Rudolph Mayard and Marco Terminesi would not join the club in MLS.