DRAFT 101: Dissecting the rules governing December's MLS Expansion Draft

UPDATED FROM NOVEMBER 21, 2014

On Monday, December 8, the Chicago Fire released the 11 players it would protect in Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft. The Expansion Draft can be followed via live audio stream Wednesday at 1pm CT on MLSsoccer.com.

It’s been three years since the last MLS Expansion Draft (bonsoir, Montréal), so it’s understandable if you’re a little hazy on the guidelines. Here’s a step-by-step guide (with some Fire-related examples) to help understand all the rules as they relate to Fire players.

The expansion draft will consist of 10 rounds with Orlando City SC picking first and New York City FC second.

Easy enough.

MLS clubs may protect 11 players between their Senior Roster and their Supplemental Roster.  If the player’s contract expires at the end of 2014, he will still be considered part of the club’s roster.

Straight forward enough but an early source of confusion here comes regarding players whose options have been declined (the Fire declined a few of those this week) or expired (a couple of those two).

To put it more plainly, any player that finished the 2014 season on a MLS roster, including players that were loaned out (say, Victor Pineda) or had their loan deals with the Fire expire (hey, Grant Ward) are still eligible to be chosen in the Expansion Draft.

If a club declined an option on a player, has an interest in re-signing them, but hasn’t gotten a deal done by the draft, they’d still be smart to protect him.

If a club protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player’s option. It may renegotiate subject to terms of the CBA.

Taking in the information above, once an option is declined, protecting the player in the Expansion Draft doesn’t undo that action.

If a player retires, he will not be a part of the club’s roster, but his club will lose its right of first refusal to him should he ultimately decide to play.

Logan Pause just got a pretty good job up stairs, should be alright there.

Players on a club’s Supplemental Roster, other than Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2014 MLS season or Homegrown Players on a club’s Supplemental Roster, will be part of the expansion draft.

Don’t read this the way I did the first time, which made it seem as if players on the Supplemental Roster couldn’t be protected. They’re available for protection, or exposure in the Expansion Draft.

Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2014 MLS season and Homegrown Players on a club’s Supplemental Roster at the end of the 2014 MLS season are automatically protected (clubs do not have to use a protected slot on them).

Another way to say pretty much the same thing as the above bullet, but does underline the fact that current Generation adidas and Homegrown Players on the club’s Supplemental Roster are automatically protected.

In the Fire’s case, Harry Shipp , Chris Ritter fall into this category. Technically Victor Pineda does as well as he was on a Homegrown on the club’s roster at the end of the 2014 season. However, since Pineda is out of contract and because of age, ineligible for the Re-Entry Process, the Bolingbrook native would be available to all MLS teams via the Waiver Draft which takes place just after the Expansion Draft on December 10.

Additionally, Homegrown midfielder Collin Fernandez doesn’t join the first team roster until January 1, 2015, so he doesn’t come into play here.

If NYCFC or Orlando City SC selects a Supplemental Roster Player, it must offer him a Senior Roster position and he must remain on the Senior Roster as of Roster Compliance Date.

More for NYCFC and Orlando City to know…

For purposes of this expansion process, any non-domestic U.S. players will count as an International.

Domestic players are those with U.S. citizenship or U.S. Green Card Holders such as Patrick Nyarko, Lovel Palmer and Matt Watson. This rule seems simple but is an important caveat to the next.

Clubs are restricted in the number of International Player(s) that they may make available. Clubs may make available a number of International Players equal to their total number of International Players minus three, provided that if a club has three or fewer International Players it may make available not more than one.

This is a little confusing but for the sake of the Fire, the number of international players that need to be protected is three. If you look at players currently under contract, only Razvan Cocis and Juan Luis Anangono are present. However, it’s important to remember that all players that finished the 2014 season on the Fire roster are eligible for selection in the draft.

Along with Cocis and Anangono, Robert Earnshaw, Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Grant Ward need to be included in the decision.

Which of the two names above would you expose in the draft?

Designated Players are NOT automatically protected (i.e., clubs must choose whether to protect such players and if such player is not protected, he will be available for selection in the Expansion Draft). However, if the Designated Player has a no-trade clause in his contract, then his MLS club must protect him and he will count as one of the 11 players who may be protected.

After the previous rule, it is important here to note that Anangono is not automatically protected.

Once two players have been claimed from a team’s non-protected roster, that team is eliminated from the expansion draft and may not lose any further players. In addition, once a player has been claimed from a club’s non-protected roster, that club may move a player from its non-protected roster to its protected roster.

Straight forward enough though MLS also confirmed this week teams that have players selected will receive an undisclosed amount of allocation as compensation, presumably per player selected.

Right to Negotiate: NYCFC and Orlando City SC will have the right to renegotiate a draft player’s salary (either up or down) without having to place such player on waivers or giving his previous club a right of first refusal.

Just in case anyone was looking for a loop hole...

UPDATE! Players that have been signed since the end of the season (i.e. Kennedy Igboananike and Joevin Jones) are not eligible for selection in the 2014 Expansion Draft as their contracts do not begin until January 1, 2015.

FULL LIST OF PLAYERS AHEAD OF WEDNESDAY'S EXPANSION DRAFT: