MLS 2012 Expansion Draft To Be Held November 23, 2011

Well, the day that I've been slightly dreading for a little while now, the date of the 2012 MLS Expansion draft, has been announced and it will take place on November 23, 2011 at 1pm CDT.

The Montreal Impact will be joining Major League Soccer in 2012, and just like any year in which there is a new expansion team, MLS will conduct an expansion draft in which Montreal will be able to select 10 players from other MLS teams in the 10 round draft.

All 18 MLS teams will be able to protect 11 players from their 2011 rosters, and there are a few rules in place in regards to designated players, Generation Adidas players, etc.

From ESPN.com;

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 do not count against each team's 11 protected roster spots. Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the players has a no trade clause in his contract.

Sporting Kansas City, as well as the other 17 teams in MLS, will have to submit their protected roster to MLS on November 21st.

Follow this link for a complete listing of this year's expansion draft rules.

I wrote a post a while back before these particular rules were announced about who I would protect if I were Peter Vermes, but now that the actual Montreal Impact Expansion Draft rules are out, I'll have to revise my list sometime soon, and post it to the blog.