John Herdman and the Canadian national women’s team are expecting to see a lot of teams packing the back at the upcoming Olympic qualifiers in Vancouver.

But the wording of Toronto FC’s press release is important. “Agreed to terms” was used instead of “signed.” There is a difference.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have signed Argentine defender Martin Bonjour.

So, when it comes to picking the year’s best stories, I let the numbers speak for themselves. I went back through the analytics and looked at the 11 stories you, the readers, kept reading and re-reading.

The Montreal Impact has announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder Felipe Campanholi Martins. On behalf of all the journalists and broadcasters who cover the Impact, we hope he gets blessed with a one-word Brazilian nickname — soon.

The team announced that Jeff Paulus, who led Edmonton’s Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) side to a national collegiate championship in 2011, will be an assistant to coach Harry Sinkgraven for the 2012 season.

Ashtone Morgan was named Canada’s U-20 Player of the Year Tuesday, and the voting was dominated by Toronto FC products. Morgan, who became a regular on TFC’s back line in the second half of the season — and then earned his first two senior caps in World Cup qualifying in matches against St. Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis — …

Stefan Frei can now say he has gone from the Reds to the Reds. Toronto FC announced Sunday that the Swiss goalkeeper will train with Liverpool FC until Dec. 18.

But, until we see how Bell and Rogers react to each other in the boardroom, it’s hard to figure out how it will change the governance of any of the sports properties. Remember, that, unlike the reign of the Pension Fund, no one here has a majority stake in MLSE. So, the guess would be that more, not less, decision-making would be tied up at the board level.

English veteran Ian Westlake is returning to Montreal. The Impact announced that the midfielder, who joined the club during the 2011 NASL season, is the 19th player be signed to the side’s roster for the 2012 MLS season. Westlake was named the team’s newcomer of the year at the end of the NASL campaign.