Canadians shut out of NWSL Supplemental Draft

Canadians were shut out through six rounds of Thursday’s NWSL draft.

A total of 45 players were selected — and every one of them carried American citizenship. And three teams passed on making sixth-round picks.

Through a deal with the Canadian Soccer Association, each of the eight NWSL teams will carry two Canadian players. Those players, selected by national-team coach John Herdman, were already allocated to their respective teams, and will have their salaries covered by the CSA. The Mexican federation is also placing 16 players in the league.

With so much foreign content in the league — and each team only allowed to fill two more roster spots with international players, it really isn’t a surprise that the Supplemental Draft was an all-American affair.

Here was the process, according to the league: “Each of the eight NWSL clubs has submitted a list of 8-10 players who will be eligible for the Supplemental Draft. Both domestic and international players are eligible for the Supplemental Draft, but each team is allowed two international players in addition to those who were allocated.

“After the Supplemental Draft, clubs may claim up to four Discovery Players, securing the rights to sign those players heading into preseason training camps. Discovery Players may be either international or domestic. Players who were eligible for but not selected in the Supplemental Draft may be claimed as Discovery Players. The rights to Discovery Players will be allocated to a team on a ‘date of submission priority’ basis. If two teams submit the same player, the team that submitted the player first will have the opportunity to sign that player.

“Players who were not on the submitted lists of the NWSL clubs are not eligible for the Supplemental Draft, but may be claimed as Discovery Players following the draft. Teams will be allowed to carry 18-20 players on their regular season rosters.”

The lack of Canadians selected (or, possibly, even put forward for the draft) also speaks to what Herdman has been warning us about for months: That, after his core of thirtysomething veterans, there is a real dearth of international-quality Canadian women in their early 20s. In the team’s recent trip to the Yongchuan Cup, Herdman stocked the Canadian roster with U-17s and U-20s, to try and help those players integrate into the senior system as quickly as possible.

And, the problem is that the U-20s and U-17s are still in school, so can’t be selected to play pro.

So, with limited international roster spots and a lack of Canadian 20somethings from which to choose — the Americans chose to buy domestic.

But, Ottawa Fury fans can take some joy out of the fact that American Jessica Shufelt, who played in 2012 for the eventual W-League champs, did get picked. She went to Portland, where she’ll team with Christine Sinclair. Meghan Lenczyk, who signed with the Fury in 2012 but ended up not playing for the club, was selected in the fourth round by Sky Blue FC.