Impact sends Braun to Real Salt Lake

Before the Montreal Impact played its first MLS game, the team acquired striker Justin Braun and midfielder Gerson Mayen from Chivas USA for allocation money and defender James Riley, who the Impact had snatched in the expansion draft.

Mayen, who had some positive spells for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL in 2011, didn’t get close to the Impact roster. And, on Wednesday, the Impact sent Braun home to his home state of Utah. The Impact dealt Braun to Real Salt Lake for a yet-to-be-determined draft pick in 2014.

So, the Impact turned what was a pretty handy expansion-draft pick — Riley, who is a regular starter at Chivas USA — and allocation money into a draft pick two years down the road that could be a last-round supplemental selection, for all we know.

Braun, who was an opening day starter for the Impact in Vancouver, quickly slid down the team’s depth chart. Known as a streaky scorer during his time at Chivas, he never really settled with the Impact, registering one assist. In fact, Impact fans couldn’t be blamed if they forgot that he was on the roster. First, the arrival of Italian forward Bernardo Corradi pushed him down the depth chart. And, after Corradi’s season-ending injury, the arrival of Italian forward Marco Di Vaio ensured that Braun wasn’t going to re-emerge with the Impact.

The Impact also shed half of the just-over US$100,000 cap hit that Braun presented.

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